I Got Your Dad a Present

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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!

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370 thoughts on “I Got Your Dad a Present”

  1. My worrying husband told me today that the best gift ever would be if I would implant a GPS tracker in our 5-year-old’s ass.

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  2. The best father’s day gift for my dad would be for somebody to transfer all of his records to digital files on his computer and then put them all on CD’s. But over 6000 records is a big chore!

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  3. If I lived in the same country as my dad, I would totally make his mom’s apple pie for him. Instead I got him a gift certificate to his favourite vintage tractor parts store. Yeah, he’s that kind of dad.

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  4. The PERFECT gift for my Dad: two tickets to a Cleveland Browns game. He would, of course, take me. That way, he gets to spend the day with his favorite daughter watching his favorite sports team play his favorite sporting event. And, then when I’m there, I’d buy him a beer or two or six. ‘Cause nothin’ greases up the old “when I was your age” stories that I CANNOT GET ENOUGH OF (and I’m totally being serious) like some rot gut Budweiser from a keg. Come to think of it, that’s the perfect gift for me, too! 🙂

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  6. For our 21st birthdays my dad took each of us kids (we are 3) to the city of our choice, anywhere in the world. He was a pilot and it was an incredible opportunity to spend time with him exploring a place we’ve always wanted to go. For this Father’s Day, I would love to return the gift.

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  7. My dad loves bouncy balls for some reason, so a big bag of bouncy balls would probably be his ideal father’s day gift.

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  8. My father took care of me completely when I was sick for nearly 3 years….and had to have an organ transplant. He stayed with me in my hospital out of state for over a year….fixed my medicines when I got home….handled all the insurance issues….and has done anything he could to make life better for me. Now that I’m better and getting back into life, I think that he’s a little lonely…..so I think that the best present to give him would be a cruise somewhere tropical for he and my stepmom to relax and destress after the last insane years! But I’m sure he’d love the radio too…he’s a gadget guy!

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  10. My dad would probably say to see me and my brother. But what I’d love to give him would be a completed train yard (he loves model trains), complete with a comfy chair to watch the trains go by and a cooler full of beer.

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  11. I love when you shop for my dad! I’ve been wishing you would do that and wondering when you would finally get around to it. Thanks for ponying up just in time this year.

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  12. The best father’s day gift I got my father was this tie-dyed, too small shirt that I made in elementary school. Being the fabulous father he is, he wore it anyways. I think this was the best gifts ever because we still joke about it to this day. He actually wore that shirt out to dinner and with our family. Thank gosh for photos! Golly, I must have been a cute one to get him to do that!

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  15. Ooh, great package! I think my hubs would say that the ideal Father’s Day gift would be my getting up with the kids. Like that’s gonna happen! 😉

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  16. My dad’s been through a lot with his mother this year health-wise and has remained an awesome son and father throughout. He deserves awesome father’s day presents.

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  17. The perfect Father’s Day gift for my dad…I don’t know, because I always get him cologne. I’m not very inventive.

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  18. If all of these items come in pink, then it would have been perfect for Mother’s Day, too! Although the vaguely masculine colors, really neutral, actually, wouldn’t offend a feminine person. My point is, once this cool stuff is in the house Dad is going to have to guard them with his life! This is equal opportunity great stuff! And just who do you think is going to refill those nifty ice cube trays once they are lying empty and warm in the sink?

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  19. I dunno really. I mean, I’d love to get my dad something that he really wants, but that’s a new car or a boat. Otherwise he gets things himself. Punk. But I like what you’ve chosen!

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  20. every year i stress out over what to get my dad for father’s day. this year, i think i’ll make him a hand made card, considering my price point. 🙂 somehow not having money to spend makes this whole thing a lot more relaxing.

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  21. Ideal father’s day gift for my father, would be a day with my son (who is not yet one) where he doesn’t have to be hunched over walking him around all day. My father insists it doesn’t bother him because my son enjoys it so much, but the more man can’t stand upright after we visit!
    As for an ideal father’s day gift for my husband, his first, I have no idea. I suspect it may involve someone sleeping in his own crib.

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  22. I’m so stuck for Father’s day gifts this year that I’m drawing a blank. But thanks everyone for your ideas!

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  23. “The Week” Seriously sounds like the perfect gift for my dad and my hubby. I smell a subscription coming!

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  24. The ideal gift for my father would be a truly easy digital camera that took awesome photos. It would need to be ready to go without fussing, have an extra-long battery life, be able frame the scene perfectly, and then when plugged it into the computer have a super-simple interface for ordering and emailing photos.
    (yeah … there are probably cameras/computers that do this already, but my dad doesn’t have them …)

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  25. The ideal Father’s Day gift would be one that I could actually buy for my dad BEFORE he goes out and buys it for himself. Seriously, every time I have a great idea, bam – he buys himself that present.

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  26. My kids give their dad camping supplies! Because eventually they’ll be old enough to camp without mom and let me have the queen sized bed to myself for a night!

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  27. ha! i was just with my man at Costco earlier today and he exclaimed as we were walking by all the watches and jewelry “oh that would be the perfect fathers day gift!”
    i thought it would be one of the watches glittered in diamonds or something…nope, he was talking about the waterproof pen…only forty bucks too!
    but now im thinking he would love that slot radio…d’oh

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  28. My dad is really not into father’s day, so I’m gonna go with the ideal day for my husband (who’s a stay at home dad). He deserves a day off, starting with a nice fresh brew of coffee and breakfast while I take care of the kid for the day… as for a present, probably an old book, since he collects those…

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  29. A few years ago I put together a fathers’ day movie with pictures and videos of my husband and daughter. It was a big hit… I should think about doing that again 🙂

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  30. My dad would love this stuff. Strangely, I think he’d be most taken with the cubular ice cubes, but hey, I’ll be more than happy to enjoy the other gifts for (I mean “with”) him!

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  31. My dad is an anti-gift kind of guy. But in the once-in-a-blue-moon shot of inspiration, we can come up with the *perfect* gift.

    And folks, that was a cheese-making kit.

    What can I say? A man and cheese is like peanut to butter.

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  32. Wow. You picked some really cool stuff. Even if we don’t win, someone will get a really cool Fathers Day gift 🙂

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  33. we are getting my fil a fantastic panoramic photo of the very small town where he grew up. i am hoping for some tears. we’ll see! i think the best presents are those that bring tears.

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  34. One year I decorated a boring photo frame and put in two photos of him and I together, one when I was about 2 years old and another when I was 25 – sitting on his lap in both pics! He loved it.

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  36. My Dad’s ideal Father’s Day gift would be a family vacation (that isn’t going to happen) or at least a Dodger game with the family (slightly more likely).

    My husband’s ideal Father’s Day gift would be for me to find a job that could support the family so that he can start being a stay-at-home dad like we’ve been planning (not happening so far with this job market).

    I’m sure either of them would settle for your lovely gifts. Maybe split between them. I think I know who would get what.

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  37. I haven’t had a chance to spend father’s day with my dad in a number of years, since I moved to the west coast, but we always make time for a father-daughter outing when I go back to visit.

    This year, I’m making a batch of cookies and express shipping them to him. I figure it’s been a long while since he has had some homebaked goodies, and my dad definitely deserves them.

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  38. That will sure beat the tie or golf accessory I have purchased every year for the last…umm…yes, I read The Mighty sites for ideas…don’t judge me!

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  39. Pingback: … in a Bottle » Blog Archive » Media player for your parents

  40. I never know what to get my dad…which is why going out one-on-one for a lunch date is so ideal, it’s about the time, not the gift. My husband has asked for the morning to go birding by himself – which I’m happy to oblige, as I know how much he’d enjoy himself, and how rare it is for him to have time to himself. These gifts would be perfect then…for me! Just kidding. Really. 🙂

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  41. I’m hoping the best gift is taking the kids out for breakfast so their father can really, truly sleep in.

    I’m fairly sure the best gift I ever gave my dad was my kids.

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  42. For my Dad, an out loud and to his face “I love you, Dad”, which for some reason (even though I love my Dad more than anything) I never seem to say out loud. Life is too short and I must correct this horrible oversight. Also blueberries. He’s mad for blueberries.

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  43. I have NO IDEA what the perfect Father’s Day present would be – my dad is IMPOSSIBLE to shop for. Seriously, I can’t ever seem to get it right. This year I guess it’ll be a little mini-album with pictures of my kids on a hike he took them on a few weeks ago.

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  44. I’ll be out of the country this year for Fathers Day (and my mom’s birthday, but that’s another story), so this year, the best gift for Dad is a cross-Atlantic phone call.

    But normally I’d say an uninterrupted afternoon of golf, napping and good beer.

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  45. My dad’s ideal Father’s Day gift would probably be for us to leave him alone and not mention the holiday. Seriously, he gets annoyed and flustered when people pay attention to him and give him gifts. So we tend to buy him consumables like microwave popcorn and BK gift cards.

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  46. My father was never big into the holiday, so I always made him a card. I’m getting to the point though that I really need to start being more inventive. 🙂

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  48. I wish I could surprise him with a road trip to Nebraska, where he grew up. If it could just be and him, and he could show me places, that would be just perfect.

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  50. My dad is also so hard to buy for. We usually try to all get together and have a meal together which makes him happy 🙂

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