Father’s Day Gift Ideas for the Procrastinating Child in All of Us

In my opinion, mothers are so easy to shop for. You can go the flowers and breakfast-in-bed route or the fancy jewelry way. But what does my father want? He certainly doesn’t care for flowers or fancy jewelry, and not even breakfast in bed would work. He wakes up at the crack of dawn, so there’s no chance I could make him breakfast. Also we are cross-continental, so there’s the distance factor haha.

We are eight days away from Father’s Day, and all I’ve got planned is a FaceTime call. GAH. I’m the worst, I know! I’m know I’m not the only one in this predicament, so I came up with a list of Father’s Day gift ideas for my fellow procrastinators. I hope this helps you out!

1. A photo posted on Instagram even though he doesn’t have Instagram. LOL I am SO kidding. I think it’s so funny (ridiculous) when people post photos of their moms/dads on Instagram for Mother’s Day/Father’s Day even though their parents never see those posts. Instead, write him a letter. Just sit down with a good ballpoint pen and let your memories flow. Gently reminisce about all the bad dad jokes you’ve heard in your life.
2. A rap. Sometimes you’ve just got to give your old man a good laugh. Or if you’re not ready to embrace your inner rapper, you can always write it out. Nothing like bringing back your elementary school gifts back. But let’s skip the macaroni picture frame, please.
3. A gift card to his favorite store with the promise that you will go with him. My dad shops the bare minimum except when it comes to tech stores. He will spend hours (feels like days) at these stores, quietly perusing the aisles for the newest gadget he can bring home and inspect. Sometimes I think he has more affection for his tablets than for his children (kidding, Dad…sorta).
4. A nice pullover/sweater. I once bought my dad a really nice pullover from Ralph Lauren, and of course the first question he asked is why I had spent so much on it, but I knew he meant, “Wow, I really like this.” Dads, man. *shakes head* They have their own language, don’t they?
5. Tickets to see/hear his favorite musician. Music is a language we can all speak, am I right? When A.R. Rahman is in town, my dad is the biggest fangirl ever. Not familiar with a fangirl? Watch this. Not familiar with A.R. Rahman? He is the music director of Slumdog Millionaire and frankly the most incredible musical genius ever.
6. Along those same lines, you could get tickets to his favorite sporting event. I’m not sure about your dad, but mine is a cricket fanatic. I don’t think I would promise to go with him (sorry, Dad), but one day I’d like to get him some tickets to the world championship of all cricket world championships (whatever that is actually called).
7.  If you’re long distance, order his favorite takeaway (takeout for the Americans) food for him. Even though you can’t cook dinner with him, you know he will enjoy his dinner.
8. A photo of the entire family for his wallet/office desk. My dad has the oldest photos of our family ever in his wallet. I love that he carries us with him wherever he goes.

That’s my list! Of course if you have a lot of money, you can do something truly extravagant. But if you’re like me and you’re working with what you have, try one of these Father’s Day gift ideas out, and I’m sure he will feel special.

What do you have planned for Father’s Day?
Do you have any other Father’s Day gift ideas?

Cheers,