Fathers on good Father's Day gifts

Because you can't wrap a nap

This time of year is festively exhausting for my family since five immediate family members have spring birthdays. By the time it’s Father's Day (just a few days after my dad’s birthday), we’re all extremely over it.

If your family is similar to mine and you need some quick ideas for Father's Day gifts, I asked a bunch of dads I know (or whom you readers know) to tell me one good Father’s Day gift they’ve received and what they like about it. Maybe you’ll get an idea from below.

One dad did tell me, “Basking in the love of my children is really all that I desire, and it’s the best gift any parent could ask for,” but we don’t all have children who deliver basking-levels of love when they’re supposed to, so in the meantime maybe there’s still time to just get or plan him something he’ll like.

• “My wife commissioned an artist friend—Janki Patel—to illustrate the four of us walking along the beach in Barcelona. I adore it—she even got my favourite Nike Air Max in there, along with our basset hound Branston. I have it framed on my wall and also use it as my MacBook wallpaper. A few dads in The New Fatherhood community have either received or commissioned a family illustration, and they all loved it.”
  —

  Kevin Maguire
  of
  The New Fatherhood
  
  

• “My wife once got me a stage (a temporary assignment in a kitchen) at the restaurant Reno in Chicago’s Logan Square to make bagels. I love baking and it was a wonderful experience.” —Jason Saldanha
  

• “My daughter, Clara, loves tiny things and I love to barbecue and eat outdoors in the evening. One Father’s Day she made us both happy, with a mini-Weber barbecue grill.  I keep it on the patio, and  we store tea light candles in it for our bbq dinner.  That’s my creative kid!” — Francis Flaherty of

  Dad, Interrupted

• “My favorite dad’s day gift was a massager gun. Sounds like a mom’s day gift haha. But I use it for my tight hamstrings.” —Shannon Cason

• “I’m a cliche. Get me a gift card to a record store and call it a day! —Mark Bazer
  

• “Last Father’s Day, my daughter and her significant other took me and his father to Calumet Fisheries in Chicago for lunch. We then drove past the house where his father spent his first several years off 89th Street and heard great stories. A wonderful memory. Making memories is the best gift.” —Don Miner
  

• “I got a marble cutting board that may not be good for cutting, but is definitely the right place to put finished dishes for the family to take their plates to the dinner table. It’s used to say, ‘It’s done, grab it, let’s go eat.’” — Stephen Schmidt
  

• “At the risk of putting my name to an Evil Witches recommendation that encourages dads to sit around and do nothing, I’m here to sing the praises of the freestanding hammock. Some ten-plus years ago, I got one from my EW wife Erin¹. Pick any of the roughly-$100 options with a metal stand, quilted cover, and detachable pillow from Home Depot or Lowe’s and you too will know the joy of the most comfortable thing in which you have ever sat. Goes great with books, beer, and yacht rock.”
  —Scott Smith
  

• “I got some body wash that has caffeine in it. It smells good and I use it for special occasions.” — Justin Kaufmann at Axios Chicago.
  

• “When I was 10, I visited the Buena Vista, home of the first Irish Coffee in the States. It’s an awesome San Francisco breakfast place/bar that’s been in a lot of movies including the original Cheaper by the Dozen. As it turns out, according to the gang, they also make the best French Toast in the world. So, on some Father’s Days, the gang and I head over to the Buena Vista for breakfast, Irish Coffee, and hot chocolates. We take a combination of cable cars over, which since San Francisco has free transit for kids, and I have a monthly transit pass costs us nothing, (ok, ok, it costs my monthly pass divided by the number of days in June minus the cost of a bus ride and BART ride to get to the cable car.)  After breakfast, the kids sometimes peel off into the rest of town to do things that interest them that day, and I get to hang out and watch the world go by, or head to other places too.” — Hamilton Carter
  

• “I like the T-shirts with their footprints on it. They’re perfect undershirts! They also tie-dyed me some socks one year which I still use. ”
  — AJ at

  The Small Bow
  
  

• “My wife and my children are all very good at buying me clothes. They buy the fancier sorts of things that I never buy for myself - blazers and the like.  On my own I generally wear some badly fitting thrift store thing I bought 30 years ago and wear until it turns to dust. But they pick out for me actually decent clothes. My first response usually is ‘Well, that’s not my style at all!’  My second response is: ‘That’s actually nice  and it kind of looks better on me than those things I wear.’  Apparently, a 10-year-old can dress me better than I dress myself.”
  —

  Richard Rushfield
  at
  The Ankler.
  
  

• “I bought my husband a Solo Stove and he is obsessed.” —Kiki T.
  

• “My husband said his favourite Father’s Day gift was a soccer ball. This year, we’ll give him basketball and hope (hoop) he likes it just as much.” — Emilie R.
  

• “My husband’s policy is you can never go wrong with oatmeal raisin cookies and XBox cards.” —Mia A.

  

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End credits

Thanks for reading Evil Witches, a newsletter for people who happen to be mothers (many of whom live with or know fathers.) New here? Here’s what the newsletter is all about. By the way, if you have a complicated relationship with the dad in your life and want to get him a card that is appreciative but not a lie, there are some good options here.

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One witchy thing

This final, correct response from a mom on the 6th-grade group chat about the end-of-year theme day dress code:

1. When I asked my husband what he most enjoyed receiving, he also said a hammock. The model I got him is here.