Gift Rap for Cool Kids

Lisa:                                       Welcome back to Good Day Kentucky. Here to share some great gifting ideas for kids is Eileen Avery, author of Gift Wrap: The History and Art of Gift Giving and the founder of Giftexpert.org. Welcome to the show Eileen.

Eileen Avery:                     Hi Lisa. It’s great to be here.

Lisa:                                       And let’s get right to it. I love this topic. Please tell us something from Gift Wrap: The History and Art of Gift Giving that will help consumers as they shop for the holiday seasons.

Eileen Avery:                     Well, in my opinion, there’s a difference between a present and a gift. A present is something that you get for somebody, which is great. It’s wonderful that you’re getting anything, but it can be generic. It can be something you didn’t put a whole lot of thought into. It can be a last minute kind of thing.

A gift, on the other hand, is completely different because you put thought into it. You put thought into what that person or that child would really get a kick out of. Something that they would really enjoy and play with for a long time. A gift is something that they might not get for themselves or say that they want, but you know that child so well that you will get them the perfect gift.

Lisa:                                       Awesome. Now with all of your research, what is a gift that will inspire our kids in a positive way do you think?

Eileen Avery:                     Well, you know, parents are always wondering if their kids are getting the 60 minutes of physical activity that’s recommended to get every day. Well, this is a kid’s fitness tracker. It’s called the Vevo Fit Junior II and it’s made by Garmin and it combines Garmin’s expertise in wearable technology with the Disney characters and stories that kids love. It makes a game out of it.

So how it works is the child will, for every 60 minutes of physical activity, they will unlock a piece of a story on the app on their parents phone. So you know how kids want to know what’s next in a story. Well, this they will have to do another 60 minutes the following day to figure out what happens next in the story and so on and so forth. So it really makes fitness tracking fun for kids. They don’t have to take off the band. It fits almost every size wrist. They can take baths in it. They can take a shower. They can go swimming. Best of all, you don’t have to plug it in because it’s got a battery that will last for more than a year. After that the parent can replace the battery so it can keep going.

It’s a really, really fun way to keep track of fitness for your child.

Lisa:                                       I love that. Now what are some other fun gifts that you can get your kids?

Eileen Avery:                     Well, if you’ve got a preschooler on your list, and they might know the hit TV show on Nickelodeon right now called Top Wing. So this is Swift and he’s one of the characters on Top Wing. This is his Swift and vehicle set. It’s from Hasbro. It puts kids right in the action as they help Swift go on rescue missions in his turbo charged flash wing vehicle.

Now the show follows four best friend rescue bird cadets as they earn their wings at Top Wing Academy. It’s a really fun show. The toy is under $30, and you can get them at all of the retailers where you buy toys or online. It’s really fun, imaginative play for preschoolers.

Lisa:                                       And let me ask you this. I love that. I think that’s really cute. What is another gift that the entire family can enjoy with the children?

Eileen Avery:                     My family, we love to start watching holiday movies starting December 1st and we watched this one last week. It was really, really fun. It’s called “I’ll Be Next Door for Christmas.” It follows this really wacky family that just is over the top with Christmas decorations and whatnot. Their teenage daughter wants to bring her boyfriend home for the holidays for the first time. She is just mortified.

But this is a heartwarming comedy. My boys absolutely loved it. It’s going to be a new holiday classic that you can download on I-tunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu and more. It’s also the world’s first crowdfunded Christmas movie. So that’s something special. That’s something completely different.

Lisa:                                       Wow. Now, where can people go for more information too?

Eileen Avery:                     Oh, one more thing. If you’ve got a gamer. The Logitech G-headsets are going to be the best because it’s got the DTS technology, surround sound. It’s made for gamers. Very comfortable for gamers. The wireless connectivity is top notch. You can find everything that I talked about today at tipsontv.com.

Lisa:                                       Awesome. Love it, Eileen. Thank you so much for all of your recommendations. We really appreciate it. There is more Good Day Kentucky coming up. Keep it right here.

Eileen Avery:                     Thank you.