Ask the Readers: How Will You Celebrate Father's Day?

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**Congrats to our winners!**

@cmbarry: I will spend Father's Day with my lovely wife & 2 girls!

Angie: We plan on grilling out, with some cold brewskis! His favorite kind of summer day.

Dads are not easy to shop for. Every time I buy my dad a gift, he'll tell me that he can get me a much better deal from "a friend of a friend." And forget about trying to take my dad out for dinner. He simply refuses to ever let me pick up the check, even on Father's Day!

How will you celebrate Father's Day this year?

What's the perfect (and frugal) gift? Are you going to do a DIY project together? Are you taking him somewhere special? We'll also accept shoutouts to your dad!

Feel free to link to a blog post, if you're written on this topic! We'll include it in our post upon the conclusion of our giveaway!

Win one of two $20 Amazon gift cards:

We're doing two giveaways — one for random comments, and another one for random tweets.

How to Enter:

  1. Post your answer in the comments below, or
  2. Tweet your answer. Include both "@wisebread" and "#WBAsk" in your tweet so we'll see it and count it.

If you're inspired to write a whole blog post OR you have a photo on flickr to share, please link to it in the comments or tweet it.

Giveaway Rules:

  • Contest ends Monday, June 14th at 11:59 pm CST. Winners will be announced after June 14th on the original post and via Twitter. Winners will also be contacted via email and Twitter Direct Message.
  • You can enter both drawings — once by leaving a comment and once by tweeting.
  • Only tweets that contain both "@wisebread" and "#WBAsk" will be entered. (Otherwise, we won't see it.)

Good luck and stay cool!

Editor's note: Linsey is on vacation for two weeks, so I'll be taking over the next few Ask the Readers. Thanks for being patient with me. Hope you guys have fun!

Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.

Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


Guest's picture

My sons just gave me an early Fathers Day gift of their time. I had a project going and they helped me finish it. I blogged about it here:

http://www.rickety.us/2010/05/fathers-day-comes-early/

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Emily

My husband was given a fairly new -- but used -- computer by a coworker and he is going to rebuild it to give to his dad for Father's Day. As for my own family, my parents never expect physical gifts from us, so I'll just be making a phone call home (we live in California and my parents are in Toronto, Canada) and sending photos and videos of our 3-mos-old daughter to him.

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matt

Not much this year, my kids will help celebrate with me by just being with me this year. I am sure they will make something and those are the best gifts anyway. I have a whole drawer of home made cards and gifts from them over the years. As for my dad I will send him a card and buy him a lobster dinner when he comes to visit this summer.

Guest's picture

Car wash! I think it's a very frugal gift that I think that any father would appreciate.

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Crystal

I'll be giving my hubby free time from the kids and I to do whatever he wants to. I'll also cook and bake his favorites.

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lostAnnfound

Make his favorite meal - steak on the grill & fresh garden salad - and just spend some time together

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Erin

My dad received his private pilots liscence a few months ago and LOVES flying now. He has taken everyone up in our family except me because I'm terrified! So that's my gift to him...a flight in the plane!

Will Chen's picture

How exciting! I'm sure he's going to love showing off his skills.

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Rylie

My dad is a preacher, so I am giving him some of the books I've been reading lately about finance and self-improvement with highlighted passages that I think would go well somehow in a sermon. He's always looking for sermon ideas, and while the books really aren't religious, I think he can easily take some of the passages and find a scripture to incorporate.

I think giving books you've read away is a great way to give a gift that keeps on giving at no cost to you.

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Ernest S.

I'm hoping to help my Dad save some money by getting him up to speed on some technology. Specifically, I want to help him eliminate with cable bill by building a boxee media computer (to access streaming content), and set-up a VOIP telephone solution. Not the most sentimental gift, but I think he will appreciate it when he sees how much he is saving per month.

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Heather M

Not frugal but my dad who is 71 wants a backpack leafblower, which is fine because he is so incredibly hard to buy for (we will split the cost with my sister). And my husband (for our 3 yr old), well....he is also hard to buy for so for him I have no clue. He is so frugal that I'm sure he would be happy just spending time with the little one watching the cartoons they like to watch with me out of the house.

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p

I see my parents almost every weekend, so no reason to have "special" plans just for that one day. But my sister will travel back home to visit later this month so my dad is looking forward to our family reunion.

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Nicholas

not much planned as of now but I will probably head out to my parents house and help out a bit with some projects they need done.

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Emily

Because my father is so frugal in many ways, we're actually getting him giftcards to coffee shops. Even though it's way more expensive than making it at home, everyone deserves a small indulgence every once in a while.

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HighOrderGuiltComplex

I bought my dad The Sopranos Season 1 used. He loves to watch it on tv but has never seen the episodes that were not cut down and edited for cable. I can get him used because he doesn't care one way or the other (now my mom is a different story :-) ). I don't like buying things new not only because it saves money but also I like the idea that one product can serve many people. I will also pay for his and my grandfathers Sunday dinner out (we eat at the same low cost restaurant every Sun).

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Jessica

Haven't got a father, grandpa is dead - so I guess I'll be skipping it! Don't think boyfriend would like if I start surprising him with father's day gifts quite yet :)

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Michelle Murphy

Me and my 2 daughters will be taking their father, my husband of 20 years out to a nice lunch for Father's Day. Eating out is a special treat that we save for special occasions and what better day than Father's Day! His favorite place is Chili's - he loves their chips and salsa more than anything.

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Karen

I'll be "celebrating" the day by remembering my dad. This will be my first Father's Day without him. He died in July last year. I may go to the pier where we scattered his ashes in September, or I may just sit down and have a good cry while leafing through an old photo album.

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Kristy

Thank goodness my father agrees with me that Father's Day is a meaningless money grab. We'll probably eat together with my parents and siblings... like we do at least once a week.

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Carmen

We haven't made plans with my father yet - perhaps dinner together at their house? If nothing else, he'll get a nice homemade card from me.

This will be a tough Father's day for my husband. He just lost his father in March. On the other hand, by this time next year, I'm hoping my husband will be celebrating HIS first father's day (I'm due in Dec).

Guest's picture

My dad is so hard to shop for! If he sees something that he wants then he buys it for himself! Last year for every occasion that required a gift, I bought him a season or two of a show that he really enjoys. Old sitcoms that he enjoyed fifteen years ago are still funny today, and I know that he thinks of me whenever he pops one into the player.

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Eric

I generally just get my dad a card and give him a call. I'm not sure what he would want, really. Except maybe an iPad which is out of my price range. :-) I'm not able to spend time with him on Father's Day as he lives across the country.

Guest's picture

I plan to take off early from work and spend the afternoon with my dad. We'll probably hang out and then head out for chinese food.

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cwaltz

Father's Day is also our anniversary this year. We will likely grill out and relax and just enjoy time together. Hubby may have to work ut of state for 6 months so definitely we want to enjoy our family.

Christine

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Laila

I just wanna give a shoutout to my Dad! Who else would drive my oldest sister (a truckload of her stuff) from North Dakota to Arizona AND drive me from Florida to Maryland AND then get up and go to work the next day? He's my superhero!

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Therese

Going to take my dad and his wife out to eat

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steven epstein

got him a 25 dollar amex gift card. he likes to shop

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Seth

I'm getting my dad a bottle of bourbon and two glasses of ice.

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Angie

We plan on grilling out, with some cold brewskis! His favorite kind of summer day.

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Duncan

I take my dad golfing on Father's Day. My dad taught me how to play the game so this is something the both of us enjoy even though he hasn't beaten me since I was 12! Maybe this year I will go easy on the old man and let him win.

Will Chen's picture
Will Chen

I try to let my dad win sometimes, only to find out that he was trying to do the same for me. We end up with some epic bad Chinese Checkers games.

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jay

we'll celebrate with his fav homemade meal- fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy & corn on the cob. Then cards & presents from the kids

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Gina

We will have a BBQ

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Holly

Can't believe no one has said this yet...I'm giving him a $20 Amazon gift card...I hope!
(I am alluding to your giveaway, for anyone who doesn't get the joke. HAHA)

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Lisa

First my 2 sons will pick out a family friendly funny movie from the library that Dad'll enjoy and we'll screen a matinee with homemade popcorn. For a present we will dig out the iron-on paper from the drawer, find one of Dad's old t-shirts, find a hip and cool free photo online, add "#1 Dad" to the bottom, print and iron it on, and present the "new" t-shirt to DAD. Happy Father's Day!

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Chris

I unfortunately didn't get to see my father for father's day. I hope those who did appreciate it

Guest's picture
melissat

King for a Day
Make the Dad in your house King for a Day with his own unique one-of-a-kind crown. My son and I made this craft for his Dad two years ago, when the little one was just two years old. I did the cutting and he had a blast putting on the aluminum foil and decorating the crown with stickers. My husband keeps this treasured item on his dresser still. If you serve Dad breakfast in bed, present him with the crown at breakfast. I bet he will love it.

Here are the supplies you will need:
thick paper - cardstock, posterboard or cardboard
scissors
scotch tape
aluminum foil
stickers
markers or crayons
one of Dad's hats
measuring tape

Step One
Take the measuring tape and measure the inside of Dad's hat. This measurement will be the inseam for Dad's new crown. If the Dad in your house does not have a hat, you will need to covertly measure his head, above his ears. Good luck with that!

Step Two
Tape together enough sheets of paper so that it is the length you will need it to be based on the inseam of Dad's hat (or his head circumference if you measured his head).

Step Three
Cut out points in the paper so that it looks like a crown.

Step Four
Cover the paper with aluminum foil. Be sure to cover the inside and outside of the crown completely.

Step Five
Decorate the crown with the stickers, markers and crayons that you have. We used an additional piece of construction paper and wrote "KING" on it, then taped it to the crown as well.

Step Six
Tape one end of the paper to the other end so that it forms a circle. Your crown is finished.

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Thomas Murphy

I will celebrate Father's Day by having my mom and dad over for dinner