Last week, I was invited by Dollar Shave Club to join a blogging campaign that celebrates Father’s Day gifts from years past. In case you’re unfamiliar, Dollar Shave Club is a fun new subscription razor service that ships top quality razors and grooming supplies to their members for a few bucks a month. You should check them out 🙂 I had no idea one could really personalize their shave, did you? I’m also loving this option for post-shave goodness for your face. Who knew shaving could be so refined and classy? Clearly, I have a lot to learn!

I’m always up for a fun challenge, so I’ve decided to take a trip down memory lane to consider all of the fabulously amazing gifts I’ve given my dear ‘ol dad (you’re not really that old, Dad, but it sounded right, ya know?) for Father’s Day. For the past few years, I’ve been the creative genius behind Henry’s gifts for his daddy, too, and this year, I’ve got Hank and Eloise covered again. I consider it my right–OK, my privilege, to celebrate the awesome men in my life with phenomenal and overly generous gifts. Things made out of paper and glue and markers and such. I’ve been gifting for Father’s Day for at least the past twenty eight years (but probably longer, I’ll have to ask my mom), so I figure I’m basically a Father’s Day gift giving guru. I’m sure if you asked the dads in my life, they’d agree.

Alright. Maybe not. I might be halfway decent at picking out cards, though, and I think I can recall and handful that I created in moments of sheer brilliance. Here’s one thought for you…the perfect card to the dad of your children (in my case, my husband, Jason) when they’re wee and small and can’t really make cards yet themselves. This beauty was Henry’s gift to his daddy when he was just over a year old, waaaaay back in 2012:

I used a brown stamping ink pad for H’s little handprints (it might take a few tries to get a really good set, but the times I’ve inked the kids’ hands or feet, the first, pre-melt down try is almost always the best). Then I carefully tore them out for that rough-edged look and glued them to a homemade, folded card (card stock and scrapbook paper). Last, I added the little “10 Reasons why I love my Dad…(I counted)…” bit to the front for bonus cuteness.

I opted to finish the inside on a separate piece of card stock that I could glue in last, just in case I made any printing mistakes as I wrote it all out. If I had just gone for it, I would’ve undoubtedly misspelled something or goofed up the lettering on the final product. Then I tried to channel my inner one year old and wrote out the following list:

To wrap it up, I glued the blue piece in, and we presented the card, sans envelope, to Daddy at his place at the table on Father’s Day. I think simple goes a long way, especially when the kiddos are small. We always make sure to treat dad to a great meal (whether cooked or grilled at home or out on the town), and we give him the five star treatment all day. Now that Henry is getting bigger, he likes to create things for Daddy all of the time. I have no doubt that this year’s Father’s Day installment will be his best yet.

So…what kinds of gifts do I remember giving my amazing dad as I was growing up? My sister and racked our brains on this one, and our favorites include tickets to a Cub’s game (for the three of us, plus our spouses as the family has grown) and these incredible, homemade coupon books that included things like hugs, back scratches, help in the yard, walking the dog, no whining for the day, etc. They were always top notch–replete with stickers and hearts and stars and things, and dad always accepted them quite graciously but never held us to honoring them all. Had he done so, we would have…I promise!

Celebrating our dads doesn’t have to be a break the bank kind of thing. I’m not sure most dads would even want that. It’s fun to bless dad with a grill or a fishing pole or a boat when life permits, but most years, making the day count with a great family outing (hiking, a beach day, a ball game, camping), plus some homemade cards and delicious eats, has been a pretty popular route to take in our little fam. I always make sure to get a few stellar photos to remember the day, and I prompt the kiddos to shower their daddy in love all day long. Here’s to the dads in our lives who make Father’s Day something to celebrate! And here’s to celebrating them well, too 🙂

scheming for next week,

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*This post was not written in exchange for any compensation or product, and the ideas expressed above are solely mine. Cheers!