Good Gifts for Father’s Day

There are (at least) two schools of thought on the Mother’s Day/ Father’s Day tradition. One says that today you get to relish the parent-ness of your life by spending all day with the kiddos doing whatever. The other says something like, you’ve parented well and hard for a year, enjoy the break today! I say a resounding, “Definitely!” to them both. In general, the idea is to let your parent or spouse know that you are thankful for them. Hopefully, you’re doing this more than once a year.

At our house, 1) Dad doesn’t have to do any chores on Father’s Day, 2) gets to pick his restaurant of choice for lunch*, and 3) has a date night with his dudes to see a “boy movie.” We get to enjoy our family and celebrate the father and then he gets a break. It feels like we’re checking all the boxes and how many times can we really say that?

By my count, he’s up to three gifts, but that’s before he gets an actual gift. Our son is at this fun age where taking him to pick out a card is really funny. There’s no telling what he’ll choose. He signs the card himself and we make a really big deal out of the gesture. That lets him know what an important and special day it is, too.

I really love a homemade gift, but that can be trickier for dads who are notorious difficult to buy for anyway. That’s why I’m sharing these truly amazing gifts for dad that you can make at home:

My hubby’s favorite candy in a jar with these free printables from Creatively Christy will be sure to please. Plus, you know how I love gifts in a jar. You can search for scores of other really cute candy bar sayings, too, to customize one just right for the dads in your life.

I know it’s another food-type gift, but I really liked this. You can use these labels from Martha Stewart on stuff like golf balls or a homemade card, too, so it doesn’t have to be food.

This back rub t-shirt from The Blue Basket is easily my favorite homemade Daddy gift of all time. You can print the four pages, tape them together, and trace onto the back of a t-shirt yourself or buy one already made from the site’s shop. I love that this really gets the kids involved, both in making and using the gift!

What are your Father's Day traditions? We'd love to hear about them and they may help out someone else trying to come up with a great Father's Day plan to celebrate their dad, too. Share away in the comments below!

*My husband noted that brunch is not an option on this day. This is a day for meat. I asked his advice for the blog and there you have it.