So last Saturday, as I was doing some last minute shopping for the impromptu holiday for fathers I found myself walking into a department store with the purpose of getting my old man the crown jewel of gifts for fathers … toys for his grill. No it wasn’t original, and it wasn’t something he really needed, but it was a gift that I knew he would love. Why? Because he’s a dad, and even if he didn’t have a grill, he would have still loved the gift.

When it comes to giving gifts to fathers I have found two fail-safe gifts that when you come to an impasse at what to get them, or they have simply failed to give you any suggestions for something they would really like, want, need. The first of these two gifts are “toys for the grill.” These toys include (but are not limited to) tongs, spatulas, reusable kabobs, those little holdy things that you stick into the ends of corn on the cob to keep you from getting your fingers swimming in melted butter, an electric meat temperature gauge, seasonings, etc. The second gift … power tools.

The most amazing thing about these gifts is that they instill and very natural and effortless hording behavior in men. For some reason these two types of gifts never ever get old or redundant. I could get my dad a power drill for his birthday, Christmas, and Father’s Day and he would absolutely love it and make sure he used it at least once before making room for it in the “tools” section of the garage. The thing about giving grilling toys is that I know I’m going to be invited over again for a grilled dinner sometime soon, which for me is always nice for two key reasons. I love getting together with my family, we all get along really well. Also, my father is an amazing, and I mean amazing, cook. He has close to 50 years of experience and it shows every time I eat something he’s cooked.

Now if you are one of those people that don’t necessarily get along with their family, power tools are definitely the way to go. There is no suggestion or encouragement of getting together before some required occasion, like family gathering holiday, a family reunion, a wedding, or a funeral. Also, with power tools there is always the opportunity for them to build a fence or some other structure that may assist in keeping you away from each other. Again, that is only if you don’t get along.

If you do get along, power tools can always be used as devices to encourage activities that can bring you together, such as building a new deck for that grill and all those gifted implements to aid in the art of grilling.

Now if you are wondering why these gifts are the “ol’ reliable” of all possible gifts for men, all I can say is that it’s a guy thing. It’s kind of like me asking why a candle is the always reliable gift to give a woman if you are stumped on what to get them. I don’t know why, but I do know that if it smells nice then I get extra points for that. I don’t know what those points are for or how I can check to see how many I have, I just know they exist and that they are important.

Yes I am generalizing, and to be perfectly fair my sweetie-baby-cutie-pie-wifey-pooh is much more guy-like in her appreciation from tools than I am, but for the purpose of this overly stereotyped Smirk, grilling toys and power tools are the “go-to” always perfect gift for an guy on any occasion. Yes, most of the time we are that simple.

Now I concede that this may be just a centralized phenomenon for the area in which I grew up and the family I have. So I’d love to hear any feedback on additional “always reliable” gifts that you have given or received for Father’s Day over the years.

Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: present for dad, power tools, and giving candles.

© Richard Timothy 2011