First Father's Day Gifts

My baby (now 4 years old) was 3 months old for my husband's first father's day. I made t-shirts for both of them at tshirtdeli.com (they also have stores in Andersonville & Bucktown) with their silly nicknames on them. Very cute. You can basically design a shirt with any saying you want; they charge by the letter so don't make it too long! My husband loved it and still wears his. I saved my baby's shirt as a keepsake for her for when she's older.

I bought black and white 35 mm film that can be processed like color film. If you have digital, you can do black and white or sepia. Take a photo of the two together. Put it in a frame...there were a lot of great ideas about mattes and others. The black and white brings out details that you never see in color. 12 years later he still keeps it in his office.

Go to PersonalCreations.com, they have all kinds of very cute things for Father's Day. I have gotten many Mother's and Father's Day gifts there. They have personalized shirts, mugs, frames and much more. Some are just personalized with words and others with pictures. Pretty reasonable prices too! Just allow about 2 weeks for delivery, I have always gotten my things very quickly but you never know.

Make a card/letter from your daughter. Type up a "Why I Love Daddy" list....or "Reasons I Have the Best Dad is the World". Trace her hand at the bottom.

This is a list you can do every year which will highlight the things they share as she grows. Now it will be things like "he kisses my belly" or "is a warm place to sleep". When she's older it may be things like "he helps me tie my shoes" or "lets me have 2 desserts". A nice tradition to start (and maybe Daddy can do the same for you on Mothers Day).

A little scrapbook would be cute (one of the mini, 6x6 ones with just a few pages), maybe talking about all the great things they're going to do together in the future. Or there's this company that will take a fingerprtint of your little one and put it inot a silver or gold (or some other metal)disk/pendant for a really cool keychain or necklace if your husband would wear jewelry. The website is www.jewelrythatmatters.com - I've always wanted to get one, but they're on the pricy end. Good luck!

For his first Fathers Day, I had an extra-wide matte cut at Micheal's for a few bucks and decorated it with baby footprints and handprints in primary colors. (the matte was cut to fit a 4x6 photo inside, and a larger frame I already had outside.) The photo that went in the matte was of the baby making the prints (all covered with finger paint on our patio.) Cute, cheap, and fun to do.

K.,

I started this tradition with my kids and my husband loves it! A picture. I go to picture people and they do an awesome job of my kids (all 3 of them). It is fun to see how they change and grow from year to year.

Hope this helps!
You could also do a card with a handprint on it of your daughter. This is always precious.

L.

Hi K.,

Last year was the first Father's Day for my husband. We had twin girls that were just under a year old. I ended up having a professional photo sitting done of me and our girls as his gift. He proudly displays them on his desk at work. Since my husband plays baseball and is a big fan of the Cubs,I opted for pink Cubs outfits for the twins and a pink Cubs t-shirt for me. Since your little girl is 3 1/2 months this would be a perfect time to start documenting her age milestones with pictures. Is there a certain hobby or sports team your husband enjoys? Cars, sport, golfing, etc. You can incorporate that into the theme of the pictures. I used Kiddie Kandids for the pictures. There are many other children's photo studios that are inexpensive and do a great job. JCPenny, Target, Sears, Picture People, etc. Good Luck and Enjoy this first year with your new little joy, it will fly by.

Hi K. -
Congrats on the birth of your little girl.
For my husband's first father's day, I got him the following book:
Why A Daughter Needs A Dad - 100 Reasons. By Gregory Lang.
You can find it anywhere - amazon/borders etc
This was a cute little book that helped him to realize all of the fun things in store for the future with his brand new little girl.
I also got him a journal book called: Between Me and You Dad...a few things I have been meaning to ask. By Sand Dune Publishing. This is a journal of questions about his specific life and his views and opinions on things. He would fill it out and complete it and pass it on to your kids so they can always have those thoughts/memories forever.

Good luck!
M.

For our first father's day we planted a tree for my husband and each year we take a picture in front of the tree with our firstborn. I have boys but another great idea is a handprint baseball. If your husband loves sports it a keep momento that he can keep in his office. The link is below. The company is Mama Bebe. I have done one for each of my three sons for father's day.

http://www.mamabebe.com/habakitgrfor.html

How about getting a picture of you and your daughter together - surprise him. Don't let him know you're getting the pics taken.

Then put it in a nice 5x7 frame. You can get an engraved one at Things Remembered. Maybe something that says, "Someone loves you" or "Daddy's girls".

Did something like that for my husband after our second girl was born. He loved having the photo on his desk at work. (I never got more copies of the photo which made that ONE, that much more special.)

My hubby wears tie,,,so I had a tie with her photo on it..he loved it!!

V.

Hi K.:

For my husband's first Father's Day I took my son to one of those paint-a-pot shops and painted him a coffee cup (he is a coffee drinker at home). The colors I used were in his college colors and on one side I put our son's footprint and on the other side his handprint. Then I painted Daddy down the side. 4 years later it is still his FAVORITE coffee cup! The paint those shops use is non-toxic and wipes off of the baby's feet and hands very easily with a diaper wipe.

Hi K.,

How about silver cufflinks, one engraved with your daughter's initials and the other with her birthdate.

Saw the idea somewhere and thought it was cute.

www.snapfish.com/newfordad

For my Hubby's first Father's Day I made him a photo story book (you can make them at any of the photo websites... Kodak gallery, snapfish, My Publisher, etc.) You can include photos as well as captions/a story. I titled our book "My First Year with Daddy" and included pictures from my daughters birth (the first time Daddy held her-the week before Father's Day). Needless to say, my hubby loved the present and now he has a special little book about him and his little girl.

I don't know how UNIQUE this idea is but I bought my husband (from Target...it's on Amazon too I'm sure) a book called, "Why a Daughter Needs a Dad". It's a coffee table type book with little "words of wisdom" and cute pictures. My husband is a bit of a softie and he can hardly open the book without welling up. It's a nice, inexpensive, not a ton of work on your part, sentimental gift.