Father's Day...

[SilverSabre25]

So I have this great Mother's Day gift idea...but am absolutely at a loss for Father's Day.

MEN!!!

You're all so hard to buy anything for! Most Father's Day things seem centered around sports or golf or alcohol or ties...but not all guys like any of those things! Men are much more...individual... in their tastes than women are. Women, you're pretty safe with flowers and soap and pretty stuff (even though we're individual...it's just easier). Men...just aren't that generic!

So, what sorts of Father's Day gifts have you guys done in the past? The traditional stuff won't work for most (ANY?!) of my kids' dads...

[bgmeyers]

Are you on pinterest? There are tons of ideas on there. We will be doing the "my dad rocks" craft. It's spelled out into a plaster of paris type thing.

[Lianne]

We're growing herbs in clear plastic cups and will decorate the cups with facial feature stickers.

[MyAngels]

Last year we did popsicle stick picture frames that the kids painted and decorated. I had the moms bring a snapshot of the kids with their dad if they wanted - I took a picture of the kids who didn't bring one.

The year before we painted and decorated rocks to use as paperweights since all their dads that year had desk jobs.

[MarinaVanessa]

We make our own baker's clay and we amek handprints or footprints with happy father's day enscribed and then we bake and paint paint them. These kinds of gifts are the kinds that my families like most because they can see how much their child has grown.

[familyschoolcare]

We will be painting "coin catchers" They are small white shallow dishes that the children will use paint pens to paint. Still looking for a poem that says something about fathers empeting their pocket for the card.

[DCMom]

I was just thinking about this today, too!

One of the biggest hits over the years was car wash buckets. Dollar Store buckets decorated with handprints and car shaped stamps. I put a big sponge, a roll of paper towels, a bottle of dish soap and window cleaner (all from the Dollar Store) in it.

They were like $5 each because I had all the paints and stamps, etc.

I just did them a couple years ago, so I can't do them again so keep the ideas coming ladies!

[DCMom]

Last year we did photo paperweights. I got glass paperweights with removable bottoms (Discount School Supply, I think?) then had moms snap a photo of dad with the kids for me. I resized them to fit the paperweight, cut them to fit the bottom and put them back together. The dad's loved those, too.

One year was pencil cups; I used juice cans and hot glued craft sticks them, then the kids decorated them with paint pens. Then we filled them with "World Greatest Dad" (or something like that) pencils. Signed and dated on the bottom.

Change holder~start with small 6" diameter white plates (the Dollar Store), decoupage a photo of the child in the center then I used a label maker with clear tape and printed 'Dad's Keys and Change' and stuck it under the photo. Then I let them decorate the perimeter with paint pens. Seal with acrylic sealer. The kids signed and dated the back.

All the dads have been pretty pleased over the years, they usually are kinda forgotten in the daycare craft department.

[Sunchimes]

I have 2 ideas, although after reading everyone's ideas, I may be thinking too small. My kids are just scribbling, so I thought I would take a page of their scribbles and cut out a bookmark, mount it on cardstock and laminate it. This way, they have something the kids actually made instead of something I made.

The other idea is to cut the letters DAD out of foam and put pictures of the kids inside the letters.

I thought about the handprint thing, but I did that at Christmas and I'm not sure that they would want the same thing. There is one exception. I have a baby that wasn't born at Christmas so they don't have a footprint craft. I may have him do one for his mom or his dad.

[Christian Mother]

So I have this great Mother's Day gift idea...but am absolutely at a loss for Father's Day.

MEN!!!

You're all so hard to buy anything for! Most Father's Day things seem centered around sports or golf or alcohol or ties...but not all guys like any of those things! Men are much more...individual... in their tastes than women are. Women, you're pretty safe with flowers and soap and pretty stuff (even though we're individual...it's just easier). Men...just aren't that generic!

So, what sorts of Father's Day gifts have you guys done in the past? The traditional stuff won't work for most (ANY?!) of my kids' dads...

Ohhh!! I love the car wash bucket!! I am stealing that for this yr!!

Last yr Silver the kids and I bought bigger size white coffee mugs at the Dollar store and at Michael's I bought the paint pens for ceramic or glass. It comes in all diff. colors in a package all together. I had the kids rap their hands on it and I drew their handprint on it and then colored it in as a fish with bubbles all around the rim..Something like this...

http://funhandprintart.blogspot.com/2009/07/fish-mug-1.html

The father's all called telling me they LOVED it...made me feel sooo good!! But their children where really proud of the work they did on it also!! For young ones...I did most of the work for them but the older children they where able to decorate on their own.

[spud912]

First off, I go all out for all holidays. I especially want to do something nice for Father's Day since it is what my children will be giving my husband (I'm lazy and don't do anything extra).

Last year I think will be hard to beat. I found a poem about children's hands and typed it into a kid-themed border. I printed it onto special fabric paper (that you iron onto shirts) and ironed them onto large white men's t-shirts (on the back). Then I had the children put their hands into different colors of fabric paint and put their hands all over the shirt (around the poem). I wrote "Happy Father's Day 2011" with fabric paint onto the shirt. My husband really loved it. The only problem is the fabric paper requires some finesse.

This year, I think I will do a scrap-book type of thing and combine several ideas.

Yes, these ideas require a lot of work from me, but again, I don't mind the extra effort because the ones my girls make go to someone special. For Mother's Day and Christmas, the gifts go to my children's grandmas.

[mom2many]

Last year the kids mixed up a BBQ sauce and they decorated the jars with a label and tag. It was a big hit! The dad's all loved them!

They have also made BBQ aprons with hand prints on them. Another year they drew pictures with iron on crayons and I transferred the pictures onto tee shirts.

[AfterSchoolMom]

When my son was in Kindergarten, they painted fist sized rocks, put their handprints on them, and the teacher painted "Dad Rocks" on them...we use ours for a paperweight. It's adorable.

[Recie]

I was just thinking about this today, too!

One of the biggest hits over the years was car wash buckets. Dollar Store buckets decorated with handprints and car shaped stamps. I put a big sponge, a roll of paper towels, a bottle of dish soap and window cleaner (all from the Dollar Store) in it.

They were like $5 each because I had all the paints and stamps, etc.

I just did them a couple years ago, so I can't do them again so keep the ideas coming ladies!

WAYYY TOO CUTE!!! GREAT JOBhappyfacehappyface maybe my hubby will wash my car after this

[SilverSabre25]

Hmmm...I think I like the car wash bucket idea. Or possibly a "Trunk tote" idea I saw somewhere...Pinterest? Basically a nice sturdy box with handprints all over it for containing stuff in the trunk.