[TheSownRose]

My dad is the most awkward person I have ever come across to buy gifts for. He genuinely doesn't want anything; I have no doubt that if I gave him a card that said 'I couldn't think of anything to get you, so I didn't', he wouldn't care. He doesn't really like other people buying him things, so he's never helpful about it. The biggest problem he has (and I do the same thing, so I know I shouldn't really complain...) is, when he wants things, he buys them for himself so there's never anything left by the time special events come along. The only things he sometimes wants are big gifts where he couldn't justify spending the money on just himself, and they get saved for Christmas and birthday (which coincide) because he's just as awkward then, but we find it easier to persuade him that of course it costs a lot of money because it covers two celebrations from several members of the family.

The other problem is, he doesn't do any of the typically dad-sy things. He can't drink, so that's anything alcoholic or alcohol-related out. He smokes, but doesn't want us to encourage him. He can't use colognes or related products because they set his asthma off. His job doesn't involve a suit or anything, so a nice tie or cufflinks are out. He wears a watch my mother bought him and I know he'd never replace it (they were basically separated for a while and he still wore it every day, I can't match that.) He's not into sports apart from the Tour de France and the occasional England football match on TV if there's nothing else on, and that's only when it's on, it's not a year-round obsession. He's not a techy person, so gadgets aren't great. He likes music that is decades old, so he has any albums he wants. He doesn't drive or have a car (the 'family car' is my mother's) so car-related gifts are irrelevant. He's doesn't pleasure read, he only reads non-fiction books and it's difficult to tell what is topic of the month, and he only reads books once so it's not going to be a lasting gift. He never goes anywhere or does anything apart from photography ... and anything reasonably priced related to that, he has, and anything he wants is so expensive (several thousands of pounds) that I know he wouldn't use it even if I did get it, it would just get taken back and the money would return to my account. He likes photography magazines, but he gets bored of the same magazine after a few months so a subscription is useless. This is just an abbreviated list - I can't go through everything he doesn't do, want or need, because that would take too long, I just wanted to point out some key areas that are useless.

TL;DR: Father is an exceptionally awkward person to buy gifts for, because the typical 'dad' gifts (posh drink, cologne, watch, etc) don't suit him and he genuinely doesn't want anything so is never helpful. If you have any suggestions at all, just throw them out - even if they're not ultimately helpful, I appreciate any efforts and it might inspire me. Thanks.



The problem of The Awkward Dad has been solved: He came home today and announced that he's lost his flash drive, so guess what he's getting on Sunday...? Thank you for suggestions everybody; I know I may not have seemed it, but I did appreciate them all.

[BostonLegal]

You say he doesn't go anywhere, but if you arranged a trip for him, would he go? Maybe something combined with photography?

[GottaLovePhysics! :)]

New spade, all dads love spades, honestly, its madness.

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by BostonLegal)
You say he doesn't go anywhere, but if you arranged a trip for him, would he go? Maybe something combined with photography?

He would go, but it would be because I arranged it, not particularly because he wanted to go. I did consider it - we live reasonably close to a raptor centre that run photography days, and he likes birds - but it doesn't really fit with the ways he does photography, he's more of a 'oh, it's a nice day, I'll go out and see what there is to shoot' kind of guy.

The other difficulty with arranging trips is, he has a medical condition that means how good he is changes quickly (as in, he can be fine one day and awful the next, then back to fine the next) ... so it would be very easy to arrange something a few weeks in advance, only to find it's really bad that day and he can't go.

[sarahthegemini]

Take him out to lunch/dinner? My Dad's really awkward too but this year i've bought him some Doc.Martins.

[BostonLegal]

(Original post by TheSownRose)
He would go, but it would be because I arranged it, not particularly because he wanted to go. I did consider it - we live reasonably close to a raptor centre that run photography days, and he likes birds - but it doesn't really fit with the ways he does photography, he's more of a 'oh, it's a nice day, I'll go out and see what there is to shoot' kind of guy.

The other difficulty with arranging trips is, he has a medical condition that means how good he is changes quickly (as in, he can be fine one day and awful the next, then back to fine the next) ... so it would be very easy to arrange something a few weeks in advance, only to find it's really bad that day and he can't go.

Understand!

If I think of anything else, I'll post here.

[Miracle Day]

Socks!

[Summer_Lovin]

Bake a cake? My dad is the same and that is what I do every year now

[Sophie_1995]

Get him a Mug!
Or buy him "An Experience" Like going in a Hot Air Ballon or something

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by GottaLovePhysics! :))
New spade, all dads love spades, honestly, its madness.

Seriously, he does nothing in the garden apart from take photos in it and mow the grass when my mother's nagging gets too much.

(Original post by sarahthegemini)
Take him out to lunch/dinner? My Dad's really awkward too but this year i've bought him some Doc.Martins.

He hates eating out. He does it on occasion (for example, we often go out for a meal on my mother's birthday), but he doesn't like it and always wants it to be over as soon as possible. It's like arranging a photography trip - he'd go because I arranged it, but he wouldn't actually want to go.

[pinkmonkey3]

A mug full of sweets. And socks. Simple things that everyone needs.

Bath stuff? A shirt?

[sarahthegemini]

(Original post by TheSownRose)
Seriously, he does nothing in the garden apart from take photos in it and mow the grass when my mother's nagging gets too much.


He hates eating out. He does it on occasion (for example, we often go out for a meal on my mother's birthday), but he doesn't like it and always wants it to be over as soon as possible. It's like arranging a photography trip - he'd go because I arranged it, but he wouldn't actually want to go.

Hmm how about ordering in a takeaway and getting a few of his favourite films? And make him unlimited cups of tea!

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by Miracle Day)
Socks!

Actually... He was recently diagnosed with arthritis in his feet and it hurts quite a lot at times, I wonder if you can get arthritis-relieving socks or something?

(Original post by Summer_Lovin)
Bake a cake? My dad is the same and that is what I do every year now

He's not a cake person. He's not a food person in general, actually - he eats because he has to, he doesn't enjoy it.

(Original post by Sophie_1995)
Get him a Mug!
Or buy him "An Experience" Like going in a Hot Air Ballon or something

Mugs used to be great ... then I eventually bought him so many that they're everywhere, and we don't have enough room for them all.

An experience has the same problems as the photography trip - he wouldn't actually want to go, and you can never tell if he's going to be in a condition to go on any given day.

[Joinedup]

Jeremy clarkson book?

[EckoGecko]

A framed picture of you all as a family?

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by pinkmonkey3)
A mug full of sweets. And socks. Simple things that everyone needs.

Bath stuff? A shirt?

Nah, he's not a sweet person. Socks isn't a bad idea, especially if I can get some sort of arthritis-relieving ones.

He's a shower person, and just uses whatever products are around (I think he uses my shower gel at the moment, because it seems to deplete a lot :rolleyes) Yeah, he'd wear a shirt, but he'd also wear underpants or use a bottle of cooking oil - it's not really a gift.

(Original post by sarahthegemini)
Hmm how about ordering in a takeaway and getting a few of his favourite films? And make him unlimited cups of tea!

He has quite specific food issues (no garlic, for a start), so the takeaway is verging on impossible. He might like some of his favourite films and TV shows on DVD, but he wouldn't actually sit down all day and watch them. He gets unlimited cups of tea anyway, so that's not really a gift.



I really don't mean to shoot everyones' ideas down.

[Artymess]

Just make him something

Sit down with the glue, felt, glitter, etc and make him a card, or a picture or something
Even if it comes out looking awful, it's something original that you've put effort into

[ROYP]

shaver?

[ice_man]

A hug and a card should do the job.

Old people don't care that much about material things, just show him that you appreciate all his hard work in raising you. He'll be very happy with that.

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by Joinedup)
Jeremy clarkson book?

He says he wants to strangle Jeremy Clarkson... I think the gift of rage wouldn't be the best one.

(Original post by EckoGecko)
A framed picture of you all as a family?

There are no current pictures of us as a family that could be put in a frame to give on the day. I could arrange for a family photograph, but I'm not sure how much he'd like it or indeed any of us would want to do it... I just worry that he wouldn't see the purpose of it - he prefers the surprise image where we look the way we do all the time and he can remember us as we really were, I don't think he'd like a proper formal picture of us all.

However, pictures in general... He takes photos and likes some of them, so maybe I could frame some of them? That said, my mother insisted he print out a photo once, and he hung it in the toilet so it wouldn't be prominently on display, so maybe not.