How I Get Hands-Free Help Over the Holidays

The beautiful thing about technology these days is the fact that you can control most things with
your VOICE!! I mean, that’s pretty handy considering I seem to be juggling Annie, Leo AND Nacho all at one time … so, the fact that I can control something by using my voice is pretty crazy and just what this mama needs!

Today I wanted to share some ways I use technology to give me a helping hand over the holidays, particularly the Google Home Mini! Ps. I’m sure most of you have heard of Google Home by now, but if you haven’t, the Google Home Mini is small, but mighty and designed to fit in any room! You can ask the Assistant to play music, manage your everyday tasks, control smart devices around your home and get real-time answers!! I’ll dive into a few ways we use ours below!

Turn Your Christmas Tree Lights On & Off

I LOVE our Christmas tree but it’s always a pain in the butt to get behind the tree to turn on the lights, you’re either getting poked in the back with the needles (or covered in sap! lol) or, if you’re like me this year, you crawl out from under the tree covered in flock! LOL!

Well, there’s a SOLUTION to this and it’s a pretty cool one if you ask me … some may even consider it a party trick! LOL! If you have a Google Home Mini (if you don’t have one … you might want to add that to your Christmas wishlist! ?) then you need to pick up a smart plug (my favourite is the WeMo Smart Plug) to help you out!

Once you’ve set up your smart plug, you can use your Google Home Mini to control all your electronic devices, like the lights on your Christmas tree, with your voice. All you have to do is plug your tree into your smart plug and connect to your Google Home Mini, sit back (with a glass of wine …’tis the season!) and say “Hey Google, turn the Christmas tree on” … and just like Christmas magic, your lights will turn on!!!! No more crawling under the tree!!

Play Your Favourite Christmas Music

You can quickly and easily connect your Google Home Mini to Google Play Music, YouTube Music or Spotify and ask “Hey Google, play a holiday music playlist,” and all of a sudden you’ve got holiday music pumping through your home! I love to listen to my Christmas playlists when I’m wrapping gifts and we also enjoy listening to classical music around dinner time!

Turn Up the Heat!

Just when you thought it couldn’t do anymore … it can also turn up the heat in your home! LOL! If you pair your Google Home Mini with a Nest Learning Thermostat, you can control your home’s temperature by asking “Hey Google, set the temperature to 21 degrees” and it will automatically adjust it for you! This especially comes in handy if I’m busy in the kitchen or have my hands full with the kids.

ALSO, we just got a Nest Hello Video Doorbell installed in replace of our wired doorbell and we can pair this with our Google Home Mini to announce when someones comes to the door. Plus, we can connect it to the Chromecast to view who’s at the door right from our TV! The Nest Hello Video Doorbell shows us everything at our front door from head to toe images of people or packages left on our porch!

Impress Your Kids or Entertain Your Guests

If you have a Google Home Mini, you HAVE to try asking it these questions, they are pretty
entertaining and perfect for a good laugh!

• “Hey Google, call Santa.”
• “Hey Google, what’s your favourite Christmas food?”
• “Hey Google, what do you think I should cook for Christmas?”
• “Hey Google, what’s your favourite Christmas cookie?”
• “Hey Google, tell me a holiday fact.”
• “Hey Google, why did you build a gingerbread house?”
• “Hey Google, run run run as fast as you can”
• “Hey Google, give me a gingerbread house fact”
• “Hey Google, do you know the gingerbread man?”

There you have it!! Google Home Mini is my ultimate holiday helper and I hope it will become yours too. If you have a Google Home Mini these are some ways you can use it to help you out over the holidays!! Plus, it also makes for an awesome gift idea for the techy’s on your Christmas shopping list!

If you’re in Vancouver and want to see how the Google Home Mini can help you during the holidays, head over to the Pacific Centre until December 16th to check out the Google Home Mini Gingerbread Smart Home.

xo

Jilly

Thank you Google Home for sponsoring this post. All comments and opinions are my own.