Kids Father's Day Gift Ideas

Hi J.,

The year my kids were 4 and 1 I put together a photo collage of pictures of them together, seperately, a picture of my husband and I at our wedding, and a family picture of all four of us. I think I got the frame at Michaels or Walmart and it had a larger spot in the middle for a picture...there I just used some paper and helped my son write his name and traced my daughter's handprint since she was too little to write yet. I wrote Happy Father's Day and we love you and put the year. My husband isn't one to usually enjoy gifts like this, but he really liked it. Hope this helps! :)

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If we had a million dollars to spend on a gift, the only thing my husband would want is more pictures of his kids. I think a lot of Dads appreciate little things from the heart. Our kids always make a card. Construction paper, glue, glitter, handprints, feathers - the works!! It's fabulous, but he treasures every one.

Here are a couple of ideas for cool gifts - not quite as "glue & paper", but the kids can still participate...

* Shutterfly.com has lots of cool things that can be made from your own photographs. Personally I love the brag books and photobooks. You can make an entire scrapbook and they print it for you (kind of like a yearbook). There are different templates, themes and sizes. Use it to tell a story or just write captions for the photos you choose. Very cool!

* My mother-in-law had cookie cutters made from each of our kids handprints. Each set has a cookie cutter the size and shape of the handprint and a second heart-shaped cookie cutter that rests inside the handprint. We use them as wall hangings and they are by far one of our most cherished and most unique gifts. Not sure exactly where they came from, but know they were custom made - I'm sure you could find something online (she's from CA, so could be something local).

* For Father's Day a few years ago, I had the kids help me put together a big gift basket of "Daddy's Favorite Things". Each of the kids got to contribute items. We included pictures, hand-made cards, his favorite candies and snacks, some music - you could include anything! Some of the items were silly, but it didn't matter because the kids picked them.

Have fun and good luck!

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Hi J.,
Every year we make my husband a new shirt (seems like we have to add a new kid) I write on it #1 Papa or something and then the kids put their handprints (or when my twins were little the did feet) on it. It's not a shirt that he really wears out of the house, but he wears it under his shirts and when he does yard work outside. They all like to go up to it and try to match their hands up to it. Also if you check out familyfun.com, they always have some great craft ideas. That's where we got our for mothers day this past year.

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Hi J.,
K-Mart has a Greatest Dad T-shirt craft kit for $6.99 this week. You paint one child's hand blue and the other's red and press them on the pre-printed shirt and add on the kids names
in lasting paint. It's really cute.
Good luck,
M. B

1 mom found this helpful

I bought a plain grilling/oven mitt and traced my son's hand on it (with material markers) Then my son colored on it and we wrote "Happy Father's Day Daddy!" with the year! My husband still uses it! You could do both your children's hands and let each decorate a side! Hope this helps!

This year I started new family traditions for Mother's Day and Father's Day. I have a son and daughter. I have a special scrapbook for each one of them and each year I am taking a special photo of them, on the back of the scrapbook page, they get to write me or my husband a special message. By doing the same pictures each year, we can really see how our children have grown through the years and it makes it so much easier for us to do as a family. For Mother's Day, my daughter had her picture taken in my wedding dress and I had a photo of my son's hand in mine for his book. For Father's Day, my son will have his picture taken in Dad's Letter Jacket and my daughter will have a photo of her hand in her dad's. You can see the pictures from Mother's Day on my website www.thelegacyoffamily.com under my blog. Have Fun!

One of my kid's favorite things to do is make a picture frame for Daddy with a picture of them in it. There are a ton of different ways to do it but one of my kid's favorites is to glue 8 popsicle sticks (2 on each side) together for the frame and then decorate however you want with markers, paint, stickers, foamies, glitter glue, etc, depending their age. They are just the right size for most snapshots and you can add yarn or whatever so that it can be hung. Have fun!

this probably isn't as hands on as you'd like but still they can participate. Come up with a list of things that "Daddy" does and take a picture of your children doing those things. Upload the pictures to a photobook (check out snapfish or winkflash). Here is my list:

1. Fishing
2. Cooking
3. Coaching Football
4. Riding Tractor
5. Gardening
6. Listening to IPOD
7. Playing Hockey
8. Fixing stuff
9. Building stuff
10. Taking pictures (my FIL is who got me so obsessed with photography)
11. Remote Control and TV
12. Reading Newspaper
13. Reading on Toilet
14. Sleeping
15. Playing on computer
16. Driving
17. Work - dress up in work clothes
18. Birdwatching
19. Golf
20. Beer
21. Playing Baseball

We made a special shirt for dad. I went to the store and bought different color fabric paint. The kids each did a handprint on the shirt and I wrote their names. It is so cute and machine washable. They were so proud when they gave it to him.

Things we've done in the past are coffee mugs with inserts you can have them color(we got them at JoAnn's very inexpensively), or the ones you can have them paint and bake. Last year we did a stepping stone with both of their handprints, a t-shirt that we ironed on a message (SuperDad) and handprints in fabric paint. Hope this helps, have a ball!

Check out Home Depot or Lowes if you have one near by your area.If your hubby is a "handyman" they have wood crafts about every other Saturday.This Saturday Lowes is doing a Father's Day project which is a tape measurer.You can check it out at their websites online also to see.Me and my mom take the kids when ever its going on.We've made alot of projects.And its not just for the dads they have different projects for different holidays.

Making a garden stone or plaster hand print are nice. All materials available at any craft store.

i had my girls get their pictures taken in their detroit tiger outfits ( my husband is a huge fan) it is a set of three pics in one photo from jcpenny. i have a 1 year old and a 5 year old so it was very cute.

I am going to do garden stepping stones with my kids handprints in them. I also have a 4yr. and a 2 yr. old and thought they would have a great time decorating them with seashells or "glass" chips (I know that it sounds unsafe but if you buy the craft ones they are not sharp and they are fun colors. We did it for my mother-in-law and it was great! Just be careful that they do not put anything in their mouth! If you go to JoAnn Fabrics website, they have a picture and an instruction card. All of the stuff is on sale this week.

J.,

Each year we make dad a shirt with the kids' handprints on it using fabric paints found at any craft store. We also use fabric markers to write their names above their handprints and date it. Example: Our dad is the best hands down!

He loves them and wants to make sure he receives them each year. This year he actually suggested we make a big stick person on the front of the t-shirt and another on the back (one for each child) then use the kids handprints as the hands for the stick person.

It's really neat to see how the kids have grown through the years.

Last year we also made him a casting of them holding hands. I them painted my daughter's fingernails with polish so there wouldn't be any confusion on which hand belonged to which child (they're close to the same size) and mounted it on a stand. It's hard to get them to stay in the mold at a young age though because the casting is cold.

Good luck! I'm sure he will be thrilled with anything you give him!

We started a tradition when my first son was 1yo of giving my husband a t-shirt every fathers day. The kids decorate the t-shirt with there hand prints. I'll write the year on the t-shirt somewhere and maybe their names. He loves showing them off!

A few things I've done: On a t-shirt I painted my kids hands with fabric paint, made hand prints on the shirt. I think I wrote We Love Our Daddy. I bought cardboard box at Michaels and my kids favorite stickers they decorated the box with stickers and markers, then I painted mod podge on it to hold the stickers on. My husband keeps things in it--you could make a pencil holder too. I've taken pictures they made framed them for his desk. I've made a calender for him, printed the months from the computer the kids drew pictures for every month. These are a few things I've done over the years.

Plaster of paris hand prints. It's always a popular one. Or go to a craft store like Michael's and ask.

My daughter who is 4 painted a rock for my desk at work, it is a paperweight and I love it. We actually went on a scavenger hunt the Saturday morning before mother's day picked up several things. Then she went to the play room with daddy for hours, made me several projects. However the rock is something I will have forever and everyone who comes near my desk at work asks about it. She used finger paints instead of regular paints, so that is something the 2 year old could do.

Hi J. - when our 20 year old boy was about four we made Dad a pair of pants. We bought inexpensive cotton pajama pants, washed them a couple of times to shrink them, and then put his hand and footprints up and down the legs. We used fabric paint for the prints and wrote happy father's day and the year on the pants. They are still in his closet, though I'm the one who wears them most now! Have fun, whatever you do! Beth

If he is someone that wears ties, you could make a handprint tie. Either that or a handprint t-shirt, with a message such as: We Love Daddy! or #1 Dad. We have done both these ideas and my husband still wears both that they made about 7 years ago! Their hands are much bigger now!