Gift Ideas With A $200 Budget | Tom's Guide

  • 8 months ago
Kate wanted to see whether she could successfully find great gadgets with a budget of $200 to shop last-minute Amazon gifts, she found affordable earbuds, smart home devices and even some fun space-themed products. To see whether all the budget-friendly gifts will meet expectations, Kate unboxes everything and tries it out in this video.
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:01 I am obsessed.
00:02 Two days ago, within our challenge guidelines,
00:04 I stayed within a budget of $200 to order gifts
00:07 for all of my family members on Amazon.
00:10 Dad needs a new pair of wireless earbuds for the gym
00:12 because he loses them and goes through them like crazy.
00:15 These are the JLab JBuds Mini.
00:17 They're only $40, so they're under budget
00:19 and I still have $160 to spend.
00:22 Mom's next.
00:23 Wait, this is cool.
00:24 On Amazon, they actually have a built-in search tool
00:26 that helps you find items by price.
00:28 So kitchen gadgets, 25 to 50.
00:31 I think that's our budget.
00:33 Ooh, a personal blender.
00:36 People love Dash because their kitchen appliances
00:38 are fun and affordable.
00:40 You can get the blender with a pancake griddle for $41.48.
00:45 That is in budget.
00:48 Wait, my mom loves pancakes too.
00:49 Next up, we have my sister
00:52 and she just moved into a new apartment
00:54 that I think could use a little teching up,
00:57 if you know what I mean.
00:58 Right now, the Echo Pop is on sale for $17.99.
01:01 That's over half off the normal price.
01:04 There's a $3 coupon.
01:06 I almost missed that.
01:07 One more person to go, my nephew.
01:09 And so far, my basket is showing that I've spent $139.
01:14 My nephew loves Lego.
01:16 That's something we bond over.
01:17 There is the Lego Creator 3-in-1 Space Shuttle for $8.99.
01:22 It's on sale.
01:23 And it also means that we can get him something else.
01:25 If you've been on TikTok,
01:26 you've probably seen the Astronaut Projector
01:28 and a little birdie told me my nephew
01:30 would really love that for the holidays.
01:32 I'm gonna pick the one that has the most ratings
01:34 and the best reviews.
01:35 And it is $34.99, which apparently is a discount of 30%.
01:40 I think that's gonna take us
01:42 right up to the edge of the budget.
01:44 This is stressful.
01:45 I have seven items in my cart for four people.
01:48 The subtotal is $183.43.
01:52 Let's proceed to checkout to see if with tax,
01:55 we're in budget.
01:56 (upbeat music)
01:59 $196.45.
02:02 Yes, that's under $200.
02:06 I'd call that a success.
02:07 Now we have to wait for it to get here.
02:08 So I'll check back in when it arrives.
02:10 I am back with the haul.
02:16 I'm gonna go ahead and open all of the presents
02:18 to make sure that they panned out as planned.
02:20 I see we have our Astronaut Projector and Astronaut Lego.
02:23 We have our mini griddle, the blender,
02:27 smart light, Echo Pop, and the teeny tiny J Buds Mini.
02:32 This gift was the easiest one to decide.
02:37 They are the JLab J Buds Mini,
02:39 and they cost $39.99.
02:42 These are the smallest wireless earbuds on the market.
02:45 Each bud weighs just 3.14 grams.
02:49 These are also one of the only wireless earbuds I've seen
02:53 that have an integrated carrying loop and key chain.
02:56 And knowing my dad always loses everything,
02:58 for him to be able to keep these on his keys
03:01 will be a game changer.
03:02 There are no shortage of budget earbuds on the market,
03:05 but if you're talking about which wins
03:07 the price to performance competition,
03:08 it has to be the JLabs.
03:10 Not only is the passive noise cancellation very good,
03:14 but it also has an app where you can customize the EQ.
03:17 You almost never see earbuds in this price range
03:20 with that type of feature.
03:22 If I had a bigger budget for a sporty pair of earbuds,
03:24 the next step I would probably go for
03:26 are the Beats Studio Buds.
03:28 I happen to think wireless earbuds
03:30 are one of those foolproof gifts.
03:31 Everyone always needs a fresh pair,
03:33 so I'm pretty optimistic my dad's gonna be happy.
03:37 For my mom, I bought her a bundle
03:39 of Dash appliances from Amazon.
03:42 So that's cool, it comes with a lid.
03:43 That way when you're done with the blending portion
03:45 of your smoothie, you can put this on
03:47 and you have a to-go bottle.
03:50 Smoothies are great and all,
03:51 but pancakes are even better.
03:54 Is this not like the cutest little pancake griddle
03:58 you've ever seen?
03:59 That's so cute.
04:03 Let's try doing a little smoothie first.
04:06 A strawberry smoothie always sounds nice.
04:09 Got the milk down.
04:11 So, like the Nutribullet, it's one of those blenders
04:17 that you press down on to blend.
04:21 Look at it go!
04:22 I'm really happy with that.
04:27 Look at that texture, it's perfect for a smoothie.
04:31 It's a strawberry smoothie, that's great, wow.
04:33 Very impressed, but let's make pancakes.
04:36 So when you plug it in, it starts to heat up automatically.
04:39 There is no on/off switch,
04:40 so that's something to keep in mind.
04:42 I already feel it getting quite hot quite quickly,
04:46 and we're gonna see if it pancakes.
04:50 We got some good sizzling ASMR right now.
04:54 It smells like pancakes!
04:58 Whoa, that looks pretty good.
05:01 This is so little and convenient.
05:04 Obviously, if you had to make pancakes for everyone,
05:06 this might take a little while,
05:08 but just for like a personal-sized pancake treat,
05:11 this is great.
05:12 Next, let's see if these gifts for my sister
05:15 will help her make a smart home.
05:17 This is the Amazon Echo Pop,
05:19 and it's basically the younger sibling to the Echo Dot.
05:22 Now, I bought it for $17.99, but that is not the full price.
05:27 It normally costs $39.99,
05:30 but the great thing about Amazon devices
05:33 during any type of big shopping event
05:35 is that they're often heavily discounted,
05:37 so it's a good time to buy them.
05:38 What makes a smart speaker different
05:40 than a normal Bluetooth speaker
05:42 is that it's connected to your Wi-Fi,
05:43 and thus you have a voice assistant.
05:45 In this case, it would be Alexa.
05:48 You can simply ask it to play the music
05:50 or give you a weather report,
05:51 or it can get to know you and learn your schedule,
05:54 learn your shopping habits, and even make recommendations.
05:57 I theoretically could have asked Alexa
05:59 what gifts I should get for my family.
06:01 - Hello, your device is ready for setup.
06:04 - When you get a new Echo speaker,
06:06 it does a really good job at walking someone
06:08 through the different ways you can use that speaker.
06:12 So my sister should have a very basic understanding,
06:15 at least just from the unboxing and setup process.
06:18 - How long did that take, like two minutes?
06:21 - I will say some other Echo speakers
06:24 have more advanced smart features,
06:26 like the Echo Dot, for example,
06:27 has a built-in temperature sensor
06:29 that can trigger smart home routines,
06:31 such as turning on your thermostat
06:33 when it detects it gets too warm or cold in a certain room.
06:36 You don't get all the bells and whistles with the Echo Pop,
06:38 but if you're thinking about shopping on a budget,
06:41 someone who just needs kind of an entry-level
06:43 smart home device, this one's hard to beat.
06:45 But the real way to make the most of a smart home
06:48 is with additional smart home devices.
06:50 And believe it or not, you don't need to spend
06:52 a lot of money to make a great smart home.
06:55 In fact, this brand Govee
06:57 makes some excellent budget smart lights.
06:59 This pack of four normally costs $39.99,
07:03 but as with a lot of these popular brands on Amazon,
07:06 you can usually find coupons to clip like we did,
07:09 so we saved some money.
07:10 I think they make them weirdly small on purpose
07:13 so that people might overlook them.
07:15 Don't.
07:16 Look at that.
07:17 The beauty of a smart bulb attached to a normal lamp
07:20 is that it'll work like a normal lamp.
07:23 Of course, you'll want to leave it powered on
07:26 to use the smart features and change the color.
07:28 So Govee has an app.
07:30 It automatically knows that this light bulb
07:33 has been powered on.
07:34 Add it, it's gonna make the connection.
07:36 Hopefully it should only take a couple of seconds.
07:38 I'm having so much fun.
07:40 My first full-time position with Tom's Guide
07:42 was as our smart home writer, so this is throwing it back.
07:46 We're good, we're connected.
07:47 How long did that take?
07:49 Look, we have a smart home in what, five minutes?
07:53 What color should we try first?
07:54 Let's do green.
07:54 Hey.
07:57 Another feature I think she might enjoy
07:59 is after she's installed all four of these bulbs
08:02 into different areas of a room or in her apartment,
08:05 she can set a scene where all the colors
08:08 kind of coordinate with each other.
08:10 If you were to search up budget smart light bulbs on Amazon,
08:13 you'll see plenty of affordable options.
08:15 I happen to trust Govee as a brand.
08:17 If you're talking about making this setup with Philips Hue,
08:20 you're looking at three times the price.
08:22 I adore this little smart home setup
08:24 we put together for just under $50.
08:27 I think if anyone were to look at this,
08:28 they would think that it costs more,
08:30 and I think my sister's gonna be really happy
08:32 by having now a voice assistant, a speaker,
08:35 and colorful light bulbs that she can control
08:37 with her voice in her new place.
08:39 Alexa, change color of Govee light bulb to green.
08:44 Okay.
08:46 Alexa, turn Govee light bulb off.
08:49 Okay.
08:51 I mean, it doesn't get better than that.
08:54 And finally, we have the space-themed gifts for my nephew.
08:58 The great thing about Lego sets is that there kind of is one
09:01 for every hobby and interest,
09:02 so if you're kind of stuck with not knowing what to get
09:05 for someone, see if there's a set that aligns
09:08 with one of their interests.
09:09 I believe we paid $8.99 for this.
09:11 And as much as I love my nephew, I might love Lego more,
09:15 so I'm gonna go ahead and actually put this one together
09:18 to see how it actually is.
09:20 We have a space shuttle.
09:29 While I do know I have to order him a replacement now,
09:31 that isn't all that I got for him.
09:34 This is one of those astronaut starry sky projectors
09:38 that I've seen all over TikTok.
09:40 His head comes off, which is so cool.
09:45 Moment of truth.
09:46 Can you see that on the camera?
09:49 We turned the lights off in the studio to see how it looks
09:54 up on the wall, and this is awesome.
09:56 Imagine this being up on the ceiling of your bedroom
09:59 as you're trying to fall asleep.
10:00 All you need are some ambient sleep sounds to go with it.
10:03 Ooh, duh, my nephew can use this in a fort
10:06 with like a fort blanket, have this up on the wall.
10:09 That would be amazing.
10:10 Astronaut projector, huge win.
10:13 This is something that's also partially a toy and it's tech.
10:16 Love when those two things come together.
10:19 I think this is gonna be a stellar gift.