The Rogue Parent

Gifts for Dad: The Seven Food Groups of Gift Giving

It may sound strange, but there’s a lot of people out there that think it’s hard to find a great gift for the dad in your life.  I say that’s crazy.  If you stick to the seven main gift food groups you’ll be sure to get him exactly what he wants.  Here’s the secret for gift buying, a gift is best when it’s something the recipient wouldn’t go out and buy for himself.  Don’t go into Christmas morning with a gift for dad and then, “TADA… it’s a new shirt for work!”  That’s the equivalent of a guy giving his wife a mop.  Now if you stick a new shirt under the tree, that’s fine as long as it’s not the ‘big gift.’

Now, Here’s the seven main ‘food groups’ of gifts. Stick to these and you’re gonna knock his socks off (note that socks are not on this list).

Gadgets

If it’s shiny, has buttons and solves an everyday problem; then you’ve got a surefire great gift.  Perfect example is the digital photo frame, such as the one shown here.  My wife got me one just before our daughter was born as a gift and I use it every day.  It’s easy to update the pictures of  our rapidly growing family, is a great little showoff in the office, and saves me from having to have countless frames and old pics laying around.

Digital Photo Frames at Amazon.com

Outdoors

Connect with the caveman in your husband or dad and get him something for the great outdoors.  Yeah, most likely it’ll never get used and if it does, not for the right purpose.  It will give him something to play with in the garage and likely lead to thoughts of a family camping trip.  A perfect gift for dad in the outdoors gift group is a magnesium fire starter like the one shown here.  It’s perfect for starting a fire quickly without matches.  Yes, like I said, he’ll probably never use it, but it’s an awesome stocking stuffer.

Fire Starters

Sports

Nothin’ says lovin’ like a regulation New York Giants football helmet.  Unless your man is a Dallas Cowboys fan… Then you might want to consider a can of tennis balls or a nice apron.  Really though, any kind of sports gear or his favorite teams jersey, hat, gear, etc is a perfect gift.  Though a word of caution: Make sure you do your home work on what he likes.  If you’re buying him a jersey, make sure you know what player he likes.  Also, and this is important, the more authentic the better.  If it’s just a cheap imitation, his buddies will spot it in an instant.

Great Gifts for the Sports Fan

Tools

“Wow, this is the perfect Christmas gift and I can’t wait to get up and do the dishes.”  Which is what you’ll hear when he opens up a Gerber or Leatherman mulit-tool this year.  That’s because you just satisfied the 4th gift giving ‘food group,’ which is the unexplained need for a new awesome tool.  You’ll also get this response if he just opened anything from Dremel.   Here’s an important fact about tools, stay away from those cheap 101 piece tool sets you find at Target, Wal-Mart or your other retailer.  They scream, “This may be a cheap screwdriver, but I’m the real tool.”

Multi-Tools at Amazon.com

Entertainment

This one is easy, get dad a cool entertainment device.  This includes a cool universal remote like the Harmony One by Logitech, a gaming console such as the PlayStatio3 (reviewed by the Rogue Parent here), Ipod Touch or if you’re awesome you can go with a giant LCD TV.  Why do dads like this stuff so much?  Why is the sky blue?  It’s simple, in reality, dad’s have very little control over life and an awesome piece of entertainment gear gives them full control over their viewing/listening options.  And yes… we can watch Blues Clues on it.

Electronics Shopping

Debauchery

Sometimes dads need to have some dad time, which is where a gift of fine spirits and cigars are needed.  Again, like the sports gift group, you want to pay attention to quality.  It’s better to get a nice small bottle of Talisker single malt scotch than a big bottle of something you found at a grocery store.  Odds are the dad in your life has a brand they like the best but couldn’t afford on a regular basis.  That’s the one to get.  Since a quiet time on the porch with a glass of fine spirits and nice cigar are so rare, go with the quality.

Toys

Kinda simple, just because he’s all grown up doesn’t mean that he doesn’t think toys are cool.  Might I recommend a remote control car or Nerf dart pistol.  I’ve been seeing remote control construction equipment a lot lately on our trips to Costco and would love to be able to rule our daughter’s sandbox with a massive construction project.  I know you’re thinking getting your dad a toy is silly, but trust me on this one.  No matter how old dad may be, it’s always cool to nail a big jump with a remote control car to hit the bull’s eye with a nerf dart from across the room.

Cool Toys at Amazon.com