Father’s Day totally snuck up on me this year.
Yankee Bill-if you are reading this. . . stop right now! There are spoilers in here and I want you to be surprised!
Yankee Bill and I usually don’t make a big deal out of Father’s Day and Mother’s Day-early in our marriage we agreed that Christmas, Birthdays and 5th year Wedding Anniversaries would be the bigger gift occasions, and that Valentines, the rest of the Anniversaries, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day would be times when we give more token gifts. Like a card & a bouquet, or a book. Something small.
I mean really-if you celebrate EACH of those with a “big” gift that’s five times a year that you have to think of the most awesome, most romantic gift ever. That starts getting stressful and expensive-and gift giving should be a joy to both the giver and the recipient.
Typically for Father’s Day I get Yankee Bill a nice card and a bag of Oreo Double Stuff Cookies-which we NEVER have in the house-that he can eat all by himself without sharing with anyone. The kids bring home cards and gifts that they made at church or school, and we all head up to the Lion’s Club Park for the big “Father’s Day Breakfast” fundraiser and then off to church.
But what if you DO want to give a little something more? There are a lot of great “DIY” projects out there on the internet-but if like me you’ve kind of *ahem* left it a bit late it is going to be hard to make a quality project on short notice. I find that really good crafting should be done in an unrushed manner 😉
Well never fear-Walmart has some really cool deals for Father’s Day this year. They were gracious enough to send me a gift card so that I could purchase a little something for my hubs from their special Father’s Day deals and tell you all about it. I got to choose from:
Plano 3-Day Tackle Box – $8
Zebco Predator Spinning or Spincast Combo – $15 each
Coleman Lumbar Chair – $19 each
Coleman Alpine Sleeping Bag – $19 each
Work and Play Watch Set – $15 set of 2
Gillette Fusion ProGlide Gift Set – $9.94
Masculine Fragrance Sets – $12
Armor All 10-Piece Microfiber Detail kit – $15
Armor All 6-piece Complete Car Car Kit – $15
Carrand Power Wash Wand with Bonus – $15
Black & Decker 7.2V Cordless Power Drill with Bonus – $15
Black & Decker 120-Piece Drill Accessory Kit – $15
Comfort Products 5-Motor Massag Cushion with Bonus – $19
Justin Case Travel Pro Emergency Road Kit – $19
Honestly, those were all pretty good deals. I had a hard time choosing, but in the end wound up with the Fishing pole and the car power wash attachment.
You see Princess and Buddy have been very enamored of the idea of going fishing this summer. Upstate NY is liberally peppered with lakes, ponds and streams, so it will be easy to take them out for a quick afternoon of fishing-and just as quick to drag them home if they get bored.
Which could happen.
Easily.
Especially if they aren’t catching any fish.
But I digress! Yankee Bill had purchased them each a fishing rod a few weeks back as a surprise. We don’t normally just buy them things for no reason-but these are something that will last them for years (even thought they aren’t expensive).
What I realized was that we didn’t have any fishing poles for the adults. So when I saw the Zebo rod on the Father’s Day specials list I knew I had to pick that up for Bill. Yes, I know that serious fishermen out there will probably shake their head at me and say “but how good can a $15 pole be?”. Trust me-my dad was a fly fisherman for years-I know the really good ones cost in excess of $100. But Bill and I aren’t serious fishermen-we are parents who want to be able to toss a line in the water with our kids and have a nice afternoon. This rod was perfect for that.
As for the power wash wand-anyone who knows Bill in real life knows why I chose that one! My husband keeps his vehicles immaculately clean-he frequently and happily will spend an evening washing, polishing and drying one of his cars or motorcycles. He has hinted that he would like a power washer for his birthday in August, but in the meantime if this wand works as advertized it may provide him with some of the power he needs at a fraction of the cost. I can’t wait to see him try it out.
Now, even if you don’t have $15 to spend on Father’s Day, don’t worry. I started out by saying that we usually don’t make it a holiday about gifts. There are plenty of great ways to celebrate Father’s day that don’t cost a cent. What about writing a heartfelt letter telling them how much they mean to you, making a favorite home baked treat, cooking a dinner centered around all their favorite foods-or even just giving them “permission” to goof of and do nothing of consequence all day?
What are some of your best Father’s Day ideas?
I am a participant in the Walmart Moms program. Walmart provided me with a gift card in exchange for this post. Participation in this program is voluntary. As always, all opinions are my own.
***This is a sponsored post***
I have fond memories of the year that my husband and I took my father on a Whale Watch for Father’s Day. Even though we went to Boston Harbor rather than Seneca Lake, there turned out to be no whale sightings that day. Still, we enjoyed the boat ride.
Wow, you just gave me a fantastic idea! I never would have thought of Oreo’s but those are my husband’s favorite. Money is tight for us, and I have to travel to DC for an awards ceremony this month so there is less to spend on gifts and those are affordable and he’ll love them.
Last year I bought my husband an IPOD he had been wanting for a while and the kids each picked hime out a present ( electric shaver, drawing paper, and a gift card to Games Workshop) I never spend this much on Father’s Day, we usually only acknowledge the children’s presents and maybe a card from each other. Last year my husband survived an infection that almost took his life, and hea had spent months recovering from emergency surgery at home. We all wanted to express our love in a big way:) This year we are moving from the East Coast to Arizona in a couple of weeks, we are driving to Kentucky on Thursday to drop our kiddos off with his parents, seeing his Dad on Father’s Day and having two weeks without children will be a nice respite before the long journey across most of America! I wish I could do the Oreo’s he would love them, in his case we have to do sugar-free, n they are not frugal you get half them amount and twice the price!