I need help. I'm tired of giving dear ol' Dad a gift certificate to Amazon.com for Father's Day, and I can't really spend more than $55 or $65 on a gift. He's a computer geek like me, and he drives a 2005 Ford Mustang GT (manual transmission). He washes his car every weekend, weather-permitting, and has pretty much all the accoutrements and tools one needs for car care as well as home improvement. He doesn't spend much time outside when he's not washing his vehicle. He loves DVD's but has a large collection. He's 60 years old. He doesn't really collect anything, other than Sherlock Holmes DVDs and books (long since exhausted that fountain of opportunity -- at least all the low hanging fruit! ) He's in the process of quitting a 40+ year smoking habit. He enjoys a variety of music and uses his iPod Nano a lot (but not enough that I think he'd use an iTunes Gift Card; besides, I think I did that as a Christmas stocking stuffer!) He and Mom both have his and hers Garmin Nuvi GPS units which they both use and love but I haven't found any must-have accessories for it that are in my price range. I'd go in halves with my brother and get him a Scan Gauge if I thought he'd actually want to use it.

Ideas? What do you get the father who has everything?

 

GeekGal, judging by your name I assume you have thought of this, but in case you haven't: Have you visited ThinkGeek? www.thinkgeek.com.

If your dad is a computer geek, there is an absolute myriad of cool and nifty geek toys, as well as geek t-shirts, geek computer components, geek clocks, etc. If you have never been there, I encourage you to check it out.

 

Yes, both Dad and I are familiar with ThinkGeek.com. I have even given him a gift certificate to there before (he bought one of these, among other things.)

 

I recently bought a 1GB memory card (SD) for my digital camera and an adapter to be able to read it by connecting it to the USB port on my laptop.

These 2 things were really cheap and useful. That could make a good gift under $50, if he takes digital pictures.

 

Sorry, I don't have much to suggest. (I'm close to that situation myself.)

You may find something at www.fordcollection.com, a shirt or something like that.

 

Write him a couple page hard-felt letter telling him how you appreciate him.
Then put it into a nice card.

I do believe he'd cherish that more than any device you can buy him.

 

Good suggestion. I agree -- heartfelt words trump physical gifts. I did that when I got married ('98), for both my mom and dad, but I do believe it's time to do that again. Same reason I write an occasional love note to my husband (not counting the geeky short emails and text pages I send him, especially when work is stressing him out)...

The only problem I foresee is doing so for Dad means I should do the same for Mom (who just got out of the hospital less than a week ago -- 9 days in for pancreatitis).

I'm very proud of both of them incidentally. Mom's quit smoking and dad is well on his way there.

 

For the tangible gift, I decided to get him a 2GB SD card -- he can use it in his PDA, digital camera or Garmin Nuvi GPS system -- whichever he'd prefer. $63 at Amazon (I'm sure it might be a little cheaper elsewhere, including locally, but I get free 2 day shipping @ Amazon and no sales tax.)

Thanks for the posts, esp. the heartfelt letter. That one's a keeper, too!