Buying gifts for my dad should be really easy. He’s not particularly fussy, is a pretty positive guy generally, and likes a lot of the same stuff as me. For some reason though, I always find myself fairly stumped as June comes round each year.
I’m not alone here, a study from last year found that 38% of people believe their dad is the hardest person to shop for, with mums way back on 15%. I would have thought mums care more in general, and therefore it would be the other way round. So I’ve started asking myself why it’s like this, and how we can make it easier to buy Father’s Day gifts.
First of all, I’m aware that there will be a lot of overgeneralization in this article. We can’t neatly pigeonhole all mums and dads together, and everyone’s parents are different of course. That said, I know my experience is shared by a lot of people, and there are certainly common traits. Especially with older generations, where gender roles were more defined.
Dads Buy Everything
It’s not that my Dad doesn’t like things, and it’s not even difficult to work out what these things are. The problem is that dads are more likely to buy something when they need it. I’m exactly the same, I love having the right thing for whatever I need to do. If there’s a thing that would help me do something, and I can buy it online for a reasonable price, you can bet it’ll be delivered by the end of the week. So when Father’s Day comes around, unless the reason for having the thing has only come up in the previous week, it’s probably too late to get him one.
Mums rarely have the same obsession with having all the stuff. They’re more sensible, so they tend to only buy really useful things, and make do with what they have when it comes to things they’ll only use a few times.
Also, a lot of mums from my parents’ generation either did little paid work, and often (wrongly) felt bad about buying excess stuff. Or they did, and got lumbered with most of the housework too, so had no time to buy stuff.
My mum was the latter, and maybe the most successful gift I ever bought her was barely even a gift. It was a little kitchen knife, but she just didn’t have one. All hers were too big or too blunt, and it was an absolute game changer. My dad, and myself, would’ve got one long before Father’s Day came around.
It’s All in Our Heads
One reason many of us find it easier to get presents for our mum is that we think of them as emotional creatures, so we just need to think of a nice gesture, something that shows we care. I’m not saying that this isn’t true, I just think dads are more similar than we realize. For a long time I’d only ever seen my dad cry when me and my sister went to college (bless him). Now I’ve seen it loads, which might be because I pay more attention, or because we get more emotional as we get older. Probably both.
How to Make Things Easier
The point is, we shouldn’t rule out how successful an experience, or a personalized gift, can be on Father’s Day. Once we put some of these stereotypes to the back of our minds, there are a few things we can do to make shopping for Father’s Day gifts a little bit easier.
Take Him Somewhere
Dads, it turns out, love going places and doing things with their loved ones just as much as mums. This is a topic that caters to a wide range of budgets. You can go to a show or a concert, play a round of golf, or just go out to dinner. If you’re really on a shoestring, even putting a picnic together and heading out to the park can go down brilliantly.
One thing to be careful of though- vouchers for events don’t work as well. Massive generalization again, but mums are often better at actually making this type of thing happen. I got my dad a voucher for a Broadway show in 2020. I’m still convinced he’ll love it, but because he’s exactly as useless at booking these things in as I am, we’re still waiting to find out.
Get Him a Personalized Gift
Printing methods have gotten far better and far cheaper, so making custom Father’s Day gifts is a totally viable option nowadays. You can print messages, but also photos and other images. Design programs are so easy to use now that you can create graphics that mean something to him, and print them on whatever you like.
What to print on? This is where you combine this new idea with old-school dad thinking. You can print on pretty much anything these days- office supplies, sweaters, hiking gear. So why not find something useful that you can also print something cool on. My dad loves a fleece, so last year I got him one, with a little message to make him laugh. Nothing too obvious, I didn’t want him to look like an idiot and not wear it, but just a little joke for me and him.
Avoid the Pointless Card
Cards are good if you want to say something to someone that you can’t say in person. If you’re going to just write “Happy Father’s Day” in a card, and then hand it over in person (and presumably say the same thing out loud) then what’s the point? He won’t care, and it’ll be in the trash soon anyway.
I use cards when I’m too far away to be able to say anything in person, and for when I’m too chicken to say the thing out loud. So for a meaningful message they’re great. You can also go one further, and write the message on something useful. A book or a notebook is just as good a place to write messages, and might stay out of the trash can a little longer.
Make it Special, but Not Too Special
At the end of the day, you’re trying to do something nice for your old man, and let him know how much he means to you. You don’t want to make a fuss though. Some do of course, but most dads don’t like a big drama being made over them. My kids aren’t yet at the age where they buy me gifts, but when that happens, I think that’s what I’ll want. Something subtle, just a little nod of the head to say- “Dad, you’re the best”.
We hope this has helped you navigate the tricky business of getting your dad something great for Father’s Day. If you like the idea of a personalized gift, check out the huge range we have on offer at Wordans. For more inspiration, check out our Instagram, @wearewordans.
