Don't Tie up Dad on Father's day - Fresh Ideas for Gifts

by Gail Kavanagh

Ties and socks are traditional choices for Father’s Day gifts, but you can really surprise dad with a wonderful home made or bought gift, given with love.

One of the most unique gifts you can give dad is something you can make right at home, especially if you are a creative person who loves scrapbooking. There are many great scrapbooks available, from miniature to 12x12. Pick one with a good leather cover and create a unique scrapbook celebrating dad’s life and achievements.

Gather together your favorite photos of dad, and make sure they reflect his interests, his passions and what you love most about him. Collect embellishments in the form of tags and charms related to the photos and print out quotes, stories and headlines on your printer.

For example, if dad is a keen fisherman, gather your favorite fishing photos, along with fishing related tags and charms. Be imaginative – beautiful feathered flies can be attached to tags to make unique embellishments. Journal some of your favorite fishing stories about dad and print them out.

The assembled book will be a delight to dad for years to come, and can be customized to any of his interests, such as cars, computers and backyard barbecues.

Another way to mark Father’s Day in a personal and loving way is to create a wall montage of favorite family photos featuring everyone’s favorite dad and grandpa. If you want to add three dimensional mementoes, you can create your montage in a shadow box or in a special coffee table that can be covered with a sheet of glass.

You know dad is a star, but does he know it? Now he can, when you present him with a certificate naming a star after him. At the International Star Registry, stars can be named for people from all walks of life – think how thrilled dad would be to have his very own star, especially if he is an astronomy or sci fi buff. Star kits are available in a range of prices, and you can even pick your own constellation – so if dad is a Virgo, what better than his own star in his own sign?

If dad is an animal lover, come down to earth and adopt an animal in the wild in his name. Wild animal adoption sites like the World Wildlife Fund offer ``adoptions’’ as part of their drive to help save animals in the wild. Dad will receive a pack containing all the information on the animal he has adopted. You can choose a tiger, an orangutan, a reindeer, a penguin and many others.

Dads love to do good, so buy a cow or a sheep – no, not for the backyard, for the Farm Africa organization to help people in poor countries become more self sufficient. Through Farm Africa’s Farm Friends, you can buy chickens, sheep, goats, bees, and camels in dad’s name. The animals are provided to poor rural communities to improve their nutrition and family income. What a feel good way to celebrate Father’s Day.

If dad is already doing his bit for wildlife or the Third World, then he deserves a big pat on the back. How about a title? The Kincavel Estate in Scotland is offering plots of land on the estate, along with the title ``Laird” which means landowner and is equivalent to the English ``Lord.” This is an amazing gift that dad will really appreciate if he has always dreamed of being Lord of the Manor!

Finally, if your dad really is out of this world, why not present him with a piece of another planet? You can buy dad an acre of Mars, Venus or the Moon along with a deed, map and declaration of ownership. Of course, he can’t move there right away, but how he will enjoy looking up at the night sky and knowing he owns an acre on one of the neighbor planets.

These are just a few ideas for unusual and interesting gifts that can be made by you, or sought out on the Internet. Give your dad one of these gifts, and he will never think of Father’s Day as boring again!