Mother’s Day during the corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic potentially presents a bit of a challenge. As many families are practicing physical distancing, it might be a bit difficult to celebrate Moms or mother figures remotely. Sure, many families have their family unit contained within the same home, making it a bit easier to celebrate, but what about those family members spread across the country? I’d like to offer a few ways to digitally celebrate Mother’s Day using a Nixplay digital picture frame. (*Disclosure below.)
I’m a big advocate of Nixplay. Their frames are easy to set up and use anywhere. They have versions that connect to WiFi and others that use a simple USB thumb drive. With different styles and sizes, it’s hard to go wrong. You just provide the photos and videos.
Over the years, my wife and I have tested out a variety of Nixplay frames, and both of my parents have their own Nixplay frames where we regularly send new photos of the family. As various playlists play in our house, they have become conversation starters and physical “crowding” points as our daughters look through photos of themselves when they were little. We even have a playlist called “Littles.”
If you want more details on the frames, below are links to several of my reviews to provide a bit more detail on the frames:
- “Framing Your Life, Digitally – Review of the Nixplay Seed Digital Frame“
- “Bring Your Kids To Work Every Day with the Nixplay Iris WiFi Cloud Digital Frame“
- “Mother’s Day Gift: Nixplay Seed Wave 13-Inch Digital Frame with Bluetooth Speakers Review“
- “Nixplay Next Generation Smart Frame – Nice New Hardware, Same Great Experience“
But the more we have been using the Nixplay digital frames, the more we discover we can do with them. And, Nixplay continues to add services to expand beyond just showing videos.
Print your Photos
Nixplay recently introduced a new service which allows you to print any of the digital photos stored in your Nixplay galleries. While this does require you to have a Nixplay frame and photos stored in the app, if there is a particular photo that you Mom (or other family members) particularly loves, you can take advantage of Nixplay’s new relationship with Fuji Prints (if you are in the US).
The process is easy (as shown below):
You can order a variety of items including Wall Art, Large Format Prints, regular Prints, Mugs & Drinkware, Cards, Home & Office displays, and even Device Cases. As of this writing, there is currently a 20% off sale so act soon!
Ship a WiFi Frame to Mom
The most obvious Mother’s Day gift you can do is a Nixplay WiFi frame itself. If Mom (or those in the home where the Nixplay will be) is tech-savvy, you can have them set the frame up themselves. However, what I did (before the COVID19 pandemic hit) was to go over to my mom and dad’s home and set the frame up for them.
Setup takes literally just a few minutes. You connect your frame to their WiFi (if they have a cloud-based frame), set up an account, and then start creating playlists and galleries by uploading photos from your smartphone or computer.
If you are going to manage the photos in your parents’ frame, you can either put the frame in your own Nixplay account or you can create an account for your parents and then give yourself permission to manage the frame and send it photos. There are also ways to directly email photos to a frame.
Make the Nixplay Frame Smart-er
One thing that I recently discovered was that you can connect your frames to Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Why would you want to do this? Well, we are always asking our smart assistants for help turning on or off lights, for example, in the house so why not do the same with with your Nixplay frame.
With Alexa, you need to actually add two skills, one called “Nixplay Frame (Smart Home)” and the other is simply called “Nixplay Frame.” To get the most control, you will want to do both of these.
The Smart Home version allows you to turn on or off named frames within your Smart Home. Just say something like “Alexa, turn on living room frame” and the Nixplay frame magically turns on.
The other Alexa Skill allows you to play a particular playlist on a frame. This one takes a little bit of time to master so don’t give up. You may need to change the names of playlists to make them more recognizable.
USB Frames are Easy Setup
While I already mentioned being able to remotely connect to the Nixplay cloud-based frames to add or remove photos and videos, an even easier option is to use a non-WiFi Nixplay frame. Most of the frames offered by Nixplay currently are connected ones, but you can still get the USB-based frames on Amazon (these are called Nix).
If your Mom (or other family member) already has a USB-based frame, you can simply get a USB thumb drive and pack it full of new photos of the kids or grandkids or family and send them just the thumb drive. They can then plug it in and quickly enjoy new photos. And there is no need to go through a setup of connecting to Wifi or accounts.
If they don’t have a Nixplay NIX frame, you can have it shipped to your house and then load up all of the photos onto the frame yourself and then ship out the frame to them pre-loaded with memories.
Sharing Digital Memories
Having a virtual Mother’s Day celebration is not quite the same as being physically present. But if restrictions prevent you from celebrating in-person, a digital or virtual celebration is the next best thing. You can start the day off by doing a FaceTime, Zoom, or video conference to have a live digital experience.
But then continue the celebration throughout the year with a Nixplay frame that you can remotely update with the latest and greatest “approved” photos of your family. (One of the nice things about playlists is that you can set up lists that are just for your home and then have public ones that have been “approved” by various family members for others to see.)
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Moms and mother figures! Enjoy your day either in person or remotely!
Disclosure: I have a material connection because I received a sample of a product for consideration in preparing to review the product and write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item after my review period. All opinions within this article are my own and are typically not subject to editorial review from any 3rd party. Also, some of the links in the post above may be “affiliate” or “advertising” links. These may be automatically created or placed by me manually. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item (sometimes but not necessarily the product or service being reviewed), I will receive a small affiliate or advertising commission. More information can be found on my About page.
HTD says: Technology allows us to share real-time or digital memories even during times of shelter at home. A Nixplay digital picture frame allows for these memories to be persistent throughout the year.
