WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER: Fathers Day Gifts – Which Cost Little – But Mean Much
It could be as simple as grabbing that to-go cooked chicken at the grocery store, like Jewel, with some potato wedges, veggies, and a home-made card – for just a few bucks. Take it home, set the table with placemats you make (construction paper is fine!) to tell “The Story of Dad.”
Posterboard costs under a dollar at Walgreens. Markers are less than five. Make a poster of all of his favorite things and his best traits… maybe even attach coupons, for a free chore (or more!), 3 hours of quiet time or breakfast in bed, or a day with no chores.
A favorite frame – or a new one from Dollar General – can hold a new portrait or a newly drawn picture.
Fill a jar (like the one that just held the spaghetti sauce) with notes, or candy, or both. Maybe place a treat at the bottom… like the key to a new toolbox. Maybe a gift card for Dicks Sporting Goods.
Make up a song about him, and perform it, “live,” after dinner – maybe a homemade favorite meal, like pizza.
Get to a local nursery, pick up a tree or shrub, then plant it for him, and surprise him. It’s a perennial gift! A Catalpa tree grows beautifully, here in Chicago – and blooms, with heart-shaped leaves, at Fathers Day, every year. I go to ALLIED Nursery & Garden Center, at 53 & Schweitzer, in Joliet.
Have each person write a paragraph about a favorite memory, together. Then fold the pages into a homemade book. This can be done, each year, to create a little “paper library of Dad.”
Just knowing that you took the time to make things special for him will mean the world, this year.
[PS That’s me and my Dad, back in the day. Would give the world to celebrate him, again! And, that’s our Catalpa tree. ~ Mo]