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. Ideal father’s day gift for my dad? He is easy–tools of any kind. The excitement over some new saw always amazes me. Best gift for my husband-a day of no kids and a round of golf. We’ll see what we can do about that one.

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  2. My dad’s perfect father’s day gift is easy, and one I’ve been giving him probably for the last ten years. Gift certificates for rounds of golf, and a series of Sunday mornings where no one asks him to do anything, so he can play guilt-free.

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  3. We’ve recently had twins. They are lovely and delicious, but they wake up every hour. For my husband’s first father’s day gift I’m going to let him sleep in.

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  4. My father passed away, but for my husband the best gift would be the Enertia Electric Motorcycle, but since i cannot give him maybe i can distract him with the lazy Sunday kit.

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  5. Best gift for my dad this year? If I were able to fly home and see him. Just moved to DC from Oklahoma, and I LOVE it, but I miss my family!

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  6. Wow – just reading through these comments gave me so many gift ideas. For my hubby’s first father’s day (last year) I gave him a stepping stone imprint of our daughter’s feet. He liked it, but I’m sure he’d say the perfect gift would be a day of golf and fishing… Too bad – I force the “mementos” on him instead. This year will be a mug with our daughter’s handprints…

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  7. 1. It would be great to see my Dad on Father’s day but since I will not, I’ll do up a care package for him and mail it.

    2. if I was with him for the day, it would be his day to decide what he wanted to do –> anything from going for a drive to painting the house. Something to do together. Of course, with siblings also wanting to spend time with Dad, there would have to be a time restriction or ask them to join in!

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  8. Time. Corny, I know. But my husband just wants more time to hang out with his family. Make breakfast on the weekends. Go to the park. Or not. A weekend without a schedule would be the best gift.

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  9. I got my husband tickets to the circus for father’s day so we could take our 3 year old for his first circus trip. Something tells me he’d rather have that slot radio…and my own dad? He’s holding out for the ice cube tray and bourbon.

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  12. For my dad? A trip to Kansas City to cruise around all the places he liked to go as a kid with stops at his favorite BBQ and burger joints. While listening to his new Sandisk slotRadio;)

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  13. i confess that i want these for myself… but i think a good father’s day for my husband would involve sleeping in a bit, a nice breakfast out just the two of us, maybe with newspaper/crossword… then play time with our two year old… then maybe some time to himself to play music or read or play video games. doesn’t sound hard, right? try living with our very willful toddler. everything is hard! 🙂

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  14. For my dad, any loud power tool for outdoor use. He would LOOOOVE a chain saw but I’m afraid to get him one! He’d probaby cut a tree down on top of himself. He’s very Tim-the-toolman-Taylor.

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  15. My dad is the biggest dork in the world, so his PERFECT father’s day gift would be a chance to be on Jeopardy! (and kick ass) and maybe a new train set. No joke, he’s a grown man that plays with trains. I come by my dorkiness naturally.

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  16. My Dad is 85–I was an “oopsy” baby when they were 40. He likes to say I kept them young. But now he’s at an age where life is starting to take things away from him. I’d love to give him something he didn’t even know he wanted (and believe me, he will). Thanks for this, Maggie 🙂

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  18. My dad asked me to go buy him underwear for Father’s Day once. I was a bit uncomfortable buying it, but he was thrilled when he unwrapped it. No huge surprise I guess – he once had big gift baskets made up, filled with Pantene Pro-V shampoo & conditioner – he is all about the practical gift-giving.

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  19. My did is a really sentimental guy, and he’s the kind of dad who just beams at you when he sees you. These days, when he sees me or my sister he’s started tearing up which means we’re away too much.

    My dad’s best father’s day would be having my sister and me show up at the cottage and have all of us including my mom cut up fallen trees, haul and chop the wood (talking about natural science or chemistry or how awesome original Twilight Zone is), then mix up a gin and tonic and go for a swim (with masks and flippers to see the fish under the dock).

    We’re all grown up, but only technically!

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  20. The best thing we ever got my dad was an afternoon of hang-gliding. We’re all fans of the day-long experience-type present, rather than the wrapped kind. Because in a day? You can get a lot of stuff. Between food, drinks, hiking, and the hang-gliding itself, my dad was in hog heaven.

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  21. The best Father’s Day Gift for my dad would be to get my little bro out of the pokey and for the 3 of us to head down to South America to go backpacking and fishing.

    Currently, the best Father’s Day Gift, according to him, was a duet version of Laura Brannigan’s ‘GLORIA’ that my brother and I with us both dressed up in drag. My dad’s a pretty straight-laced (ex-Army, very Southern) guy, but he loved this. A lot.

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  23. The best father’s day gift would be to get my dad a job that he loves in the city he wants to work in! that’s a tall order and I can’t do it – but I wish I could 🙂

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  24. Did I mention I was 11 and my brother was 6? He was dressed up like a Solid Gold Dancer I was dressed up like Robert Palmer. With long blonde hair.

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  25. My dad’s long range retirement goals include being an organic avocado farmer? So I usually get him avocado trees, or pruners, or gloves, or something.

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  26. The best Father’s Day Gift for my dad would be a vacation! In lieu of that, perfectly-square ice cubes floating in caprihanas (that he didn’t have to make), drunk on his deck, would probably be a close second.

    I think his favourite Father’s Day gift I ever got him was an ashtray. I was four and he has never been a smoker. He still has it.

    Thanks for the list 🙂

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  27. Hi Maggie!
    This year, I got all the dads in my family something from a previous list – was it yours or Heather’s? I don’t remember – anyway, the Flip video recorder. And if I don’t win them, I’m totally buying those ice cube trays.
    Thanks!

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  28. The perfect father’s day gift for my dad would be time spent with his whole family. With six kids and numerous grandkids all over the United States, it’s been difficult to all get together. We’re hoping to give it to him next year!

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  29. It’s hard to buy for my dad — he’s pretty much got everything he needs. Not being very creative, my sister and I have gotten him more than his share of flashlights and polo shirts! These days Father’s Day is mostly about spending the day together as a family (with possibly a movie). This is something that sadly we don’t do very much anymore…

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  30. The ideal day for my dad… Wake up before the sun’s up, spend the morning fishing, lunch in the fishing boat or sitting on a large rock beside the river, followed by disc golf at the park. As usual, he’ll win, but I’ll give him a run for his money. Sounds like a perfect day to me.

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  33. Ideal gift for my dad would be to wake up early on Sunday morning and drive somewhere (not knowing exactly where we’re going is a big thing for my dad – he’s adventurous like that!)while listening to Car Talk and other NPR radio shows. Once we get where we’re going, we find a water hole to go fishing for however long we want and then on the way home, we stop at a hole-in-the-wall diner, drive-in or dive for the thickest chocolate shake and greasiest cheeseburger you could imagine. Ahhhh… Perfection.

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  34. I’m pretty sure my Dad’s perfect gift would be a completely free day. He gets up at 4 in the morning to head to work and comes home around 6 and fulfills the duties of both parents because his wife is just exhausted from the day being a housewife with a nanny. Right now, even if he’s got the day of work (which is rare) he’s expected to take the family out for a full day of fun and exhaustion. He never gets a day to himself, so anything relaxing and a kindly worded letter to his wife to lay off for a day would be perfect.

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  36. My dad loves sailboat and lighthouses – one year we were able to take him on a sailboat trip PAST A LIGHTHOUSE – too good for words! Of course, my mother white-knuckled the whole time (sailing can be scary!)

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  38. My Dad has always enjoyed having me detail his car, bake him something chocolaty, and make him a card. He’s frugal, impossible to shop for and hates surprises, so this is the combo that always works for me.

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  39. Well, I’m not getting anything for my real father this year (very very long story) but for my stepdad, the perfect gift would be a day off to do whatever he wants – he works far too hard!

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  40. Best Father’s Day gift for my dad would be a family outing to an amazing restaurant where no one whined about not liking the food or cajoled him about eating too much unhealthy stuff, and instead we all just talked and laughed and ate and drank for hours.

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  41. The perfect gift for my dad this year would be for his daughter to find a job and move back out of his house. Since I don’t control the economy, the restfulness of Top 40 tunes and perfectly iced cocktails would be a great substitute!

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  43. The best gift for my dad would be tickets to a Florida Seminoles game and some nice frosty cold beer. Or – if on a budget, just the beer.

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  44. my dad is retired so everyday is father’s day. i’ll probably just bring the bourbon…and peanuts, he loves those.

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  45. My dad never asks for much but if we’re dreaming big here, I’d surpirse him with a family trip to Montana. He loves the outdoors and I think that’s his dream trip to take with the family.

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  46. I would love to send my dad to Scottland to play golf. PERFECT father’s day gift for him….maybe one day.

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  49. I think dads are hard to buy for. But, I think the perfect gift for him would be fishing in Alaska.

    More realistically, he usually wants some sort of tool.

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  50. I’m all about giving time and/or an experience as opposed to stuff (which I say as I’m trying to win stuff), so a good steak dinner or a trip to the state fair in a couple of months. Oh, and of course, I’d bake up his favorite treats.

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