7 Father’s Day Gift Ideas – By A Father!
Father’s Day is not far away…so still plenty of time left to collate all of your Father’s day gift ideas so that you can make sure that you get the best and most suitable gift you can think of and afford for that most amazing man in your life. Because that’s how much thought goes into right? You’re not just going to buy beard oil, BBQ tools or socks are you?
And current fathers, that’s just one month left to make sure you drop enough hints to whoever might be buying you a gift so that they get you something you would actually use, cherish or love. Actually, scratch that, it is likely that a lady is in charge of buying this gift for you and they tend to be far better organised than us blokes at buying gifts, so you probably only have a couple of days left. Unlike us they don’t go to the shop the day before or the 24 hour garage the night before to buy gifts.
Now my own father passed a few years ago, and he is missed every day, but as well as raising a glass of whiskey to that great man I still take some enjoyment on Father’s Day by seeing my own children do their very best to remember I exist. Handmade cards from the two older kids with terrible jokes in are a genuine delight, and this year sees the inaugural gift from baby M…but I’m not writing this in the expectation that I will get anything on the list below. I suspect I’ll get a Toblerone.
If I did have the nerve to make some suggestions to my own family then here are 7 Father’s Day gift ideas I would put forward…so they get a genuine dad seal of approval:
Personalised Father’s Day Football
These were first on the list for great Father’s Day gift ideas and they are not something I have seen before. It’s one of those gift ideas where when you see it you wonder why no-one has done it already?
Available from Exclusively Bespoke, these balls are full size (size 5) in a patriotic red, white and blue design and are hand-stitched. They can be personalised across 3 of the front panels with your own message, as the picture shows. The website states that 3 lines of 19 characters (including spaces) can be included in your message, which is enough for pretty much any message.
I particularly like the idea suggested on the seller website that they are a great thing to get signed by using a marker or Sharpie pen. So if there are 2 or 3 of you all scratching your heads wondering what to buy your dad then club together and order one of these and you can all sign it, along with dad’s grandchildren.
Price: £24.99 – order online direct from Exclusively Bespoke
Subbuteo Football Set
Continuing with the football theme, and with Euro 2016 kicking off next month, this is a gift idea that takes me right back to my own childhood. With my older boy just turned 9 years old I’ll probably end up buying him a set myself if no-one steps up and gets me my own!
If the dad you are buying for is a football fan then look no further. Fans of all ages will love this new re-energised Subbuteo set. No longer do players need to be glued back together having broken from the base yet again, which is my most persistent memory of the game in the 1980s. We are promised that the new player characters are stronger with far greater flexibility.
The new Subbuteo players also feature different colour football boots and hairstyles, which is kinda cool and reflects the vanity of today’s players.
Not sure if you get WAG models in the set, holding little plastic divorce papers, but this is the pinnacle of tabletop sports gaming and has the added bonus of keeping the kids off the iPads and Xboxes while they put their figure-flicking fingers to the test.
Price: £39.99 is the RRP, but plenty of major retailers seem to have deals so check the usual suspects such as Argos, Toys R Us, Amazon, etc.
Star Wars 3D Metal Model Kits
Pretty certain I’d be happy with one of these and they are sensibly priced too.
Precision-cut 3D metal model kits of the most iconic Star Wars ships. There are four different designs and they don’t require glue or soldering.
Choose from X-Wing Starfighter, Tie Fighter, R2-D2 or Millennium Falcon. 2 metal sheets are included along with full illustrated instructions for each model. They aren’t particularly big, so don’t be misled by the image. I found the dimensions on the website and this Millenium Falcon is 2.85″ x 3.65″ x 1.1″, so no need to worry about them taking up much space.
Perfect for sitting on the desk at work and a few fleeting moments of pleasure while dad builds it.
Price: £8.00 from The Great Gift Company
Personalised Pocket Watch
There is something charming about this gift idea that has really caught my attention. At a price point of £16.95 it is clear that this is not going to be Tiffany quality. I nearly wrote it off because of the price, but having ‘clocked’ the 5 star rating on Amazon and then working through the majority of the 70 reviews it would appear that this would not disappoint when it arrives.
The watch is engraved on the back and you get up to 50 characters. There is also a choice of fonts including Balmoral, Helvetica, Vanessa, Roman, Elegance, Old English, Script and Monogram.
The watch comes in a satin gift box with the chain attached and also includes a spare battery. The turnaround time is quick too, and it looks like it can be with you within 5 days of ordering so if you are reading this a little last minute and still want something personalised and special for dear old dad then this might be the answer. Delivery appears to be free also!
Price: £16.95 – available through Amazon
Black iBed
Love this! Instantly made it onto the Father’s day gift ideas shortlist.
Another low cost gift idea but another one that I can see getting a lot of use and also getting a thumbs up from the paternal recipient. As long as he has an iPad that is.
The iBed quite simply makes it easy and convenient to use an iPad in bed, on a train or plane, in the car (as a passenger!) and more.
It is essentially a tray, filled with microbeads for comfort with a slot to place an iPad (or most other tablets).
It also has a non-slip surface, so you can safely rest drinks and plates on it. A great thing to use for a Father’s Day breakfast in bed maybe?
Price: Just £9.99 from iwantoneofthose.com
Sega Arcade Classic Wireless Game Console
Any dad between the ages of around 37 to 50 probably had some experience of a Sega Megadrive games console during their childhood or teenage years.
I am in that age bracket and recall many happy hours spent trying to finish Sonic The Hedgehog and Golden Axe. Pocket money or newspaper round money would be saved and spent on the cartridges and mum and dad got peace and quiet at the weekend…everyone was happy.
Looking back at 1980s & early 1990s video games really does bring a wave of nostalgia. In their day they were cutting edge; the very height of technology and graphics. Now, when compared to the games available on the PS4 or the Xbox One they are a basic bunch of pixels. The gameplay however was epic, and graphics don’t matter when the game is good. I must balance that by adding that some of the games were utter rubbish, but Sonic and Golden Axe are timeless, and they are both loaded onto this handy little wireless console, along with 78 other Sega games from that era.
This bad boy plugs into the TV, comes with 2 controllers and will keep dad and the kids happy for hours. It is my priciest gift idea, but in the grand scheme of things it might be money well spent and you can justify the price by making dad a sandwich instead of spending money taking him out for Sunday lunch on Father’s Day!
Price: £59.99 from menkind.co.uk
‘Our Family’ Personalised Wooden Chopping Board
I had a browse through a whole bunch of Etsy stores a couple of days ago while looking around for Father’s Day gift ideas. My expectations were not very high and despite hearing about Etsy for a while now it was my first visit. The standard is actually very strong and I was really impressed and there were 7 or 8 other gift ideas that could have easily made it into this ‘Magnificent Seven’ list.
I will do an Etsy-only gift idea list at some point in the future, and probably in plenty of time for Christmas. Anyway, I digress…the standout Father’s day gift idea that I stumbled across were these ‘Our Family’ personalised chopping boards.
They are a really sweet idea and they can include the dog or cat too if that is a ‘family’ member. The price seems very fair for the product and there are plenty of solid reviews for this merchant, forgetmeknotcrafty, who is based in Wales.
The lead time for orders is 2-3 weeks, so get a wiggle on if you are looking to have one arrive before Father’s Day this year. I love all the gift ideas I have featured in this post…but if I was pushed to pick one that I could have given to me I actually think it would be this board. Looks like I saved the best until last then.
Price: £15.99 from Etsy
So there you go, some gift ideas for a dad written by a dad and I really did spend many hours trawling through soooo many gift stores online. It was kinda fun though.
Hope you like some of the suggestions, and please do let me know if any stands out for you or please suggest some other ideas you may have come across.
Happy Father’s Day next month to all the dads out there…collectively, we rock!