I Got Your Dad a Present

design

I got a Father’s Day gift for your dad. But why am I buying stuff for your dad? It’s not what you think! We’re just good friends.

Actually, I’ve been meaning to make little surprises for you guys for years, but it’s kind of labor intensive, and expensive, and I suck at errands, and there’s a lot of reality TV between me and my grand ideas. You understand. I finally got my act together because Sandisk slotRadio offered to foot the bill for my theme-gifts project, as long as they got to pick the themes. Of course, they threw in some slotRadios too. Sweet.

They picked Father’s Day, so I made a Lazy Sunday Kit, which contains restful things. Would you like to know what’s in it? Yes:

The Aforementioned slotRadio
It’s like a walkman, but instead of CDs or tapes, you put in a little memory card that comes preloaded with music you didn’t have to download. This one comes with 1,000 Billboard songs, but you can buy other cards if you like. Also, there’s room for you to upload your own mixes if you want to hear something that’s not on the card.

A One-Year Subscription to The Week Magazine
I’ve told you about this epic magazine before on The Morning News. Here’s what I said:

The Week is a news digest for the impatient and globally curious. Say you had a genius friend who read three-dozen of the world’s best newspapers every day. Then say that friend agreed to write a summary for you featuring all the best stuff he found on every subject.

That’s The Week—excerpts from the top columns, news articles, business deals, real estate, gossip, and even TV listings. Best of all, it’s slim enough to fold in half and read during one good, long soak in the tub. You’ll emerge wrinkled, but utterly prepared for the most arduous cocktail party.

Warning! This will be shipped to whatever address the winner provides. So you’ll need to think really hard about how much your dad means to you.

Oxo No-Spill Travel Mug
A travel mug with an agreeable clicky button on the top that opens and closes the cup when you press it. You could practically throw the thing in a bag and it wouldn’t spill. Genius. Now dad can read his magazine anywhere he wants.

The Perfect Cube Silicone Ice Cube Trays

These make excellent, perfectly cubular ice cubes. I’m including these instead of a bottle of bourbon, because I technically have no idea who you are. You could be like sixteen, and Bam! You’re corrupted. Suddenly I’m a corruptor. Anyway, please use these perfect ice cubes in the tasty beverage of your choice — cocktail or otherwise. Kids, stay away from drugs.

Now, isn’t that a nice present? I think so too. I spent a lot of time agonizing at the mall today. Anyway, if you want it, or your dad does, here’s the deal. First you have to live in the continental U.S. or Canada. If you do, please leave a comment below about the ideal Father’s Day gift. Be sure to include your email address in the field provided (so I can reach you if you win) by June 12, 2009 at 12 a.m. EST. Just one comment, please. I have to delete duplicates for fairness. Random.org will decide who wins, and I’ll contact the lucky via email. I’ll also tell you who won here.

So, ready? Best Father’s Day Gift on record? Aaaand go!

Published

370 thoughts on “I Got Your Dad a Present”

  1. The ideal Father’s Day gift for my dad would be to get up early, take him to breakfast and then spend the day fly fishing with him. When we are done fishing, we’ll stop at the tavern that’s by the river and have a burger and a beer. Heck, that’s a great day for me too! Love you Dad.

    Like

  2. I just finished buying hubby’s Father’s Day gift, one that does not involve pictures of the kids (!)…but since his bday is rapidly approaching I could certainly use two gifts! Intrigued by the idea of the music device. Is it terrible that I actually want these things for myself? Best father’s day gift: A fantastic wife & mother to the kiddos!

    Like

  3. when i was little my dad would read to us every night. a few years ago i found a father’s day card that had an illustration of a father reading to his daughter in his lap. it’s sort of the worst present ever because i did no work at all, but the pair in the picture looked just the way that my dad and I look in my memory. the illustration captures the devotion and love that we fostered during those evening readings. he now has it hanging on his wall.

    Like

  4. We have continued my childhood tradition for Father’s Day…breakfast in bed, a homemade card, and a family outing. We’ve now got a 9 month old and a girl on the way…I’m looking forward to years of getting up and helping them make my husband breakfast in bed. 🙂

    Like

  5. Still have my walkman. Really. But the slotradio thing is so 21st century. And my dad would like it too, I think.

    Like

  7. Ideally, I would live close enough to invite my father over for BBQ and then go golfing. I think those are his two favorite things.

    Like

  8. I wish I could surprise my dad by visiting him in Michigan for father’s day. I miss him and I’m 33.

    Like

  9. Never mind my dad, I want this for me! (Maybe not the Billboard songs. But whatever.) Best father’s day ever was probably the one when my husband was a brand new dad. I have no idea what I gave him. It doesn’t matter.

    Like

  10. I’m lucky; my dad is an avid reader and so for most occasions I can find a book that he will like (something about history or politics will do) and if he can share the book with my brother or I and have a little impromptu book club afterwards – bonus!

    Like

  11. Mines not really a gift, but my ideal thing to do on fathers day would be to go fishing with my mom. My dad and I only talk about once a year now, but back when I was a kid, we’d go fishing, and my mom and I would sing out “Here fishy fishy fishy” like Ernie would, and dad would get totally mad. So I’d rather go fishing with just my mom.

    Like

  12. Best Father’s day gift – was getting to spend the whole day with dad! The usual burnt toast and rubber eggs in the morning, then out to the shop where I’d hold the flashlight, pass tools and the like as dad explained what he was doing. I felt so important.

    Like

  13. Last year, I got my dad a bottle of Jamesome 12 Year Irish Whiskey. He would definitely tell you it’s the best gift. 🙂

    Like

  15. For my husband it would probably involve peach cobbler and not having to correct our children all day.

    Like

  16. I’m lucky enough that my dad doesn’t usually want or ask for much. The ideal thing would probably be a bag of circus peanuts and a road trip to Gettysburg with my brothers and myself (he’s a civil war buff).

    Like

  18. The ideal father’s day gift for my dad would be for the Summer Olympics to be every year, with track and field events being aired for at least four hours every day. Dad would also love a gift certificate to an indie book seller that never ran out of $$, a month-long European vacation, and a totally tricked-out wine cellar.

    But really more than anything, he’d love for all three of us kids and our families to all be back home to hang out, watch sports, and drink wine. 🙂

    Like

  19. I’d love to still have a dad to give a gift to :(…
    But hubby’s father’s day gift is some alone time with the computer. No sticky fingers, no nagging wife, no barking dog. There guy… you happy now?

    Like

  20. The ideal gift for my father? A second home up near me, as he’s been mulling that one over for the past few years. A second home, haha. Aim high right?

    Like

  21. While my father is not a man of alcoholic beverages, he is a man who enjoys a perfectly cubular iced cube, after all, who doesn’t?

    Like

  22. This is probably the craziest fathers day gift ever, but I’m seriously planning on having this done eventually.

    My dad is a computer geek – he got his first one in 1981 for $5000. It’s pretty much thanks to him that I’m as tech literate as I am, and I would love to have our old Apple II GS turned into a fishtank. We’ve talked about it in the past, all you do is clean out the guts and then have it fitted with a custom sized tank. I’m sure the cats would love it.

    Like

  23. My father would love a day when everyone
    walked around telling him how smart, handsome, correct, wise, and useful he is –
    unfortunately, he is annoying, stubborn, self-righteous, rude, condescending and plain nasty….if I win, I get to keep it all just for continuing to let him be in my life!!

    Like

  24. My dad’s idea of a perfect gift would be to wake up and find all of his girls (my mom, sister, me, and my daughter- his only first, and only grandchild at this point) ready to take him out to breakfast.

    My husband’s ideal Father’s Day gift would be breakfast out at a restaurant I would normally veto and then a day spent hanging out with me and our daughter. Pretty easy to please!

    Like

  25. An ideal day for my dad would be going to an early music concert and then out after for Vietnamese… Sounds good to me too!

    Like

  26. the best gift for my dad would be for me to move back to my hometown (or at least within a few hours’ drive of it). the 3,000 miles between us bums him out.

    the second best gift would be for both of us to have the vacation days and/or cash required to visit more than once or twice a year.

    Like

  27. I have no idea what to do for the perfect father’s day, because we never celebrated it growing up. Ever (my dad wasn’t a part of the scene). But now last August my hubby and I became parents, and BAM! I’m responsible for father’s day.
    Here’s my secret plan: He gets to sleep in, pancake or diner breakfast (his choice), have his favourite dessert. If I’m really feelin’ it, B.J.
    This

    Like

  28. Best Father’s Day Gift? The Bamboo Tablet I got hubby last year. Why is it the best? Because I thought of it and kept it to myself and he thought he’d like to have one but didn’t tell me because he thought it was too expensive. It was one of those times we realized that we know each other better than we ever thought possible, which is the most rad gift of all.

    p.s. – Thanks for including Canadians! I heart Maggie!

    Like

  30. My FIL’s ideal gift would be the power to teleport wherever he would like to go. He hates to fly. And the drive from Michigan to Florida isn’t a “quick day trip”. As far as tangible items we purchase for him? Books. Always books…and coffee. And something to keep his coffee warm. He is a great guy who doesn’t ask for a lot. For my Hubby, it would be a subscription to New Scientist. We picked up a few issues while we were in London honeymooning several years ago. But that’s not what I am getting him. (The subs. would be over $70 per year, what with sending it across the pond. That is just too much for us to spend on a magazine.)

    Like

  31. Before I was born, my father had a powder blue mustang. He loved that car – LOVED it. But when I was born, it was not so much useful for carting around a baby and all the stuff that goes with it, so he had to sell it for a more family friendly vehicle. If money were no object, I would find a mustang just like that one he gave up – same year, same color, same everything. I think that would be the absolute BEST present I could give him.

    Except for a grandchild. He’d probably really like a grandchild.

    Like

  32. I think the best Father’s Day for both of us would be if I would magically show up at his house and hang out for a couple of weeks. Got any plane tickets in there?

    Like

  33. Seeing my dad. He lives in Canada with the rest of my family and I MISS HIM!
    I grew up with 5 sisters and a brother and lots and lots of love.

    Like

  34. The best Father’s Day gift could be the very first… Two lines on a home pregnancy test!

    Like

  35. Actually, this set of stuff would be right up there in terms of “ideal” gifts for him.

    You’ve got…
    1. Something for him to read in the bathroom,
    2. Something to fix a current household problem that he’d have to fix otherwise (ice maker has given up the ghost)
    3. Something to keep his coffee warm in during his long shifts at work (he works on a machine that makes paper towels… he needs the caffeine)
    4. Something for him to listen to on the way to work since we live out in the middle of nowhere, with exactly the quality of radio station you’d expect.

    I know my dad’s awesome and all, Maggie, but you may have gone too far this time. My only consolation is that he doesn’t know what a blog is and so is unlikely to know I ganked the idea from his secret admirer.

    Like

  36. The best Father’s Day gift in my husband’s opinion would be tacos from the local taco shop. That is all he ever wants and always asks for. These gifts are awesome though, maybe better than tacos.

    Like

  37. My dad is getting Cheryl and Co. Cookies and a Restaurant.com gift certificate to a great rest. on LI. But what he really wants is guilt-free morning of surfing, a couple of hours on the flat screen to watch un-interrupted sports, a steak/beer dinner and some dark chocolate!

    Like

  38. Best father’s day gift? Telling him he’s going to be a grandpa, and asking him to tell you his secrets for being such a good dad.

    Short of peddling children, I think a token of respect is always appreciated. Perhaps a list of all the things you admire about him, and a collection of trinkets that symbolize the items on the list. Or your favorite memories from childhood, coupled with a drawing or photo that evokes those memories. Or a note about when you realized he was a person, and not an invincible superhero, and how really, that made him all the more super in your eyes. This would go well with a cape or a decoder ring.

    Like

  41. When I was growing up with my (single) dad, he would say, “I love you more than frogs love flies” or “I love you more than bears love honey.” Last year I had my kindergarten class write a book called “I Love You More Than,” and we had it published in hardcover. Their ideas were so adorable- such as “I love you more than the stars love the moon” and “I love you more than Peter Pan loves Wendy.” Dad and I both teared up as he read it out loud.

    Like

  42. I think my husband’s best gift was his first Father’s Day. We gave him an iPod loaded with tons of songs for the baby, a messenger bag emblazoned with her picture and a day totally to himself. Oh! And a bottle of 25 year old Scotch. I got some of that too though!

    Like

  43. I’m quite partial to the spill proof travel mug. 1) Because it is a gadget, and my dad likes gadgets. 2) Because his commute is a measly 4 minutes from our house, and he does not bring coffee on his commute/drink coffee during the week which means I can steal it. Alot. And I like coffee.

    Also, the ice cube trays are pretty cool. Why no links to anything?

    Like

  44. My Dad says the best Father’s Day gifts are foods I make but my mom doesn’t: shallots pickled in balsamic vinegar, garlic pickled with Thai chilis, etc.

    Like

  45. best fathers’ day gift for my husband: he gets to work on any number of house projects without interruption, BBQ a big piece of steak, eat the steak with some roasted potatoes and a lovely green salad and go to bed early, in the guest bed by himself (no kids to “snuggle”)

    Like

  46. My ideal father’s day gift to my dad would have been to tell him we were giving him a grandchild – but I was impatient and told him a few weeks early 🙂

    Like

  47. My husband is getting a portrait of our three sons together in their uniforms (Army, Navy, Marine) and a photo of our daughter. A card was sent to Iraq for my deployed son to sign and send back but mail to his post is e.x.t.r.e.m.e.l.y slow so I don’t know that it’s going to make it’s way back here, then to Cali for signatures, then back here again….in time. It was a great idea but the war didn’t cooperate.

    Like

  48. I just bought my hubby his father’s day gift and I can’t wait to give it to him. It’s a pocket-sized collection of Jane Austen books. He’s asked for it for years and this time I finally remembered to get it for him!

    Like

  49. Since my husband missed his first father’s day on a work trip, I think the best father’s day present would be to be with the little one in question.

    Like

Comments are closed.