Here at Built In Austin, we love surprising our close friends and family with thoughtful gifts during the holidays. But we also equally love receiving gifts — and who doesn't?
Instead of a gift guide, we put together a list of eight gifts we'd love to get this year. All of them hail from the local community, and we've got them at the top of our list.
We love cooking. It's therapeutic, healthy, cost effective and tasty. But sometimes, it's just easier to order delivery following a hard day's work. So this holiday season, please get us an appointment with Dinner Elf. We highlighted the Austin startup back in August and haven't stopped thinking about it since. Schedule a meal for yourself or as a gift for a night with Dinner Elf's personal chef to shop and cook for you. They'll even clean up before heading out.
When we travel, we like to avoid the hotel atmosphere by staying in quaint, comfortable and unique lodging. Austin's BedandBreakfast.com offers Getaway Gift Cards to grant the gift of travel for nearly 4,000 bed and breakfasts across the U.S. and Canada. No hidden fees, no blackout dates and no expiration. Thank you in advance.
It rained for four days straight, and our winter grass is growing strong. Please send LawnStarter ASAP. By logging in online or downloading the app, you can type in your address, set the date, select your lawn care service and pay online. Then, LawnStarter will schedule a local lawn team to come over and fulfill the request. It's not us being lazy, it's just us wanting to spend more time writing about our awesome Austin tech companies and less time mowing our lawn.
The Peeple smart camera acts as a caller ID for your front door, and we'd like to get on the company's pre-order list. The IoT device connects to both your Wi-Fi and existing door peepholes to identify, screen and alert you when someone is outside your door. Upon a knock, open or close of the door, a Peeple push notification appears on your phone, keeping you in the know when you're not home.
Okay, so even if we can't actually play guitar, how beautiful are these instruments? Moniker Guitars lets you customize and design an electrical guitar to match musical tastes that are as eclectic as you. The process from design to door-step delivery takes about four weeks. We're especially fond of the green.
Dear Santa, all we have ever wanted is a 3D printer that prints pizzas within a few minutes. BeeHex developed a robot-making pizza maker using the pie recipe from one of NYC's leading pizza chefs, Pascquale Cozzolino. The printer will be sold B2B only and costs between $20,000 and $25,000, but it's called a wish a list for a reason, right? Read more about the company's progress here.
We'd love to showcase contemporary art in our homes from artists featured in famous galleries like the MoMA, but in no way could we afford it. That is, until Twyla launched this past fall. The online art gallery includes limited edition prints in custom-built, gallery-style frames from about 80 artists from around the world. Read how the founders are making world art more accessible and less intimidating here.
Following holiday drinks and cookies, we'll surely be hitting the gym hard. At least, we plan to. Just like a new pair of running shoes helps us hit the trails, Trago's smart water bottle will not only push us toward the gym, but it will also act as our personal hydration system. The IoT bottle tracks water intake with its patent-pending sonar technology and connects to a mobile app, Google Fit, UA Record, Fitbit and Apple Healthkit to help you keep track of your progress.
Images via featured companies and Shutterstock.
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