O.K. so we have warned you for weeks that Father’s Day was coming and now you are down to the wire. For a very, very last-minute gift idea, Hallmark’s website, Hallmark.com, and other free Father’s Day e-card companies such as Blue Mountain at bluemountain.com offer free e-cards along with other to buy at a nominal price. In addition to free e-cards, Brevard Times has other last-minute gift ideas for Father’s Day. Many of the Father’s Day gift ideas are either free or very inexpensive.
Father’s Day is one of busy seasonal days for greeting cards, gifts, and newer traditions such as edible fruit arrangements instead of the older fruit baskets.
Father’s Day is a long-celebrated tradition where dads in the United States are honored and remembered by their children for the contributions and self-sacrifice that dads make in our lives.
If you are asking, “when is Father’s Day in 2012?” Father’s Day in the United States is always celebrated the third Sunday in June. In 2012, Father’s Day lands on Sunday June 17.
Here are some gift ideas for Father’s Day 2012 sorted into three categories, followed by Father’s Day last minute gift ideas:
Gifts ideas for Dad to spend time with the kids:
Video Game consoles such as X-Box 360 ($229 and up Wal-Mart)
Canoe ($479 Wal-Mart)
Basketball Hoop ($349 Wal-Mart)
Give Dad the gift of movies for a chance to win free movie tickets for a year.
Gifts ideas for Dads who need clothes:
Socks, Underwear, Undershirts. Ironically, many dads are seasonally in need of these garments and rely on Father’s Day for their annual replacement.
Wal-Mart, JC Penneys, Target, Sears, and L.L. Bean all have great Father’s Day Gift ideas.
Gifts ideas for Dads who live far away:
You can never go wrong with a gift card. Look for gift cards that offer a bonus with the purchase of a gift card, such as a second $5 gift card which is often offered in-store by Target.
Dad probably wouldn’t mind a gift card to Home Depot either.
Have dad come visit you, or visit your dad at hotels.com
Does you Father have a boat? Find thousands of products for boating, sailing, fishing and watersports at WestMarine.
The idea for Father’s Day is attributed to Sonora Dodd, who was raised by her father after her mother’s death during childbirth. While listening to a sermon at church on Mother’s Day, she thought about all her father had done for her and her siblings and decided fathers should have a day, too. Because Dodd’s father was born in June, she encouraged churches in her area, Spokane, Wash., to honor fathers that month. The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane in 1910.
Over the years, the idea spread, and people lobbied Congress to establish the holiday. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson, who had signed a proclamation establishing Mother’s Day, approved the idea, but never signed a proclamation for it. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge made it a national event to “establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”
LAST MINUTE GIFT IDEAS:
Here a couple cleaver last-minute Father’s Day gift ideas that your can still pull off the day before Father’s Day:
Bait ant Tackle Shops, Charter Fishing Tickets:
Charter fishing boats and Bait and Tackle Shops are always open very early on the weekends, so it is easy to swing by early in the morning to buy a fishing trip ticket for Father’s Day or a rod, reel, cast net, or tackle before other stores even open.
For Dad who doesn’t use a cell phone:
One viewer offered this gift idea for the dad who does not use a cell phone. Buy a prepaid cell phone with a camera. Add photos of the kids and/or grand kids to the phone. That way dad will always keep the phone with him and charged to show the pictures. These prepaid phones can be found very often at 24-hour stores, including convenience stores. Just allow yourself time to charge the battery.
Arts and Crafts made by Kids for Dad:
For younger children, Father’s Day often means crayon drawings or hand-made arts and crafts for dad. Sometimes accompanied by a well-intentioned (but novice) attempt at making breakfast in bed for dad.
Older kids can always make sugar cookies, shape them into a ginger bread man or football, and decorate the cookies for dad.
When drawing a Father’s Day card, kids could list all the things dad does for them that makes them happy.
Kindle with free E-books for Dad: As the wrapping paper is torn away on Father’s Day to expose that shiny new Kindle reader, the next question to come to mind while you charge the battery is, “Where do I find free Kindle books?” The answer is quite simple. Check out your library!
The Brevard County Library System (includes the Cocoa Beach Public Library) announced back in October that it checked out its 10,000 eBook today after offering eBooks for less than a month. (If dad lives out of Brevard County, check to see if him library system has free e-books at the overdrive link below).
The eBook collection is now compatible with the world’s bestselling eBook reader, the Amazon Kindle.
Patrons can now download popular and classic eBooks to a Kindle device or any mobile device running the free Kindle app, such as iPhone, iPad, Android, and more. To get started, visit http://brevard.lib.overdrive.com/.
Brevard County Libraries also offer eBooks and audiobooks for use on a PC or Mac computer and popular mobile devices such as a Smartphone, MP3 player, and eBook reader like the Barnes & Noble Nook and Sony Reader.
Kindle users can browse the Brevard County Library System’s collection of bestselling and classic eBooks from a PC or Mac computer, check out titles using a library card, and select “Get for Kindle” to deliver eBooks to their Kindle device or any device running the free Kindle app. Users who enjoy eBooks on Kindle will benefit from Amazon’s Whispersync technology that synchronizes notes, highlights and last page read between their Kindle and free Kindle apps.
Brevard County Libraries partners with OverDrive, Inc. (http://www.overdrive.com/), a global leader in eBook distribution for libraries and schools, to offer this service.
In addition to public libraries, Amazon announced last March that Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Offers Readers Over 100,000 Books to Borrow For Free.