The 13 best gifts for moms

When I tested air purifiers for our guide, I found the best way to clear the air was by opening windows — but if the mom in your life deals with allergies or lives where the air quality can get bad, an air purifier can be the next best thing. The Levoit Core 400S Smart Air Purifier was one of the quietest models I tested and performed on a level with models three times as expensive. It has a three-stage filter (including an activated carbon layer and particulate filter), and the internal particulate matter sensor can automatically adjust fan speed as air gets murkier. The companion app both shows historical air quality readouts and makes the unit itself easy to control and schedule. Plus, the replacement filters aren’t overly expensive like they are with other units. — Amy Skorheim, Reporter

Read more: The best air purifiers

Take your mother’s morning coffee routine up a notch with the Ember Mug, a self-heating smart mug that keeps beverages at just the right temperature for up to 1.5 hours or all day if the mug is kept on its charging coaster. It has a temperature range between 120 and 145 degrees Fahrenheit, which lets your mom dial in just how hot she wants her brew. There’s also a companion app which lets her save preset temps for her favorite drinks, track her caffeine intake, customize the color of the LED light on the front of the mug and more. The latest version comes in a pretty rose gold color as well as white, black, gold, silver and copper. — Nicole Lee, Former Commerce Writer

So many of us take hundreds of photos with our phones and then never do anything with them. They’re left to languish in our camera rolls, only to be uncovered when you have to scroll back months to find that one image you’re searching for. If you want to give mom a more polished way to look back at her favorite photos, an album from Mpix will do the trick. You can customize your photo book from the ground up, choosing the best images of her family and friends and laying them out on each page in a neat way. You can also pick from different types of cover options and paper weights, making the final product as premium as you want it to be. With options starting at $30 per book, it’s pretty easy to make mom a gift she’ll want to revisit long after the holidays are over. – Valentina Palladino, Deputy Editor

I’ll be the first to say the Pura scent diffuser surprised me. Before testing it out, I didn’t believe such a small device could really inject strong scent into my home. But it didn’t take long before I was proven wrong. The one I have stays plugged in, resolute, in the family room of my home close to the front door, and as soon as I walk in when the Pura is running, I’m met with the lovely smells of Amalfi lemon, lavender fields or whichever other scent I decided to go with.

The Pura can hold two different proprietary scent capsules at a time, so you can create very different vibes based on time of day, occasion or anything else you can think of. The Pura app makes it easy to set diffusion schedules per scent, too, and it can pause diffusion all together if you’re away from home. Are you going to get whole-home diffusion from this CD-sized gadget? No (maybe try the new Pura Plus for that), but it’ll make the part of your home that it lives in feel much more luxurious. — V.P.

The Aura Carver frame would make a great gift for any parent or relative with whom you want to stay more connected and share memories as you’re making them. The top pick in our best digital frames guide, the Aura Carver has a super simple setup: plug it in, download its companion app and upload photos. One of its best features is its ability to continuously scan the albums you pair with it and automatically upload new photos in it to the frame. That means if you have a shared photo album between you, your mom and other family members and pair it with the frame, anyone can add new photos to the frame simply by adding them to your shared album. On top of that, the Carver has the best display we’ve seen on any digital frame and there’s no limit to the number of photos it can show. — V.P.

Read more: The best digital frames

Tech touches everything now and the beauty industry has built a better mousetrap with the latest dry-and-style machines available today. One of the simplest I’ve tried, yet most effective, is the Calista StyleDryer Pro. It’s a hairdryer and a brush in one, and it comes with two brush attachments that mom can swap between depending on her preference. Regardless of which is her favorite, both will make it easier for her to get a stellar blowout. Three temperature settings let her dial in exactly how hot (or cool) she needs to go for her desired style, and the attachments are infused with Tourmaline to better distribute heat. In my testing, I found the StyleDryer Pro not only dried my hair more quickly than my separate, aging hair dryer and brush duo, but it also got my hair sleeker and smoother than I ever have been able to get it before. — V.P.

If mom's been feeling all in knots lately, a personal massage “gun” like the Theragun Mini 2.0 can provide some temporary relief by gently pummeling away her muscle aches. While not the most forceful device of its kind, this triangular massager is effective enough to ease soreness yet small enough to carry around and outside of the house. We’ve recommended the original Mini in past gift guides; that one has slightly longer battery life and remains a good buy if you’re on a tighter budget, but this model is 20 percent smaller and supports a couple more attachments for targeting different parts of the body. Just be warned neither is exactly quiet. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter

The Beats Fit Pro may be our favorite wireless earbuds for working out, but your mom doesn’t have to be a regular running or pilates enthusiast to get a lot of use out of them. These buds have a comfortable, secure fit thanks to their flexible wing tips, plus a great sound profile out of the box thanks in part to Adaptive EQ technology. Active noise cancellation is solid as well, which will come in handy when she wants to block out distractions at work or while running errands, and she’ll be able to quickly jump into any conversation she deems important by using Transparency Mode. If your mom has an iPhone, she’ll benefit from the H1 chip inside the Beats Fit Pro, which enables things like quick pairing and switching between Apple devices and hands-free Siri. But Android toting mothers won’t be left out either — the Fit Pros have their own Android app that supports many of the same features. — V.P.

Read more: The best wireless earbuds

The Pixel Watch 3 is Google’s best smartwatch yet, so much so that it took the top stop as our favorite watch for Android users in our best smartwatches guide. The Pixel Watch 3 has a slightly larger circular display than its predecessor, and it’s brighter than ever which will make it easier to read in all sorts of lighting. In our testing, we found it to be an excellent activity and sleep tracker, and advanced features like auto workout detection and custom running plans make it even better for both those just starting a new exercise routine and seasoned athletes. Google Assistant integration comes in handy as well, allowing users to get questions answered, check calendar events and weather forecasts and more just using voice commands. Plus, the Pixel Watch 3 has the longest battery life of any Pixel Watch to date, with up to 24 hours of use before it needs a recharge. — V.P.

Read more: The best smartwatches

I’ve loved Withings’ hybrid watches, which put all the health tech you could need in a far less geeky package, for more than a decade. The ScanWatch Horizon, its first using a diver’s watch case, has been a permanent fixture on my wrist since 2021. Since then, Withings has updated the ScanWatch with even more features, and launched a Horizon successor, called the Nova.

The one downside is that all the ScanWatches are, to be blunt, beefy enough that they only suit folks with strong forearms. If you prefer a smaller timepiece, you’ve been left on the sidelines until the company launched the ScanWatch Nova Brilliant. It shrinks all of the ScanWatch tech into a 38mm case and gets a two-tone strap that matches your bezel color choice.

A cynic might suggest Withings is aping the style of Rolex’s Datejust watches, even down to the two-tone strap choice. An optimist might wonder why that’s relevant, given it costs an order of magnitude less money and does an awful lot more. If someone special in your life wants a smart watch but not a smartwatch, and wants to look luxurious while doing it, this should be top of your options. — Daniel Cooper, Senior Reporter

Last holiday season, after a month or so of me unsubtly and repeatedly mentioning how very cool and convenient and interesting Engadget’s top air fryer pick seemed to me, one surprisingly appeared beneath our tree. For nearly a year now, my entire family has used the Instant Vortex Plus air fryer nearly daily to cook frozen french fries, crisp up dinner, reheat takeout or make extra stretchy nachos. This particular model comes with replaceable filters that keeps the fried-food smell down to a minimum and the glass front paired with interior light make it easy to peek on your potatoes without opening the drawer. The basket is easy to clean, preheating is fast and the touch controls are simple to understand — pretty much everything you want in a good air fryer. — A.S.

Read more: The best air fryers

For most moms I know, sleep is a precious, unguaranteed commodity. I personally used to sleep like the dead until I had a kid, which then made every nighttime creak a reason to bolt upright, ready for action. I reviewed the Hatch Restore 2 and found it to be a delightful sleep companion, one that helped me get to sleep and woke me up less jarringly than anything else I’ve tried. It comes in muted, natural colors in a soft dome shape with a fabric front, i.e. it doesn’t look like a hulking piece of tech on the nightstand.

Two buttons up top initiate and end rest and wake routines (which you program through the app, selecting from a library of options). Go-to sleep aids include nature sounds, lulling stories, dreamy music and meditations. Waking up techniques consist of light and sound combos that are as subtle or as vivid as needed, followed by pep talks, stretching sessions, fun facts and more. Hatch is continually updating the offerings, which brings me to the catch of owning a Hatch Restore: To get the best content, you need a $6-per-month subscription. So far it’s been worth it for me, but not all moms may agree. — A.S.

Read more: The best sleep apps and gadgets

I’m not the world’s most organized person, but I do recognize that keeping the detritus of life more or less in its proper place makes a day far easier to get through. I’ve picked up a few of the storage and organizational designs from Yamazaki Home and each one has made my home feel more under control. The Rolling Storage Cart has a clean look with its white steel and a bamboo top. Just about any room in the house could benefit from the three hidden shelves it offers, but I’ve used mine as a place to store rolls of toilet paper and the bowl scrubber in the bathroom. Everything stays concealed behind the solid side panel until you roll it away from the wall to access what you need. To me, it represents low-effort tidiness, which is my favorite kind. — A.S.