This post is sponsored by Lowe’s. All opinions are my own.
When it comes to gift shopping for the people we care about, we often try to come up with the most thoughtful things to give as possible. Typically, this means fun items that the recipient wouldn’t indulge in themselves, but what about those items they might need that they might not have thought to get for themselves?
Here’s your fair warning that this next part isn’t the cheeriest but is, hopefully, helpful.
As I’m sure we’ve all noticed, natural disasters seem to be becoming both more frequent and severe as time goes on. I know, bummer thing to be thinking about right after the holidays. Unfortunately, it’s not really something anyone wants to think about any time of the year (which I can relate to directly, but more on that below), and this can mean poor planning. As nice as it would be for the idea of “out of sight, out of mind” to always apply to us, the truth is natural events like floods and wildfires don’t always happen only to someone else. So, next time you’re looking for a great present, why not give the people you care about the gift of safety and preparedness, but the luxury of not having to think about it much too?
As I mentioned above, until just recently, I was also guilty of being unprepared. The good news is it wasn’t brought to my attention the hard way. The bad news is that there still could have been an accident. It actually happened during a visit from my brother and his family. One of my nieces had just started walking and made her way for the tall, lightweight cabinet where we keep our glassware. We were able to grab her before she could give the doors a tug, but the idea of what might have happened left us a little shook and thinking.
Sure, if my wife and I had kids of our own, we most likely would have had that cabinet locked down a long time ago (I understand I’ve probably been docked some points towards the “best uncle ever” award). However, what we do have is earthquakes that could easily topple that cabinet as well as a few bookshelves, TVs, and any number of other things. Best-case scenario, this would mean an expensive mess to clean up. Worst-case scenario, someone could get hurt. So, we decided to treat ourselves to a present of shoring things up.
Before we did our research, we thought earthquake-proofing a home meant grabbing a couple of brackets and ruining the tops and backs of furniture. As you can see from our Lowe’s haul, we were mistaken.
There are furniture straps that stick to your shelves so you don’t have to drill into them. Even better, they’re actually more ideal than metal brackets or wire because of their slight give.
TV Safety: TV Straps.
Art Safety: Special hooks
And even museum wax for making sure those taller objects don’t shake their way to the floor.
Of course, not everyone lives where earthquakes are the main worry. Whatever it might be, every region has its potential disasters. With that, every disaster has ways to prepare for it. For a little inspiration on what you can gift for other instances check out the list below, do a little internet sleuthing of your own, or visit your local Lowe’s.
Other products to help out with those safety situations:
Floods – Quick dam bags, waterproof document holder, emergency life jacket
Fires – Fire extinguisher, fireproof document holder, smart smoke and carbon dioxide detector, fire escape ladder
Literally Anything – Bug out bag (aka survival kit)
