The festive season is upon us – Hanukkah, Christmas and the New Year are just around the corner, plus this year in particular we’re planning party after party to celebrate the end of lockdowns. When it’s your turn to host you need to be smart about it, so here are five high-tech ways to make your life a lot easier.

Set the mood with smart lighting

Plain old lights are so yesterday … these days you can control the mood by changing the colour of your lighting from your smartphone or via a smart speaker using voice commands. The CONNECT SmartHome range covers a wide range of indoor and outdoor lights, from festoon lights (pictured above) and fairy lights to strip lights, lightbulbs, filament bulbs and very funky neon strips that you can use to create shapes.

CONNECT Smart LED Light Bulbs (E14, B22 and E27 fittings)
RRP $10 (white) or $15 (RGB)

CONNECT Smart (E27) G80 Filament Bulb
RRP $24.95 (amber), $29.95 (smoke)

CONNECT Smart RGB LED Festoon Lights
RRP $88

CONNECT Smart RGB LED Strip Lights
RRP $29.95 (2m) or $69 (5m)

CONNECT Smart Fairy Lights
RRP $59.95 (7m), 99.95 (15m)

CONNECT Smart Outdoor Neon Light (5m)
RRP $199.95

From Harvey Norman