Gift Guide #8: Your Dad (or Father Figure) Who Listens to Opera Yet Also Knows Every Line of So I Married an Axe Murderer.

Thank you for the paintings. My heart beats in slow motion when I look at them. I want to stand in a bare room and look at them all day.

The Bob Dylan book was written by my neighbor! He was Dylan’s personal photographer and it’s an amazing collection of never released pictures and stories (good gift for women too!).
My dad isn’t with us but I always struggle with gifts for my more conservative husband. How many cufflinks can a person own, you know? I got him a board game last year and it turned out to be the perfect gesture that said ‘I like hanging out with you, here’s an excuse to do that more.’ So I might just do that again and pray that some of his cufflinks break before the next round of gift giving.

I actually really love this gift guide although am being a bit Grinch-y about Christmas this year. I wish I could just buy gifts for the people I WANT to buy gifts for, or only when I find a really great gift, instead of the obligatory distribution that results in a lot of half-hearted “I bought you this because I had to buy SOMETHING.” As a result, I’ve been campaigning for a no gift Christmas and instead donating to our favourite causes, and as such, have become the least favourite DIL…can’t win!

Ordered the hot honey + spicy maple + sriracha set. Thank you! So hard shopping for dads.

Trying not to get too grim on us all here but I found myself googling “gift guide for recovering alcoholic father having a mental breakdown” and I didn’t come up with much. Mostly I think it just made me a bit sad that my Dad isn’t the kind of man that’s described in this gift guide, a feeling that only gets worse as I get older. I’m so glad that people have wonderful loving and generous men in their lives and I’m so grateful my own husband is that wonderful father for our daughter. Merry Christmas to you all though despite the downer contribution from me!

My dad would love the car air freshener that smells like big sur in the rain. But in his practical dad way he’d say “But we live an hour and a half a way from big sur, I could just go there and get some eucalyptus myself.” I might still get it for him to cover up the dog smell in his car :)

For those eying the truffle butter but balking at the price: Trader Joe’s makes an excellent one. Package is much less cute, but it is much more affordable. And yes, it’s delicious on popcorn.

While it’s a well thought out list there is not a single thing on here that my dad would like (maybe a plane ticket but since we only live 15 minutes apart that’s not necessary). For my dad: new work socks, a package of Twizzlers and a coin collecting book/magazine… he also watches Fox News all day :)

“Plane tickets to visit each other, because that’s all he really wants anyway.” – it’s so true. My mom would always say she wants “the gift of time”. She’s no longer with us, so this year I’m spoiling my dad a bit and getting him tickets to Hawaii :)

Though my dad passed away almost seven years ago (he died on that January day called Blue Monday), I like to watch this kind of lists and guess which present I would have picked for him. The newspaper subscription, I guess. He would have turned 69 on January the 1st.
Sorry for the sad note, I just wanted to remember him.

The airplane footrest is life changing! I got one for a long flight between NYC and the UK… slept better than I ever thought possible in coach!

What about gifts for the father who watches Fox News and monitors the stock market and weather forecast all day. True story. ?

My dad is definitely not as “cool” as this list, although he is wonderful. But I did order the spicy honey for my husband!

Soap on a Rope!

Hahahahahah. Ha.

Where is the photo taken of you and your sister and father?

Got excited for opera recs, and then…! Other great ideas for myself in here though, like that truffle butter or hot honey.

I just bought my father the new, well-reviewed bio, Churchill: Walking with Destiny, which to me screams “Dad book!”

I’m really glad you included a donation to the ACLU on your dad list. I also “got” my dad (of similar vintage as yours) a donation to the ACLU last year and it is honestly one of the most meaningful gifts I can remember giving him. I’m pretty sure we both cried after I explain the “why” of it. It felt like such a reflection of his values, and a gift that was really representative of what he cared about. Besides, he has a lot of cool old vinyls (also great gifts), and pictures of his daughters (the best gift).

Where were you in that picture? =)

it’s like an orange on a toothpick! Love So I Married an Axe Murderer!

Shh, nobody tell him, but I got my dad tickets to see Neko Case next year and he’s gonna flip! (Obviously I’m going to go, too, so win/win!)

The hot honey sounds delicious! Also GREAT stocking stuffer idea for the whole family: Trader Joes has a 6 pack of mini versions of different honeys (clover, orange blossom, macadamia, etc.) in little glass bottles that we got for stockings last year and again this year. They’re delicious and the pack is only $10.