Father's Day Firsts

well,,, hand and feet prints never fail... There is also a photo shoot of her in a good, matted frame with her hand and feet prints on the matting and something you come up with to write on it about him being the greatest daddy..

What is did for my husbands first Fathers day was make a t-shirt with my daughters hand prints. He loved it and loves wearing it.

There is a website called "mypublisher.com" and it is wonderful. They have a free trial right now that may be neat. The books that they make are amazing! My sister owns a print shop and she uses mypublisher all the time because they are inexpensive and do an incredible job. Just a suggestion.

A few years ago I made a scrapbook for my husband. He now keeps it at work so he can look at our children to brighten his day. I found pictures of him and the kids (together and each child alone with him) doing various things. For example there's a picture of our oldest fishing with daddy, our middle son taking a nap with dad, etc. I wrote the messages as though they were coming from the kids. He loved it. Since you are short on time and have a newborn, you can go to Hobbie Lobby, Michaels, or JoAnn Fabrics, and they have scrapbooks that come with just about everything you would need. You can pick up some stickers to go along with a page's theme if you want. Hope that idea helps.

For my hubby's first father's day we started a photo album with our son. I took his photo the day before father's day (with a sign that said Happy Father's Day 2001)and then had them printed and presented them to my hubby in an album with a letter from me. Each year we take photos with a computer made sign that says Happy Father's Day and the year. This is so much fun to look at from year to year. Hubby has also taken to adding some additional photos from each father's day to make the book even more special...

How about an album of you little girl, take dad'd idea - just put it in photos? Good luck to you!

J.,
Congratulations to you and your family. For my husband's first Father's Day I got him a willow tree figurine of a father holding a baby, now 4 year later that is the one gift that he still has. I have also given him gift cards and that kind of thing so he can have a night out with the guys minus the kids and I which he needs occasionally. Hope this helps.
-A.

I second the handprint idea. You can't get those little hands back. ;o)
Also, you could take her to the Picture People at the mall and have her pictures taken. You get to take them home with you in about an hour & they will frame them for you too if you want!!
I started having my daughter's photos taken at 3 mo. and did it every 3 mo. until she was 1. Then we have gone evey 6 mo. She just turned 4.
I love J.C.Penney for portraits, but they take about 2 weeks to get back. Beautiful stuff, but you don't have that much time now.
We've gone to the Picture People twice and they do a good job too. Works great in a pinch.
Good luck & enjoy your little girl. :O)

when my son was born it was actually right before fathers day....i went to the store & got a really big poster board & some finger paints & cut the poster board up in strips(4inches wide & the longest length of the poster), i put the paint on my sons' foot then used another sheet of paper to transfer his foot print to the poster board...i used all different colors, then i set them out to make a path & had it lead to the table & had a picture of our son(in an heirloom frame) on the table next to a new york strip steak dinner & a card & some flowers. since then he has asked me why i haven't been creative like that since. good luck, & CONGRADULATIONS!!!

Have you considered a photo bood from MyPublisher (or another source) that is full of photos if just him and the kids? Or perhaps make your own w/construction paper, pictures and maybe her hand and footprints. A definite keepsake!

What about using Windows Movie Maker, or something similar, and putting together pictures of your daughter and husband together, set to music? Then you can burn it to a DVD.

walgreens.com has all kinds of things you can order with pictures on them, my husband is getting a coffee mug with our daughter's pic on it so he can show he off at work.

The best father's day gift I have ever given my huband was a plate with the hand and footprints of the kids. I made one plate for each child out of clay at a ceramics studio and then pressed their hands and feet into along with the date and their names. They are still hanging in our kitchen 6 years later and we both still marvel at how small the prints are! The time goes so fast and it's such a great reminder to see the little tiny feet and hands. I know that craft stores (hobby lobby, micheals, etc.) have hearts that you can press your child's hand in to make a print. They are truely priceless!
good luck!

It's a little close now, but have you thought of a small scrapbook of your husband and the baby, or mostly of the baby - pictures of her hands and feet, birth, coming home, etc. You can make your own, or they make them as small as wallet-sized pictures. Also, something he can put on his desk or hang on the wall like a picture frame, to show off his little girl!

First off congratulations on the arrival of your little girl and her successes.

Maybe I'm a tad biased since my hubby works for them, but get an account on www.growingmemories.com, especially if he likes taking pics of your little one. It's a website where you can put pics of your baby (with tons of ways to personalize it), and collect messages to your little one. It can also be put together in a movie (which they're happy to burn to DVD for you.) It's pretty secure (you have to know the EXACT name for the child in order to see the pics - for example with my child's account you have to search for Nicholas Chambers - just searching for N Chambers, Nick Chambers, Chambers, etc. doesn't work.)

What about a personal calendar for him. You don't say if he has an office at work or home but it would be a great gift. I am sure even at her age you already have loads of pixs to chose from. Maybe most of the with him and her together or the two of you. If you want something more from you what about a pin up type calendar of just you. My sister had one made for her husband and although I swore they were not of her just the head. She said they were. I guess she was get fatter than I thought she was. But they were very tasteful. Not tacky at all. You could even do one with scenes from his favorite places. Like your honeymoon if you had one. Where you met. And so forth.

My husband has a watch addiction!!! The first Father's Day, I got him a really nice watch and had it monogrammed at Things Remembered..."To Daddy, With Love, Emma". Just a thought, not sure if your husband is in to that or not! Mine Loved it, of course!

Not knowing what your husband does professionally sort of stops me from making some suggestions, but what about a picture collage of her with pictures of her all together in one frame he can put on a desk at work?
Another idea would be to get a Tee Shirt and have Proud Father of "her name" and her hand and foot prints on it? You could even use one of her first pictures in the center under her name and framed with foot and handprints?

shutterfly.com you could make him a book. I made one for my wedding, and one for my husband for his birthday of our son.

For mother's day this year I received a three segmented frame with a picture of my boys. The first picture one was holding a big letter "M" cut out of colorful poster board. The second picture was "O" and the third was "M". Put the three pictures together and what do you get?.......MOM!!!!!! LOVE THE GIFT!!!! Would work for DAD. I think the idea came from one of the parenting magazines. He will love whatever you and your little one do for him. Have a great first father's day with daddy!!:)
J. C.

Hi J.
I CAN TELL YOU THE BEST MOTHER'S DAY GIFT I EVER RECEIVED WAS A BEAUTIFUL FRAME WITH MY DAUGHTER AND TWO SON'S PICTURE IN IT. I THINK YOUR HUSBAND WOULD JUST LOVE A PICTURE OF HIS LITTLE GIRL OR MAYBE HAVE ONE WITH YOU AND HIS DAUGHTER IN IT. HOPE YOU FIND THE BEST GIFT. FATHERS ARE WONDERFUL.
MINE HAS BEEN THE MOST WONDERFUL FATHER, TOMORROW WILL BE 47 YEARS.

If you go to grandpointe they have a product that they sell that I thought was really neat. You send in a photo and they will make a large painting of it. How about a painting of your daughter or perhaps of the 3 of you? Shannon G.

I've done a picture collage for my husband in the past, also t-shirts with hand and foot prints of our children. Both are things he treasures. She is so young you could take a picture of her have it put on a t-shirt then put her foot prints walking up the back. Don't try the hand it is nearly impossible to get them to uncurl their fingers and makes a mess, I've tried it.:) Good luck and enjoy that new baby it goes tooo fast.

My daughter was about 3 months old for the first fathers day. We bought a frame where one side holds a picture and the other side holds a clay formation of her tiny little feet. He loved it, and 3 years later now...she looks at it and tries to match her feet up to it. so cute. He also plays video games so for another fathers day i got him wireless remote controls for the playstation. that way she couldnt grab the wire and pull on it.

J., congrats!! My daughter Kaitlin was born last May - right before Father's Day. Last year I got my husband a picture of him and Kaitlin when she was minutes old and framed it for his desk - he actually kept it on his nightstand instead. Then for Christmas I went to Linen 'n THings and got a photo frame that says "Daddy & Me" all around it and put a goofy picture of them playing on the bed. Every holiday (no matter how dorky) I find a picture of Kaitlin and "DADA" to give him - just the 2 of them.

I'm going to Portrait Innovations (today, as a matter of fact) to have photos of my daughters taken. When I receive them; I'm going to frame a shot of them for my husband's office. You could try something like that. You should get your photos back within an hour of you picking the shots that you liked. AND the price is decent!!! If you want, try www.portraitinnovations.com. GOOD LUCK!!!

I am a writer and poet. I happen to have written a poem for fathers about daughters, and would be happy to share it with you if you would like to have it framed with a picture of your daughter, perhaps in a really nice frame that will allow you to add pictures of her as she reaches benchmarks, like 6mos, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 13 years, sweet sixteen, eighteen and 21. You would mark each empty frame with the age picture that goes in it, even including whatever symbolizes each age, i.e., graduation, ballet slippers, etc.

How about a picture frame with baby things around it and a really cute picture of your daughter in it? The saying on the bottom of it could be: To My Daddy Like my Mom always said; "Most men can be fathers, but it takes a special man to be a DADDY".