When your list is filled with totally techies, coming up with affordable gift ideas is challenging. Trust me, I know! My son’s list is mostly ALL high-tech stuff this year! Since he’s my kid, I’ll likely fulfill at least three of his tech wishes (the new laptop is going to have to wait). What do you do, though, when you’re buying for a techy that isn’t exactly a high-dollar family member? For example, you really wouldn’t buy a new iPad for your son’s best friend, now would you? Check out a few of my favorite affordable gift ideas for the techy on your list!

Awesome yet totally affordable techy gift ideas

I received the items mentioned below for review. All opinions are my own.

 Cable Keeps from Nice

I am notorious for loosing my cell phone charger, even when it’s plugged in!. Actually, I lose pretty much everything these days. When Nice asked if I wanted to check out their CableKeeps, I said yes because I wanted a way to wrangle my cables, especially in my purse when I visit Sal. They definitely do that in total style. I also discovered, though, that my adorable little Whale also has the added benefit of helping me spot my charger easier.

In a house with no fewer than, oh geez let me count, maybe 10 devices plugged in at any given time (that doesn’t count the TV and what not, I’m talking computers, tablets, laptops and phones), it’s hard to remember where I stuck mine to charge! Sometimes Jake plays on my phone, so he has the charger in his room. Other times it’s right next to me and I don’t even know it. With my CableKeep, I can just glance around and look for the pretty blue color. Voila, there’s my phone! Or at least my charger! We also received a purple one, which I gave to my mom, since that’s her favorite color.

As you can see in the first picture, when not in use, the wire wraps up nicely around the whale’s tail. I have a picture of my own showing that, but my cord looks so gunky. Still, I don’t like relying on stock or product pictures, so here it is:

You can actually loop the cord through those little slots in the bottom of the tail, but I had the other end plugged in to my phone at the time. I was in the middle of charging it when I took the pictures. CableKeeps are mae from non-toxic Santoprene rubber and they’re 100% recyclable. They’re made in the USA, just 30 minutes from the Nice studio. Talk about going local!

CableKeeps come in 3 designs and 6 colors – Goldie for iPhone, Nibbles for iPad, and Gulp for iPad international.  Each sells for $13.  If you don’t have an Apple product, they also have a Goldie Plus product which combines a Goldie CableKeep with a 5W charger and optional Micro USB cable.  CableKeeps are available at the NY MOMA gift store, The Container Store, Fab.com, Amazon, and on the Nice website.

LapGear Smart Media Desk

My son is too funny. When I asked him to look over the LapGear website to pick out which portable desk he wanted to review, I thought he’d go for something colorful and splashy, like one of the vivid blue student desks. Not my little man, though. He’s apparently an executive in action. He choose the Smart Media Desk™ Exec,  complete with a spot for the iPhone he always steals from me! As you can see, such a serious desk requires a serious face. Actually, I think I caught him while he was chewing on something, but he does look deep in thought.

The Smart Media Desk is a smart choice for techies of all ages. All jokes aside about my son’s very grown-up choice, the deep, dark wood finish is quite gorgeous. You can’t see it in the picture, but the underside has a cushy pillow that’s attached by Velcro. The desk is roomy enough for a laptop (or Jake’s ChromeBook, which is like an extra appendage to that child), your phone and  any other accessories you like to keep handy. The slot in the back is perfect for holding your favorite eReader or tablet. I love the ergonomic wrist pads. Jacob uses them as elbow rests too. When he’s typing, they help cushion his little hands. My mom just had carpal tunnel surgery the other day and I know I need it. It clearly runs in the family. I’d like to start protecting him now if I can.

At 2.75 pounds, the Smart Media Desk is light enough to grab and go. Take it in the car, on the plane or just while lounging in bed. Or, in Jake’s case, while trying to catch a few moments of quiet time when we were babysitting my niece! Find the Smart Media Desk at the LapGear Website for $39.99. You’ll also find a huge variety of other great lap desks. Check out LapGear on Facebook for more reviews and to keep up with news. Don’t miss my giveaway for a Smart Media Desk at the end of this post!

SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive

If there’s one thing every techy needs, it’s a USB Drive. SanDisk is my favorite brand because they’ve always given me the utmost reliability at an affordable price. I received a 16 GB SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive to try out. This itty-bitty little fellow packs a lot of techy punch. It comes with a Micro-USB connector on one side and a standard USB 2.0 connector on the other. Plug in the Micro-USB connector to your favorite Android smartphone or tablet to grab all those great photos, that music you keep forgetting to download to your PC or anything else you want to back up. Pop the standard connector into your PC or Mac and transfer it over.

Sal has an Android smartphone. He has a ton of songs on my computer that he’d love to get on his phone. Right now, his main source of music is an old alarm clock that doesn’t even display the right time. I have several great Bluetooth speakers, so I’m going to take all the songs that he has on my computer and transfer them to the SanDisk Dual USB Drive. Then I can easily put them on his phone and give him one of my speakers. No more listening to whatever is on the radio through an alarm clock!

The SanDisk Dual USB Drive is also perfect for gathering photos from everyone after a holiday party. Simply pass it around and have everyone with Android devices load the photos onto it. So much easier than asking them to send you copies, only to find yourself waiting until next year. Hey, I’m guilty of it too! I’ve been promising Sal I’d get his daughter’s 8th grade graduation pictures up on his Facebook since June.

The SanDisk Dual USB Drive  comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64B capacities, making it easy to fit into your specific budget. The SanDisk Memory Zone app makes it even more useful by letting you organize and back up your files. You can find the app in the Google Play store.  Learn more on the SanDisk website.

Any of these products would make terrific gift ideas for the techy on your list! We’ve been using all three of them quite a bit since we got them. I suggest checking out all their websites for more buying information. In case you need a refresher after this long post, here they are again:

Where to Buy:

• CableKeeps by Nice
• Smart Media Desk
• SanDisk Dual USB Drive