I try and give my father a gift basket, full of his favorite sweets, peanuts, chips, crackers. etc... and a gift card to one of his favor restaurants.

Around this house we all used to have problems when it came to gifts, we never knew what to get. Now days we do the 'hint' thing. We go to a store, the mall, someplace that sells stuff walk around window shopping and we say "Gee I would like to have that (pointing and what ever peeks our interest) someday" The other notes it down and when the right holiday, birthday gift giving event comes along we dutifully return to that store, pick out that object, purchase it wrap it and hand it over. Since the adoption of 'hinting' we have been satisfied with all of our gifts.

A girlfriend?

t-shirt with photo of the family helicopter lessons picture in frame tickets to concert or band he likes take him to dinner

Add to any gift a list of the reasons why you appreciate him. Perhaps have it inscribed on a wall plague. Please don't get a joke card. In my 20+ years of working with fathers, it has been rare that a joke card that makes fun of his abilities is really appreciated. I wrote this to "Dear Abby" for Father's Day, March 19, 2005. APPRECIATION FOR JOB WELL DONE IS WHAT FATHERS WANT TO HEAR DEAR ABBY: Today is Father's Day, so why don't we try to do more for dear old Dad than give him the usual greeting card that promotes the idea that all dads are imbeciles, followed by a collect call to see what he thought of the card. (Father's Day is the day when the most collect calls are made.) We should treat our fathers the way we treat our mothers on Mother's Day and show them we appreciate them for being there. Yes, you probably tell your father all the time that you love him, but the minds of men work differently. Anyone can say "I love you," but as men, knowing that we are appreciated for a job well done is what really gets us teary-eyed. Something else you can do -- especially you sons out there (but daughters can do it, too) -- is to make sure Dad has been to the doctor for a checkup, including depression screening. This can go a long way toward making sure he's here on Father's Day next year. I wasn't raised by my father, but by a stepfather. Although we did not see eye-to-eye on many things, I would not be the person I am today if it were not for him. This man, who spent years climbing on top of heavy construction equipment to prepare the ground for many of the homes, businesses, roads and highways of Southern California, now finds it difficult to get into a car. Although none of the houses or roads have his name on them, they are all testaments to his life and the lives of men like him. So today, let's do something extra for Dad, without him pulling out his wallet to pay for it. -- George McCasland, Overland Park, Kansas *************************************************************** Remember, there's a lot of us fathers sitting in nursing homes whose children live too far away to visit. Contact an activities director about volunteering Sunday morning. Read a list out loud about why you appreciated your father.

I was short on money this year...and my father and I have alot of the same musical tastes (cept for the hard rock lol) so I bought a memory stick and copied all of the music I know he would like from my collection :-)

"Things Remembered" has personalized zippos, key chains, beer mugs, vask, etc. while you wait.

My dad is the hardest person to buy for. So I get him the beer of the month or wine of the month. He really enjoys the selections he gets and you can get 1 month or more months if you want. They have other things too like chocolate, gourmet pizza, cigars, coffee, and flowers. I've heard nothing but rave reviews from people I know that I have referred to them. Here's a link to their site for the company that I use. http://www.greatclubs.com/