Quick DIY Father's Day Gift Ideas

Oh boy! Father's Day is coming up quick, real quick! Since we are the biggest procrastinators ever, we decided to come up with a short list of easy and inexpensive Father's Day gifts that you can whip up in no time...since we have very little time...yikes!

Maple Bacon Short-Bread Cookies
Yep, the goodness of bacon and short-bread will be sure to delight any man...except for mine, he dislikes both. He's definitely NOT the norm though. Most guys would LOVE to bite into these savory delicious cookies (we stumbled upon the recipe on Closet Cooking). With only 6 ingredients, they are incredibly easy to make! Throw in some dried herbs to make them extra savory or add some dark chocolate chips for a sweeter treat.

Mason Jar Gift Set
You can fill mason jars with pretty much anything: favourite treats/snacks (try to get creative...candied nuts, flavoured popcorn, coffee beans, maple bacon cookies, BBQ sauces), Father's Day coupons, sports paraphernalia etc.
Here is a great list of ideas to fill up your jar. Package it up all cute (check out our post on mason jar gifts) and you are good to go!

image from: http://creativelychristy.blogspot.ca/2012/06/diy-fathers-day-treats.html

Hand-print Art
Get your kiddies involved and whip up some adorable hand-print artwork! Have a look at this Father's Day book we made last year for some cute ideas.

Sharpie Mugs
All you need is a cheap plain white ceramic mug and some sharpie markers! Have your kid decorate the mug, bake it in the oven (350 degrees for 30 minutes) and wrap it up for an awesome gift. Full tutorial here.

image from: http://www.handmadecharlotte.com/diy-sharpie-mugs/

Coffee Cozy
Your kid will have a blast making this easy craft for all the coffee loving dads out there! Follow our tutorial to make your own!

Good luck on your last minute gifting...it's the thought that counts, right?! Happy happy Father's Day to all the amazing men in our lives!

Super-quick Father's Day Coffee Cozy Craft

When your little one has the attention span of a goldfish and you want to do a craft, you have to be fast.  Today's felt coffee cup cozy craft (say that five times fast!) takes no time at all, and your toddler can do most of it independently!  It's totally customizable, and you can make it as complicated or as simple as you like.  I let my almost 3-year-old do whatever she wanted with scissors, felt, and glue, and you can see the results.  I can't say she has the most amazing colour aesthetic, but she had fun, and it's a practical gift that won't clutter up a desk.

Materials:

• felt
• scissors
• fabric or other strong craft glue (or even hot glue if you want to do the gluing)

Method:

1. Cut out a long rectangle for the base of the cozy.  Mine measured 8 cm x 23 cm (this measurement will change depending on the size of the mug you want the cozy to fit).
2. Let your little one cut out shapes out of felt. 
   
3. Put some glue out on a plate, or let your child squeeze glue onto the felt shapes and adhere to the base.
   
   
   
   
4. Grab your cold coffee and throw your feet up here.  You get a 5-minute break while your child cuts and pastes!
5. Once all the shapes have been stuck down, glue the ends of the base together to form a loop.  You can wrap the cozy around your mug so you know what size to make it.
   
   
   
   

Tip!  If you want your cozy to be somewhat colour-coordinated, limit the colours of felt you put out.

Okay, and because I just can't leave some things alone, I decided I wanted to make my own cup cozy.  It's the same idea as the one above, but I drew and cut out templates from paper first and then cut them out of felt.  I also decided I'd blanket-stitch the shapes at 1 am because I'm crazy for crafts.  And alliteration, apparently.  It's a problem.  But it was worth it!  I love blanket stitching!  Check out this link if you want to learn how to blanket stitch.

Tip!  To get nice lettering, you can print out the words in the font you want and use the paper as your template.

Are you planning on buying or making your Father's Day gift? Get started this weekend so you have plenty of time to prepare! :)

Father's Day Book Craft

With father's day less than two weeks away (yikes!), it's time to pull out the crafting supplies and have your children create this cute father's day book craft! The best part about this project is that it incorporates fingerprint/handprint/footprint art. Such a sweet keepsake for daddy to remember the early years.  <3 This craft project is really versatile and can be done with infants, toddlers or older children. Kids LOVE making handprints and footprints (perfect excuse to get messy). If this project seems like too much work (it's actually really simple), just make one page or convert it into a card craft. Add stickers, photos, drawings etc. to make this project extra special.

Materials

• Card stock or construction paper 
• colours of your choice; however, you may want brown paper for the tree (I used patterned scrapbooking paper), pink paper for the heart, blue paper for the world
• if you plan on making this exact book, you will need 1 cover page, 4 text/photo pages and 3 background pages for the art work
• Glue (I personally love to use adhesive tape runners because they are so quick and easy to use)
• Scissors
• Paint- nontoxic and washable! (green, red and any other colours you want to use for the "leaf" fingerprints) or coloured ink pads
• Sponge brush (or regular paint brush)
• Hole punch
• Ribbon
• Printer (or you can handwrite, use letter stamps, alphabet stickers etc.)
• you will want to use 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of paper if you plan on using a printer
• Photo mounting corners (optional)
• Photos (optional)
• Downloadable template, or create your own text!

You can find packages of card stock at Michaels (don't forget to use the weekly coupons!)

Method

1. Cut out tree, heart(s) and round circle (I used the rim of a bowl to trace out a perfect circle and sketched the tree before cutting it out). You may want to cut out extra hearts and circles in case the hand/footprints take a few tries to get right.

   

   Don't worry if your tree isn't perfect, once the fingerprints are added, it will look amazing!

2. Glue tree shape onto paper. Using paint/ink pad, have your child make leaves using fingerprints. I even added my 10 month old's fingerprints! 

   

   You really should cover your table with a plastic table cloth or scrap paper...
   don't know what I was thinking.  Thank goodness for washable paint!

3. Use sponge brush/paint brush to coat your child's hand or foot with paint. Look at pictures below to see how to best position hand/feet to make a heart shape. I made two hearts - I used my 3-year-old daughter's handprints and my 10-month-old son's footprints. For the world, use green paint on the blue circle. I used my daughter's handprint and my son's footprint. Let shapes dry and glue onto background paper.

   

   Make sure to help press your child's hand/foot down onto the paper firmly.

   

   Keep wet wipes or a wet cloth close by if you don't want paint ending up on other places.

4. Type up text for book and print onto paper (or handwrite/stamp/sticker the words). 

   

   Feel free to come up with your own special wording! Be sure to include the date.

   Note: if you are planning on making this into a photo album, leave room for the photos. 

   

   This picture was stuck on using photo mounting corners.

   I printed out large outlines of letters for the cover page (THANKS DADDY...) so that my daughter could colour in the letters herself. I traced the letters with a black sharpie after she was done colouring to make the letters pop out. 

   

   I really encouraged her to stay in the lines! She did a great job!

5. Glue photos into book (if using) or use photo mounting corners.
6. Glue pages together to make the book double sided.
   
   
   
   
7. Punch out holes along edge of left side of book and bind book with ribbon.
   

And there you have it! The cutest book for a special father.

Tip! Use paper plates as paint palettes for easy clean up! Just recycle after your kid is done with it.

Let us know how yours turns out! And a very early Happy Father's Day to all the amazing dads out there! Oh, and to my hubby who is also a very loyal Smocks & Sprinkles blog reader, here is your father's day gift. You're welcome:)

P.S. We will also be featuring a very easy and last minute father's day craft later this week for all you procrastinators out there!

Father's Day Gift Ideas

It's panic time of course, because we're the biggest procrastinators around, and Father's Day has secretly snuck up on us!  We'll be posting a quick craft idea for a homemade card and gift in a few days, but in the meanwhile, here are some gift ideas from around the interwebs (disclaimer: we haven't tried these...they just look really interesting!  Make sure to read reviews before you commit!).  Let's hope they have expedited shipping for when we place our order on June 18th.  Don't be like us.  Plan ahead.

For the foodie father:

• a subscription to the Carnivore Club where you get chacuterie delivered to your door every month! ($50 CAD/month for 3 months)
• also check out Amazing Clubs, so many monthly subscriptions to choose from including cheese, wine, beer, BBQ sauce, jerky, coffee and salsa (all delivered to your door)
• whiskey stones (set of 9 for $19.95 USD at Sur La Table, but they sell them everywhere!) or Chillsners ($29.95 CAD) to keep your beer cool without watering it down
• Foodie or Mixology Dice, for the bored chef  ($24-$48 US)
• homemade beer/gin/bourbon/absinthe brewing kit
• Man Made Meals cookbook for manly cooking ($21.28 CAD)
• smoker box ($50 CAD), Williams Sonoma has so many cool BBQ accessories

For the fun father:

• personalized playing cards ($15 CAD)
• nano block building sets (from ~$10 CAD)
• coffee/chocolate/wine and cheese/ghost tour ($18.75 - $89.95 CAD per person)
• funny onesie from your little one ($28 CAD)
• a unique chess set, featuring bugs in amber, Star Wars, Lego, or whatever else he's interested in! (prices vary)

For the sentimental father:

• personalized photo (starting at $12.99 USD) or board book ($24.95 USD), or a blank board book for your child to draw in...check out the samples because they're super-cute! (starting at $6 USD)
• pottery painted by your children (starting at $6 CAD)
• handmade coupon book 
• Dad libs card, so your kids can fill in info about dad from their point of view (free!)
• crafts made by your kids (almost free!)

For the techie father:

• laser projection keyboard ($129.99 CAD)
• Google Chromecast ($39.00 CAD)
• phone battery charger (prices vary)
• binary code t-shirt that says "DAD" ($27.50 CAD)
• Vers bluetooth bamboo speakers ($193 CAD). Indigo currently has a huge 45% off sale on Vers double bamboo speakers but they are currently all sold out (keep checking back!)
• Linksys Wifi range extender, for when you live in a mansion or have a lot of concrete walls ($34.99 CAD)

For the fashionable father:

• unique cufflinks (starting from ~$5 CAD)
• personal shaving kit ($31 CAD)
• My Pakage underwear, apparently the most comfortable boxer-briefs ever...they have a separate pocket for the "boys" to prevent chafing! ($25 - $40 CAD)
• Mizzen & Main dress shirt.  You don't need to iron it.  I repeat, you do not need to iron!  Also wicks sweat (no embarrassing sweat stains). And doesn't need to be dry cleaned. Perfect for dads that travel for work. ($139 CAD)

For the sporty father:

• tickets to a sports game
• personalized jersey (NHL jerseys $134.99 CAD)
• a Greens' Fee Passport for the golfers in Ontario and New York ($80.89 CAD)
• Zepp golf sensor, attach sensor to any golf glove and get feedback on your swing using the iphone/ipad/ipod touch app ($149.95 CAD)
• fit bit activity tracker ($101.93 CAD)

For the outdoorsy father:

• the G-Shock Rangeman watch includes a compass, barometer, thermometer...everything but a Swiss Army knife to help you survive in the wild (~$300)
• waterproof iPhone/iPod/MP3 player speakers ($55 CAD)
• Brunten hydrogen reactor, so you can generate power without any batteries! ($124.99 USD)
• Ivation High-Efficiency solar pad charger/power supply in portable silicon case ($39 CAD)
• SteriPEN Ultra, a pen that uses UV light to sterilize water on the go ($99.95 USD)

Bespoke Post boxes...choose your own category!

And if you're still not sure, why not get a monthly Bespoke Post subscription service with a box theme of his choice (starting at $45 USD/month)?  Then he can let you know what kind of dad he is!

What will you be getting your husband or dad for Father's Day?  Share your great gift ideas with us!  And have a wonderful weekend!  :)