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Original poster

fathers day gift ideas

124 replies

threeangels · 08/06/2002 22:42

Hi all. I was hopeing that some of you might be able to suggest some homemade gifts my kids ages 12,9 and 19mos can make for fathers day this year. We are kind of limited on funds this year so i thought I would do the homemade idea instead. Im not really too creative with ideas. Thanks.

OP posts:
leander · 12/06/2002 22:58

Could you do a card with her hand+foot prints on?

Mopsy · 13/06/2002 07:35

Simon
I can pinpoint exactly the moment that my relationship with ex-dp started to go horribly wrong - after the birth of dd he refused to buy me flowers, saying they were a 'waste of money'!!!
I would've been happy to receive a bunch of daisies from a field or a single flower costing 50p.
In general he had the same attitude towards celebrations as you do, and frankly after 8 years it just got very tiresome and dull.
For me and current dp, we often surprise eachother with small gestures - eg this morning he posted today's paper through the door with a big kiss written on it - which has got the day off to a lovely start! Little signs to show you love and care are much appreciated.

mollipops · 13/06/2002 07:50

I remember getting a shop-bought (by dh) mothers day card once that actually said "Happy Birthday Mummy" inside. Sigh, at least he got the mum part right!

SoupDragon · 13/06/2002 08:12

I intend making this card for my dh (technically DS 1 & 2 will be making it you understand...)

Paint hand & fingers but not thumb. Print on paper, draw face on palm bit (stick googly eyes on if you've got them) and you've got a spikey haired head (kind of like Fido Dido - remember him?). Not a very realistic picture of Daddy but better than they can manage themselves at the moment!

SimonHoward · 13/06/2002 08:18

Mopsy

I have to admit that I usually cannot see the point in buying flowers as they do die off quickly, but knowing how much my dw loves them I blew all my spending money for the month on getting her a big selection of them so she could put them in vases around the house. She was over the moon when she got them.

I do try to suprise her like this every now and again, or to take her out for a meal and I usually start the day off by kissing her till she wakes up (she seems to like it).

Luckily for me this year dw was not expecting anything on mothers day, next year may be different though as dd will be just over a year old. I will have to see what I can do.

As for the not celebrating things, it has lead to a few arguements over the years as dw's previous husband was even less into celebrations than I was and she wasn't allowed to celebrate xmas or birthdays when a child due to religious reasons. I have tried to be as thoughtful and caring about this sort of thing as I can, but it is so alien to me sometimes it is difficult.

Enid · 13/06/2002 10:53

www et al, we have just made dp a sweet terracotta plant pot decorated with dd's hand prints (a la mumsnet). Happy to report that if you buy water-soluble acrylic paint it is apparently weatherproof and you can use the pot outside, so no need for varnish. In fact, if you varnish a terracotta pot it loses its breathability and isn't so good for the plants.

Rhubarb · 13/06/2002 15:16

Good idea Soupdragon, thanks for that!

Simon, your missus didn't used to be a Jehovah's Witness did she?

SoupDragon · 13/06/2002 15:20

Having just tried it, it works best if you paint the palm of the hand a different colour to the fingers

SimonHoward · 13/06/2002 20:16

Rhubarb

Got it in one.

12 years of it has left some marks that she wants to forget so I try to be as xmas spirited as I can and let her ruin various bits of the house with sprays and sticky pad and tinsel (and before anyone says anything, yes she does do a lot of damage to paintwork, woodwork and anything else that she thinks she can stick tinsel on).

Enid · 13/06/2002 20:23

Simon - sorry, but are you for real? It's big of you to 'let' your wife 'ruin' your house at Christmas.

Thank goodness dp loves Christmas and all celebratory times. And he helps me 'ruin' the house too.

Rozzy · 13/06/2002 21:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

SimonHoward · 14/06/2002 06:41

Enid

I am for real, at least I was the last time I looked.

I don't think it is big of me to let her do it but considering the damage that gets done when my dw does the decorations compared to the very small amount that happened when I did it I do get a bit upset as I'm the one that has to then go and find ways to repair the damage.

On top of that I also have to go round and make things safe afer my dw has made a botch job of of putting them up (cables strewn across floors where people walk, badly secured lights, xmas tree that will fall over if someone looks at it let alone breathes on it etc.). I wouldn't mind so much if the decorations and everything else were done properly and safely and then removed carefully but I'm still finding patches of wall or ceiling that have had the paint removed after the tinsel came down this year.

I think I'm going to have to overcome my dislike of xmas this year and do it all myself as dd will be crawling by then and safety becomes much more important.

While we are on the subjuct though, anyone have hints on how to make an xmas tree toddler proof?

SoupDragon · 14/06/2002 08:40

Put it in a playpen!!

Basically, up high, no breakable ornaments within grasping distance, don't leave dd alone in the room with it...

PamT · 14/06/2002 09:52

Make sure the lights are plugged in through a RCD (circuit breaker) that will shut off the power if anything happens. You can get ones which replace a plug for about £7 (B & Q) or about £12 for separate ones which act like an adapter. We try to put our tree in the corner of the room (less ways to tip over) and for children who are too young to climb you can sort of fence it off with furniture.

Why are we talking about christmas trees in June? Mind you, I suppose they will have them in the shops again next month anyway!

SimonHoward · 14/06/2002 12:21

SoupDragon and PamT

Thanks

I had thought about the playpen idea. Either that of have it on the table out of reach of little fingers.

As for the RCD, the whole house is wired up through one on the maincircuit board, so I'm lucky not to have to worry about having seperate ones.

PamT · 14/06/2002 13:04

Perhaps we go overkill on the RCD's as we have the flick off fuses as well but always use a RCD on christmas lights, lawn mower, power tools etc and have one permanently attached to the extension lead that DH uses for mending computers (after he got a nasty zap from one of them)

Enid · 14/06/2002 14:08

Rozzy, we have a Focus store near us that has a craft section and thats where I got it from. I bought 2 small pots, green and yellow, they were about £1 each.

Rhubarb · 14/06/2002 14:09

Simon - I currently have JW's coming round every week to try and convert me, so far unsuccessfully. They do seem like very nice people though, is there anything I should know? Although I'm sure a lot of bad things can be said about any religion.

Thanks for all the gift ideas, we have just done a card with two handprints on the front, in different colours, one inside minus the thumb for dh's face (very striking!) and two footprints on the back. I'll let her do a few scribbles too when the paint is dry. Knowing him he'll keep it on the mantlepiece for a couple of days and then throw it away! He never gets sentimental about these things, I couldn't bear to throw anything away like that.

Enid · 14/06/2002 14:21

Oh, you cant have it both ways Simon, either do it yourself and stop complaining or let her do it and stop complaining.

Fionn · 14/06/2002 15:25

Rhubarb (and no offence to Simon's wife!) I've heard from several sources that JWs would choose a child be left to die rather than have a blood transfusion. This alone has been enough for me to slam the door in their faces when they call. Apologies if this is ignorance, I welcome diagreement from those who know better...!

Have just helped my 3 year old draw a card for Father's Day. Though I always have to tell dp when it's Mothers Day so he can do the same. And he doesn't believe in presents for birthdays either, as he hates shopping and hasn't a clue what I'd like...It causes a horrible row every Xmas. Mopsy's comments about something similar in her first marriage doesn't fill me with hope...!

Willow2 · 14/06/2002 16:32

Just spent all afternoon sticking photo's of DH and DS into gorgeous album as pressie for Sunday. Now have chronic shoulder ache. But think he will like it. The present, not my shoulder ache.

SoupDragon · 14/06/2002 18:41

Not wishing to turn this into a religeous debate but I've always told JWs to bog off when they come calling ever since they told my mother she could repent for letting me have a life saving blood tranfusion when I was born! I don't have a problem with them as people (had JW friends at school) but the "door knockers" drive me nuts.

Anyway, I too am sentimental about things made by DS1 and have a huge pile of pictures etc. I found the christmas card he made for DH in the bin and was devastated! He tried to throw away a precious mother's day card too but I hooked that out.

SofiaAmes · 14/06/2002 22:56

oh dear, i think i'm just way too commercial. I was going to go out tomorrow with my stepdaughter while my dh is watching the football and buy him an england shirt for father's day. I can't think of anything he would want more other than an audi tt which is not in the budget.
And simon, who has to be religious to celebrate xmas. My husband and I are both adamantly atheist and we have the best tree and house lights on the block. (i put the tree on the upside down playpen to keep it away from my ds and don't bother to take the outside lights down during the year so i don't have to nag my dh to put them back up again). I am also very happy to celebrate passover with my jewish side of the family and will quite happily attend any religious celebration as long as it involves food and good cheer and not giving up things (ie ramadan, lent, briss).

SimonHoward · 15/06/2002 09:33

Rhubarb

I wouldn't say that JW's are bad people as I have known a fair few that I got on with very well.

I just object to someone else trying to force their notion of god and religion on me.

Also with JW's a lot of families end up getting very split up as you are encouraged not to associate with non-JW's.

This is why I have only met one of my SIL's once and I have never met my 4 neices that are in that family. As far as they are concerned their parents have told us that as we are not JW's then we are not part of their family.

SimonHoward · 15/06/2002 09:34

Enid

The easiest way would be for DW to do it right, then we would both be happy.