In 2005 alone, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 259,800 births registered to 255,500 mothers. Now consider there are similar statistics for each year before and after, and you’ll get a sense for the number of people currently thinking about buying a Mothers’ Day gift – and perhaps being stuck for a great idea.

Never fear! ConnectedWomen is here to help with our inaugural Mothers’ Day gift guide.

Forget slippers, chocolates or limp service-station carnations. We’ve hand-picked what we think are some of the most cool, unusual and desirable consumer-electronics gifts for you to give – or receive – this Mothers' Day, May 11:

Ear bling

Sounds nice! These luxurious crystal earphones are part of the Active Crystals range from Philips and Swarovski.

Philips has teamed up with Swarovski, makers of lead-cut crystal products, to create a range of luxury earphones. There are four styles to choose from, each featuring a glittering Swarovski crystal on the exterior of the ear piece. One style, called “Space”, offers a choice of colours for the crystal: violet, jet hematite or silver shade.

The earphones also feature soft and flexible silicone ear buds, polished stainless-steel body and a fabric-type cable.

Click here to purchase directly from Swarovski Australia. Prices range from $140 to $265.

Selphy portraits

Canon's Selpy ES2 compact photo printer currently comes with a bonus gift box. This includes a selection of magnetic photo frames - like the one around this image.

Most of us are used to the concept of digital cameras, but not digital images. They sit on our PC until the hard drive dies, taking with it those precious family pictures.

To help overcome this problem, Canon has introduced the Selphy ES2 photo printer. In addition to printing high-quality photos, you can create post cards, photo stickers and calendars. The printer sports a funky, space-saving vertical design, and a carry handle and optional battery pack for portable photo printing.

This printer is available from Myer and speciality photo retailers for a recommended retail price (RRP) of $249. Buy one between April 1 and May 31, and you’ll also receive a pretty pink gift box with $100 worth of goodies such as magnetic picture frames and photo greetings cards. Ask for it in store.

Fries-day on my mind

Guilt-free chips? You bet. The Tefal ActiFry allows you to cook a kilogram of hot chips in just one spoonful of oil.

You can have your chips and eat them too with this new cooker from Tefal.

The ActiFry uses a patented technology that took ten years to develop and enables cooking with almost no oil or fat. The product comes with a dosing spoon to ensure you use the correct amount of oil. Just one spoonful is used to cook a kilogram of hot chips, which Tefal says will contain only 3% fat compared to 9% in a conventional oven.

The cooker is suitable for other foods as well: seafood, vegetables, chicken nuggets. The smaller quantities of oil mean the ActiFry is also safer to use than traditional friers.

Tefal has cooked up an RRP of $349.95 for this product. For stockists, visit www.tefal.com.au.

Stylish storage

Western Digital's My Passport Elite external had drives are small and stylish.

An external hard drive is just thing to protect and carry all your precious music, photo and business files – if only you could find one that isn’t bulky or ugly. 

Enter Western Digital’s My Passport Elite range. These hard drives are tiny; not much bigger than a deck of cards and weighing just 105 grams. They are also stylish, made from a soft, almost leather-like material that is easy to grip and fashionable to carry. They come in two elegant colours - bronze and titanium – and in capacities of either 250GB (RRP $199) or 320GB ($279). What’s more, they are USB-powered, which eliminates the need for an external power adapter.

For stockists, phone distribution company Synnex on 1300 100 100.

The Zeppelin has landed
Named after its curious shape, the Zeppelin is very high-end an iPod dock and speaker system. It comes with a price tag of almost $1000, but its owners will have the satisfaction of knowing it was designed and made by Bowers & Wilkins (B&W). This British firm’s state-of-the-art products are the preferred monitoring loudspeakers in professional recording studios from Abbey Road Studios to Skywalker Sound.

For the music-loving mum who has everything: the distinctively shaped Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin iPod dock and speaker system.

In creating the Zeppelin, B&W has married top-of-the-line audio quality with cutting-edge design. The larger bass unit sits in the centre of the device and the form tapers towards the ends, where the smaller mid-range and tweeter drivers are accommodated.

Available from David Jones, Apple’s online store and authorised B&W resellers.

Hot blue

The blue bubbles in the Illuma2 kettle are delivered courtesy of a cluster of lights in the base of the unit.

An electric kettle might not be your usual cup of tea for a Mothers’ Day gift, but this one could well change your mind.

When switched off, the Illuma2 Kettle from Morphy Richards has a mirrored stainless-steel finish. But watch what happens when you switch it on. The exterior turns clear, allowing you to see the water, and then lights up in an intensifying bright blue colour as the water boils.

Sure, it’s a bit on a novelty, but watching those dancing blue bubbles has an oddly calming effect – just what you need at morning-tea time. The lluma2 is available from most consumer-electronics retailers for a recommended retail price (RRP) of $139.95.