First Father's Day Ideas

Here is an idea that I have used and my husband loves. Buy an inexpensive blank journal and start an annual tradition of Father's Day journal entries to your husband. This year you could use some inexpensive craft ink and put in your daughter's foot prints, maybe a few special photos of her with Daddy. Write down things you appreciate about your husband as a father, special memories of things he does with her (i.e. toys they play together, stories he reads her, funny anecdotes to share about the year.) As she gets older, she can include drawings & favorite things about Daddy, and eventually take over the journaling herself. It will be special to both of them for years to come. My husband loves his-- I have two children but one journal that I put things in for both of them. I also started one from me on our anniversary about the past year.
Enjoy the special day!
A.

I have an 8-month old as well and my daughter has recently started crawling. I'm going to create a flip-book of my little one crawling and getting into mischief. Most digital cameras have a multiple shutter photo button. I have made a couple before and they turned out really great!

I have 2 things that I have done. Both I printed and cut to a 5x7 size, got a black frame and had a matte cut 2 tone white with black. The one from my little girl I put a picture of her where she is holding my hubby's hand but you can only see her and his hand is in the top of the picture. The one from my little boy I have a picture hand in hand of a kids and daddys hand. If you want that I would have to email you the file.

This first one was for my hubby from our little girl.

My Daddy’s Love

You say hello it’s Daddy,

The few words you seem to find.

They are full of love and meaning,

I am yours and you are mine.

You smile with pride and hold me,

My fingers grasp your hand.

I have felt you in my heart,

Since the day my life began.

This is the one from my little boy to my hubby.

My Daddy’s Hand

Daddy, take my hand in yours and you will plainly see,

How very much I need you now to love and care for me.

As my little hand grows, I will need you even more,

Every thing I do in life, I have never done before.

Teach me to be kind and loving, sharing and forgiving,

Show me through your acts of love the pure joy of living.

The years will pass by quickly and one day I will be grown,

I will pass what you have taught me onto children of my own.

Hold me always in your thoughts and remember when we are apart,

The special love between a child and a daddy’s heart.

Love, Nate

I ran across these one from a catalogue and the other at a store. I did not like the way they had them framed and wanted them to match each other since they are hanging in my hubby's office side by side. All together it cost me about $25 for each one and I will tell you that my hubby had tears in his eyes when he got these.

K.

We're celebrating our first Father's Day as well (our son turns one on June 26th)! I got this recommendation from a friend, and am soooo happy with how it turned out: go to picaboo.com and download their software. Basically, you can build a book with pictures, text, etc and they print it for you!! It can be hardback, softback, leather cover, etc., whatever you want. Several sizes, colors, etc. I ordered mine last week and it should arrive this week. I think if you order this week, and probably put a bit of a rush on the shipping, it will arrive in time. The 6" x 8" book I ordered, with 23 pages, was only around $30. I put in every picture that my husband and son have taken together since he was born.

If that's out of your price range, or if you think it's too late to order, my husband got me a FABULOUS Mother's Day gift that might work. He got a hinged picture frame (two panels): on the right is a mat for a 4" x 6" picture, and on the entire left side is a panel of clay. He put my son's handprints and wrote the date and "I love you Mom!" It made me cry immediately (I'm like you - I think thoughtful sweet gifts like that are the best.) I'm not sure where he bought it, but I'm guessing that places like Michaels has them (we bought the clay garden "stepping stones" there at Christmastime, for my parents.)

Anyway, hope that helps. Good luck to you!!! :)

Every year I get my hubby a t-shirt made with their picture on it. When it was just our little girl, I would pick out a cute pic of her, have it put on a shirt and have it also say "Daddy's Girl" and put the year on it. Now that we have a girl and a boy, I put a pic of both of them on it and it says "Daddy's Kids". He LOVES getting these every year! Sometimes I will also pick out a pic of him with each child and make a shirt for my kids too, with a pic of them with their daddy on it. It is inexpensive and very sweet.

A great site to order these from is www.cafepress.com

Hope this helps!

My BIL for my SIL's first mothers day this year stripped thier 6 month old little girl down to her diaper and set her on a piece of paper and let her go nuts with finger paints. He took a picture of her grinning ear to ear while she was doing it too. Then he bought a frame, and framed her artwork with the picture of her painting it right in the middle of it. It was sooooo cute! My SIL teared up and now its hanging on the wall. Might be a great idea to help you decorate your new house! ;)

I have been both mom and dad to my kids since they were 16 mo and 2 mo.....the best father's day present I received was a keychain with their pic in it....I would look at it when I was at work and remember and smile........have a wonderful day whatever you decide!

We have started quite the collection of plaster hands and feet. It is in ezpensive though and it is fun to see home much they have grown. I think the best yet was stepping stones. We got a 12 inch square paver and then some thinset (colored concrete mix for grouting). That way it holds up under weather and you really can put them outside.

I bought a card for my husband for our anniversary, and inside, I wrote lots of sentences that all started with "I love it when you . . .".

It was stuff like, "I love it when you read to the boys." "I love it when you call me just to say something nice to me."

I filled up the whole card. The last sentences was "I love it when I run out of room to write all the things I love about you."

He is not a card person, but he has told me several times since then, "That is the best card anyone ever gave me in my whole life!"

Good luck!

I just bought a baseball and inked my child's hand and wrapped it around the ball for a signature baseball and put it in a case for him. To this day it is sitting in his office. He loved it.

A couple years ago I made a small scrapbook for my husband and titled it "Daddy & Me" and filled it with pictures of him with the kids, then put their little feet prints on the last page. He totally loved it and took it to work to show it off.
Some of the smaller little books only have about 10 or 15 pages, so you don't need that many pictures. You can mount a photo on one page, then write something sweet, or even a scripture verse on the facing page.
Target has a small "chipboard" book (it's brown - the color of a paper bag) for $4.99, and they sell adhesive paper packs for about $4. Get a pair of scissors and your favorite pics and it would take you just an hour or two to put it together and fill it with fun notes about what a wonderful daddy he is.

On a smaller scale, you could do something similar with a hinged photo frame. Put the photo in one side and a note on the other side.

Another fun idea some friends do is to put the kids' hand or foot prints in a stepping stone. You can put buttons and other fun things in the cement before it dries.

You could go to a craft store and make a plaster of her feet it is in a kit. Or you could get a T-Shirt or Ball cap and put her hands or feet or both on them and Write World's Best Dad and put the date.

I had a Memory DVD for my husband's 1st Father's Day. It consists of pics of when we had the baby and then just pics of the two of them together the first year. It was soooo sweet, it made him cry and HE NEVER CRIES. I have a friend that did it for me and she just did another for our friends' weddinng. She charged me $40-60 and would possibly do one for you. Let me know if you need her information.
Also, Yahoo Photos has alot of cute ideas. They use your photos that you upload. The books with captions at the bottom are really sweet.
My BDAY is Oct 5 also! hehe