A Guide to Smart Housewarming Gifts

What to give new homeowners in these modern times? Break with tradition and gift smart tech that will instantly add valuable functionality to a new home.

Below are a few simple smart devices any homeowner will appreciate.

August Smart Lock

A new home means new keys for the new homeowners—and anyone of note in their life. Make that process as painless as possible with the gift of an August Smart Lock. August users can grant access to their home to anyone from anywhere in the world via the device’s accompanying app—meaning it’s easy to let grandma—or more likely a person delivering food or groceries—in if you’re running a few minutes late. August users can also build digital keys, temporary or long standing, for multiple individuals, which will allow those trusted individuals to gain entry to your abode via their own smartphones. Better still, August lets you keep track of which designated users have entered or exited—letting you know exactly when your partner got home or if Junior has snuck out after curfew.

The August Smart Lock is available for $149 to $279, depending on model and features.

Parrot Pot

Don’t give the gift of flowers. Give the gift of flowers AND peace of mind. The Parrot Pot is a connected flower pot with a built-in sensor system that reads light exposure, temperature, soil moisture and fertilizer levels in real time, and alerts users, via a corresponding app, with plant health updates and tips for better care. But, best of all, the Parrot Pot is a self-watering planter—yes, you can leave all manner of foliage for up to 30 days without worrying that it will go thirsty. Utilizing a "Perfect Drop" irrigation system that works with the pot’s built-in intelligence, the Parrot Pot automatically syncs with your plant’s life cycle—regardless of genus—and provides the appropriate amount of aqua when it is needed.

Although Parrot, a noted drone manufacturer, no longer sells the Parrot Pot, it is widely available, in three colors, on Amazon and at other online retailers at a starting price of $54.

Belkin WeMo Insight Plug

The burgeoning smart home owner wants options—and that’s what the Belkin WeMo Insight Plug provides. The Insight, an outlet-inserted plug, essentially turns any appliance into a smart home device by allowing users to control said device’s on/off function from their phone—wherever in the world they happen to be. Gain remote control over your fan, lamp, iron, coffee maker or any number of every-day appliances, and with new voice-control capabilities, via Alexa or Google Home, you can actually command your coffee maker to begin brewing. Users can also schedule appliances to turn on or off at specific times—air-conditioning units on summer days, for example—and keep track of how much power they are using (this is where the "insight" part of the Insight comes in) to understand how much individual appliances may be costing them.

Belkin WeMo Insight Plug is available for $49.

Amazon Echo Show

Every home needs a hub. The Amazon Echo Show not only admirably performs all the core—and growing—functions of the Echo line of smart speakers, but it also adds a video component via a 7-inch touchscreen display. Show owners can watch video recipe tutorials—or episodes of "Law & Order"—while cooking, or easily place video calls, or see who’s at the front door with nothing more than a spoken word. All that and the Show will, like all Echos, allow you to check the weather, stream music, order an Uber or control your many intelligent home devices like your smart lock, self-watering flower or voice-activated outlet plug.

The Amazon Echo Show is available for $229.