Bonus Gift Guide: 5 Gifts for Father's Day from a Daughter

(EDITORS NOTE: We asked our contributor Alison to give us some of her brilliant gift ideas for her dad on Father's Day from the female perspective. As she put it herself. Shop like a girl.)


I have a hierarchy when it comes to shopping: Clothes shopping usually sucks, grocery shopping is total zen. Gift shopping, well gift shopping is just the best. Here are my tips and gift ideas for Father's Day 2015.

A Leatherman Multi-Tool

Having a handy Dad is the absolute best. Part of the handy Dad mystique is that they always seem to have just the right tool at hand (my friend Amanda swears her dad once produced a tiny hammer from his pocket). Leathermans come in different sizes and price-points, so you can find the perfect one to suit your Dad’s needs (mine is a Leatherman Wave guy).

A Year of Shaves

Buying razors sucks. They are expensive, the package is hard to open, and you never remember you need them until it’s too late. 

I’ve been a member of Dollar Shave Club for about a year now, and I’m into it (ladies, get the every-other month option). For between $3.50-9.50 a month Dollar Shave Club will send your dad four new razor cartridges a month. 

Everyday Luxuries

Sometimes the little things add up to a pretty great gift. Car wash gift certificates, tokens for balls at his favourite driving range, some craft brews, and a few of his favourite guilty pleasure treats (think Joe Louis and Kit Kats) can be bundled together for a great, personalized gift. 

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Go Super Lux 

Father’s Day presents tend to be less about pampering than Mother’s Day. But that doesn’t have to be the case, Dads like a little luxury too. Here’s my tip for purchasing a luxury gift: Pick something he uses every day, and upgrade the shit out of it. Dad’s robe looking a little threadbare? Get thee to Holt Renfrew. Does his wallet have velcro on it? Go to Roots or Danier for an upgrade. These flavoured, small-batch toothpicks packaged in fine leather sleeves from Daneson have been on my Dad-gift radar since Christmas.

Memory Lane

Want to know a secret? Before your dad had you he drove a way cooler car. Then you were born and you literally ate all the money. True story. If your dad has a cool car in his past, immortalize it with a custom painting. TabCreates makes amazing one-of-a-kind car paintings. Just tell her the make, model, and colour of Dad’s old car and she will work with you to make a painting that might even make the most stoic dad shed a tear. (Full disclosure: I think Tab is amazing and make her hang out with me often, which is to say we are friends). 

The Gift of You

When I was little one of my go-to gifts was to offer my services as a caddy. I don’t think i ever carried his bag or did anything useful, but it was probably pretty cute. One time I wandered off to try to catch frogs in a water hazard and stepped on a wasp nest - that was a real banner father’s day. While I’m no longer as adorable, I am a lot more useful (especially now that I can buy a round). Spending one-on-one time with a parent as an adult is always special to both of you, so play a round with Dad. If you don’t know how to golf, pay for the round, drive the cart, and learn how to work the rangefinder - just make sure you call the course ahead of time to make sure they don’t have rules against non-players on the course.

Another option is to cook him a meal. It’s his day so you really want to go heavy on the meat - I recommend ribs or steak (you can even let him grill the steak if you’ve never done it before). Get a good bottle of wine, and finish off with his favourite dessert.