Gift for Dad: Xmas, bday, or Father's Day

For my Dad this Christmas I gave him: A Year of Father-Daughter Dates!

My dad is so hard to buy for. He’s not the kinda guy who likes to receive pjs or slippers so it makes it really hard to figure out what to get him. However, this year I wanted to do something really special for him.

I decided to give my dad the gift of time-with ME! He loves spending time with his first born daughter so I thought this would be a great way to show my dad how much he means to me.

First of all a year of dates can get very expensive, so I got creative. I mixed in some great planned, pre-paid dates that I bought but added in several father-daughter dates that are absolutely FREE. My dad loves going to museums and at my local library they offer free passes so I included dates to these fun local places. Once a month you can get free passes to great museums here in Boston at local libraries as long as you book earlier (usually the month before). 

So I organized an explanation for each date for each month in a word document, printed them out, and got a nice box and envelopes to put all the dates in. I also created a word document and created 12 boxes and typed the name of the month in each box to print and put on each envelope.

Here is the note I included in the box to explain the dates to my dad:

Merry Christmas Dad,

For Christmas this year I want to give you the gift of father daughter time- just you and me. Here are 12 envelopes, one for each month over the next year. Each envelope contains a pre-planned, (mostly) pre-paid father-daughter date.   All 12 dates are different.

Let’s look at a calendar and decide on our days of fun ahead of time.  So right from the beginning of the month, we’ll have a fun day on the calendar to look forward to. 
I love you Daddio and can’t wait to spend all this extra time with you!

Starbucks Date

Movie Date

 Here’s a breakdown of all the dates with my dad:

1.     January- Starbucks Date, included $25 gift card

2.     February-Movie Date, included $25 gift card to the movies

3.     March-Tickets to a live show at his favorite theater: Oliver at Trinity Rep in Providence Rhode Island

4.     April-Tickets to Paint Nite. A night of painting a famous painting and drinks at a local bar

5.     May-Museum of Science- FREE from Library

6.     June-Run along Charles River together-FREE

7.     July-Block Island trip, we will plan a weekend to go to one of his favorite places. I’ll buy the ferry tickets

8.     August-Bike ride in Boston, I’ll pay for us to rent bikes

9.     September-John F. Kennedy Museum-FREE from library

10.  October-Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum- FREE from library

11.   November- Four Seasons Date- grab lunch and tea at the restaurant in the hotel (1 of my dad's favorite spots) on me

12.   December- Musuem of Fine Arts- FREE from library.

Tickets to Oliver

September: JFK Museum

My Daddio really loved this gift! It was so easy to do and packed a big punch! I think it would be perfect for a birthday or Father's Day present!

All the dates in their envelopes

Helpful Tips if you want to do something like this for your dad: Be creative, many of these dates are free! Also, livingsocial and groupon are perfect places to purchases good deals on date ideas!

**This gift for my dad was inspired by my first wedding anniversary gift for my husband which I will include in my next post!**