Tuesday, May 27, 2014

7 Father's Day gifts for the Blue Collar Dad

 My dad is not the dad that I can buy a tie for...or golfing stuff...or most of the things that are suggested for Father's Day. My dad wears a uniform to work everyday, so ties, tie pins or cufflinks are out of the question.  I've put together a little list of things that I can buy my "hard to shop for dad" that he will actually enjoy.

1.) Growler of beer. Seriously, this is what I got my brother for Christmas and a great gift for anyone who enjoys having a good brewski. You can get it filled with a good beer and once it's gone, he can get it refilled for cheap. Plus, there are so many out there that you can get a personalized one with his name, papa, dad, etc...or you can paint it with chalkboard paint and write something clever on it. There are a wide variety of growlers on Etsy, but it may be cheaper to get one locally and get it filled all in one shot. Check out your local breweries to see what is the best fit for your pop.

2.) Garage decor. Sounds fancier than it is. I made my dad a sign, from old corrugated tin and spray paint. It says Papa's garage and he loved it. Also, my dad hangs license plates in his garage so that is another easy gift for us to get him. Check out your local thrift shops for license plates, beer related lights, mirrors or whatever it is he likes. My dad is in his garage everyday and will actually see it everyday as opposed to something he will put on a shelf and forget about.




3.) Fishing equipment. My dad is not in to sports, but he loves to hunt and fish. Of course, I think these fishing lures are an essential part of every tackle box!  When I was little I know my dad would've loved a card and a can of worms, because it would mean we wanted  to go fishing with him. There are a lot of fun fishing accessories out there, or you can even get him a new fishing pole! I have a lot of requests for soda bottle cap lures around Father's Day because of childhood traditions. My dad used to buy us candy before we went out fishing, he says he was bribing us, but I think he just liked to spoil us a little. Is there a certain beer or soda that your pops always takes when he's fishing?


4.)Hats. My dad always wears a hat and it's never a sports cap, unless it's for the local high school team. Did I mention my dad doesn't like sports much? He does however love wearing hats. He has hats for National Parks he's visited, for hunting and fishing shops, and various camo ones. I bet he's got over 20 hats, does he need a new one? No, but he'd love one just the same. Plus, it's fun for me to pick one out and then see him wearing it the next time I see him.

This is my dad, my dad in a hat...sounds like a Dr. Seuss book.



5.) Okay, I'll admit this is not the typical gift for the blue collar dad, but I know my Pop would like it...personalized coffee mug with grandchildrens' pictures on it. My sis made us all one for Christmas a few years ago and then I made Cass a travel coffee mug with Mr. A's pictures for her birthday. If your Pop drinks coffee then he will proudly show off hisgrand kids. You can easily order them online from Walmart, Walgreens or Snapfish.
As you can see, we have a few of these mugs.

6.) My dad drinks iced tea every day. He also eats cookies every single day. My easy to please dad would love a gift that has his favorite cookies, a box of tea and some other misc. things like a wrench, pressure gauge for tires, new gloves, perhaps some kind of accessory for his quad...there is so much room for creativity.

7.) A good Card. If you have kids you already know that being a grandpa is one of his favorite things in the world. Have the kids make him a homemade card and put it in the mail to him, or even better deliver it in person. I'm not sentimental with my Pops very often, but I like to tell him I adore him on occasion, and this is the perfect time! Find or make a good card for him and tell him how you admire his hat collection. ;)

I hope this post has been helpful. Is there anything else you can think of that your dad would love?






26 comments:

  1. I love the Garage sign idea. That would totally work for my husband.

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    1. My dad loved it! The only thing I would change is that I made my own stencils and that was a lot of work. Next time I'll buy some from the craft store.

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  2. Great ideas! Have a great SITS Day.

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  3. stopping by from SITS - your Dad sounds cool. My husband would love all those gifts too.

    love the fishing lures - have a great day :)

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  4. Ha! Made me laugh because it is so true! Great ideas for dad!

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  5. My father in law sounds very similar to your dad, and I've always had a hard time shopping for him. After all, there is only so much duct tape you can buy a person.

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    1. That's funny because my father in law uses duct tape for everything! I may actually pick some up for him this Father's Day!

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  6. Great ideas! I don't live near my dad so I generally just sent a tower of food from a company. He seems to like that.

    Stopping by from SITS!

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  7. Great ideas! My father is so hard to buy for. He lives in AZ too! Great job on your new blog - happy SITS day!

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  8. I think this is an important post. Not in the my-life-will-never-be-the-same-without-this-post kind of way, but more in the this-kind-of-lifestyle-isn't-popular kind of way. I mean, there are many dads (both new and old-er) who are blue collar men. Hun is one of them. Hun is a blue-collar kind of guy, maybe he wasn't always, but ever since we've been together and created our family he is. Of course, Hun likes nice things, too. But what's important to him is working with his hands somehow, not just his brain. So, "typical" gifts don't really work for him either.

    Anyway, glad you shared! :)

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    1. Thank you! I hope it helped with some gift ideas for him!

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  9. Awww, love this :) I have a hard-to-shop for poppa too so this is especially useful for me! I love the personalized travel mug, always a great idea. Too bad my parents don't yet have grandkids. It would have to be covered in their granfurbabies, LOL.

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    1. Grandfurbabies are cute too! You can also do pics of you and your siblings when you were little!

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  10. This is such a perfect post for right now! Happy SITS day, by the way :)
    I've subscribed ^_^

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  11. My dad would love most of those gifts, too! Stopping by from SITS!

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  12. I like the idea of garage decor. I only ever thought to get things for garage storage and not decor, but that's a great idea! I think my husband would like it, because he's been trying to organize our garage and use it in part as a workshop.

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    1. It's a lot of fun to buy garage decorations too! I bet your husband would appreciate it!

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  13. Great ideas! My dad absolutely loves coffee mugs with pics of the grand kids on them. We get him a new one every year. It's fun too look back at the pictures. Oh, and he actually uses the mugs which is awesome!

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    1. That's awesome, Maurissa! I use them all the time too. I especially love the one with all of my nieces and nephews because I don't get to see them everyday.

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