It’s Father’s Day this coming 6th September and I am at a complete loss as to what gift to get my Dad!

It’s the same every year! Only with Parents do you end up getting three gifts a year! Birthday, Mother’s/Father’s Day and Christmas!  Mums are easy – anything goes! Flowers, Perfume, Clothes, Food, Spa treatment, etcetera. The list is endless for Mothers!

When I was younger, the classic Father’s Day gifts were Socks & Jocks, T-Shirts, Belts, Ties or Boxer Shorts. On the odd occasion whereby his Electric Razor was broken, (and that I’d saved enough from my pocket-money and scrounged the rest from my other sisters to make this a joint gift!) we’d get him something useful! There was no point in even wrapping the gifts as they were so obvious!

Now that I am all grown up and working for a living, and my Dad having recently retired, I thought “This is my time to shine! This is when I can be inventive with my gifts!”. Little did I know that this was an even bigger task than I thought!

Since retirement, my Dad has had very few hobbies. He likes to walk/go hiking, cooking and watch TV (mostly sport), sometimes read the odd classic book; but that’s about it!

I tried to buy him hiking boots – he didn’t like the way they fitted (they’re still in a box under the staircase – because he is STILL a typical man and does not go back to shops to RETURN things! EVER!). I tried to buy him cookbooks – he said he likes to experiment with cooking and does not want to be influenced by other chefs techniques (besides he thinks he’s a better cook than Gordon “foul-mouthed” Ramsey and Jamie “never-washes-his-food” Oliver)! I tried to buy him DVD’s of TV series or classic sports games – He said he prefers watching the live games (“what’s the point of living in the past?”) and detests long-winded TV shows (Downton Abbey – “kill me already!”). And don’t get me started on “books” – “Read that one already”, “Prints too small”, “Can’t stand the writer”, “The writing is terrible”, etcetera.

I tried engaging him in “New” hobbies. “How about taking up Golf Dad?”; “Would you like to try Gardening?”; “Maybe something in Music, Dad?”. Nada! Zip! Nothing! Zero! “Don’t understand why grown men walk around hills for hours hitting a small ball!”; “Gardening? Do I look like your Mom?”; “Music? What like….. Karaoke?”.  

I tried being modern in my approach to gifts and think about what I give my Mum might also work for my Dad. Aftershave – “I smell like a girl”; Massage pamper session – He kicked the lady masseuse when she got to massaging his feet!; Flowers – He awkwardly said they were “Nice, I never received flowers before! But I love the bottle of wine!” *groan*.

After a few years of “trying” – I finally gave up.

Last year, I just sent cards to wish him “Happy Birthday”, “Happy Father’s Day” and finally (when he thought I’d given up buying him gifts) I sent him a “Happy Christmas” card with flight tickets for my Mum and him to visit me for a month! (Commence spoiling me rotten with home cooked “experimental” cuisine!).  

I love my Dad! I’m essentially a Daddy’s Girl! But the idea of getting him gifts for any occasion just baffles me. After my Mum and Dad came to visit, my Dad admitted that no matter what I bought him as a gift, he actually “loved” it! It was the thought that counted. The fact that I was tearing my hair out thinking what to buy him was what he loved most of all – because it showed I cared enough to make the gifts special – or so he says!

 

This year, I’m getting him socks! Well, maybe a bunch of flowers (so Mum can enjoy them too) and a nice bottle of wine – because I love them, Just. Too. Much!

 

Just a little humorous video from the Jimmy Kimmel Show – Things you have not told your father!