10 ideas for Father's Day gifts

Father's day is right around the corner! Well, for some of you it is, anyway. For me... not so much. Here it was a long time ago (many months!), but I remember how much I worried then and how much I scrambled trying to find the perfect gift. 

I did not have any idea what to gift Partner: buy something? make something? make Oath make something? (because, lets be honest, he wasn't going to do any gift by himself, at 9 months old!) pretend I forgot?

In the end, this is what we ended up doing, but in the process of searching the perfect thing, I came up with some of these ideas:

1. Photos. Be it a big print of the two (or more!) of them or a series of pics of the baby holding letters that spell "dad", it's the easiest way to remind him of his kid and all the good times they have spent (and will spend!) together.
2. Write a little story about how great a dad he is, and illustrate it with some picture of him with your little one. If you are good at being sneaky (I am so not!), you can take the pictures specially for this without him knowing it, like a little secret photo shoot of just the two of them.
3. Handprints / Footprints. Dip your little one's feet and hands in water soluble, non toxic paint and use a sturdy watercolor paper: you can use the dad's favorite team colors if you want to make it extra especial. Or, if you are a little afraid of the mess you can make with the paint, press the kid's hand and feet on a layer of modelling clay.
4. If it is possible, let him sleep in and, when he wakes up, bring a favorite breakfast to bed. This will be specially nice for him if you co-sleep and the baby is an early riser, or if he is the one to get up for night / early morning feedings.
5. Cook his favorite foods and add a little extra: a nice dinner with a special dessert, buy some of his favorite beverage of choice..
6. Pack your bags, put the baby in the stroller or the carrier, and go somewhere you used to go before the baby's birth. Do what you used to do, but with your new addition: go watch a sports match, have a picnic, hike an easy trail... as a family!
7.  How long it's been since the two of you, dad and mom, were alone? Leave the kid with a babysitter and go out for dinner. Then go dancing, or star gazing, or to the movies... do something he enjoys like you would have before having your child: we all know how easy it is for kids to take over the spotlight... let dad be the one there for a day!
8. Buy (or make) the baby something daddy related. A hat of dad's favorite movie character (R2D2, anyone? I know Partner would love it!), a onesie with a funny quote ("I listen to Dire Straits like my daddy", or the more common "I love Dad")... or maybe some matching shirts for baby and dad!
9. Buy (or make) him something non-baby related. He's a dad, yes, but he's also the same person he was before! Go with something you'd gift him any other day.
10. Ask him what he wants, if you have no idea. It's not perfect, and some fathers might not like it, but at least it shows that you care and that you want to do something he really enjoys. His answer might surprise you!

The best thing? You can do a couple of those, as many of them aren't really expensive. What about dressing your kid up as Luke Skywalker while dad sleeps in and bringing him breakfast to bed on a tray where a card with your baby's hand and footprints says "Happy Father's Day, Daddy!". I bet he'd love it!

Oath's mom

A gift for Partner

Today is Father's day around here. 

And, somehow, I remembered! (I have a foggy brain lately, but this I managed to not forget. Maybe I should thank my planner!)

It's scary, though, because I am not a good gifter. Sometimes I am just spot on and give the best gift in the world, and others... others it would have been better to just pretend I'd forgotten. It's that bad.

But as I had two bad gifting days this year (already!) towards Partner, I wanted to put a big effort in today's. It took lots of thinking, but I think that I found something that he'll like.

So, what have I prepared?

First, skipping his diet. I know it doesn't sound like a nice thing to do, but he needs some diet-free days (as everybody does), and what better that using them to celebrate something? Also, this way I can bake something for him (rainbow muffins!) and cook some of his favorite foods (homemade pizza!) before I forget how to do it. And I also promised a microwave mug-cake to him for breakfast. So there's my reason.

And then, this...:

Cthulhu f'thagn!

Look what it says!

(At first I was going to use this pattern from Cthulhu Crochet... but then I started changing it so much that I ended up not following it at all. But hey, I'm giving credit where credit is due, and it sparked my crafting, so there!)

...and this matching card, that Oath and I did together:

Oath played along with my crafty intentions until I pressed his hand onto the paper...

...so I had to do the rest alone.

Ain't he a cute little fella?

The explanation? Partner likes Lovecraft, and Cthulhu is (in my opinion) quite a charming fellow. I've been crocheting Tiny Cthulhus for friends, and he asked for one some time ago... but I decided to go one step further and make a special (and not so tiny!) one for him.

I specially like the arcane symbol in place of the heart (on the amigurumi) and of the "A" in the word Father (on the card). That makes up for the words being completely off-center on both places.

Fingers crossed he'll like it too!

Oath's mom