Gift Ideas for Father's Day

I bought my husband 3 suits and every year he wants new ties. Boring. I always want more camera gear.

I just wanted to share this with you...

My birthday is June 15th so growing up alot of times we would celebrate fathers day and my birthday on the same day. Of course when I was younger I felt like I was getting cheated out of my own day. But as I grew up to an adult I realized how lucky I was to share such a special day with my father.
A couple of weeks ago marked 2 years since my father passed away unexpectedly at the young age of 48. A couple years before that I had bought him a book/journal by Thomas Kinkaid called A fathers memories to his child. After he passed away that book was one of the first things I looked for hoping to find some kind of comfort. When I found it, can you guess what was in it? A bunch of blank pages. I kick myself over it all the time. Why didn't I take the time whenever I would visit to sit and talk with him and fill out a page or 2 of the book? Moral of my story - I think your fathers would enjoy spending time with you and sharing stories much more than some stupid gift he won't ever use. You don't have to spend alot of money on a fancy journal. Go to the dollar store and buy a spiral notebook. Better yet - have a video camera? set it up and record some of your conversations. Whatever you do - appreciate what you have today.

My father died about 8 years ago this week, right around Father's Day. I was really not too sad, he was ill for a long time, and he was old. But I have very little video of him as I focused mainly on the little children. Now I have pictures, but maybe only a few seconds of real video of him. It's hard for me to be in any pictures or video, I don't like seeing myself. But I force myself to be in some pictures so my kids will have a time capsule of me in the future. Yes, your message is appreciate, Kim.

Suzie, I know what you mean about hating to be in video/pictures. I'm the exact same way. I even hate hearing my own voice so my answering machine and cell voice mail are the pre-recorded voices that they came with. haha. I have a BUNCH of video of my niece and figured there would be something of my dad on there.... I only found a couple seconds with him in it - most with his back to the camera. But there is his voice in some so thats nice.
I will always be grateful that my father passed peacefully in his sleep - I've watched too many people suffer from things like cancer.

My great grandma kept a daily diary - sure do wish I could get myself to do that. Just never seems like there is never enough time in the day. Funny though that if you think about it - what would it take - 5 minutes to write something quick. She also wrote ....hmm.... guess I would just call it a mini book when she was older... probably in her 70's... just about stories of herself growing up. I always enjoy reading that once in awhile. Things were so much simpler in those days Its funny to read about what "normal" life was like back then. she was born in 1912.

Yes, time is the best gift one can give to someone else. My Father told me this when my wife became pregnant with our first child. "You spend time with what you love" He told me that was all I needed to know about parenting, and he was so right.

I'm a dad and don't really care for a father's day. My dad also never care about father's day. We agree that it's just another day for marketing agency to make money.

I'm sorry to be a party pooper for this thread, but a simple kiss from my kid and saying "Happy Father's day" is more than enough for me.

We make a real big deal out of it. All the Kids and the Grandkids will be here tomorrow for a cookout. They know I do not like the presents aspect of it, but I love the presence aspect of it. Again it is the time to be together that really means something in the long run.