Fathers Day Gift Idea- Your Suggestions Are Encouraged.

My dad loves spicy salsa, etc and it is just not available where he lives in AL. We went to a Mexican restaurant last year and ordered queso, favorite of his, and when they brought it to the table, daughter and would not touch it because that was no queso!!!! Since I am in TX with great salsas, queso, etc... I bought a variety of real salsas that were extra spicy that I knew my dad would love.

As for my husband, this is our first Father's Day without him since his death in October. Daughter and I plan to have a small balloon release at his grave.

I think you have a great idea for a BBQ basket. I purchase all of our beef, pork and chicken from a butcher who has high quality and he always has specialty rubs, etc that are not in the stores. Many are local. He also sells special Hickory, etc chips for smokers or just adding to the grill for flavor.

I think it's a great idea. Instead of a standard basket (if that's what you had in mind), you could put it in a grill "basket" for doing veggies and small items. You could add a grill lighter unless he has a self-starting grill. If he doesn't have a gauge on his propane tank that tells him when it's getting low, you can get one of those at any hardware store - I have a magnetic one that just sticks to the tank.

I don't use the pre-made marinades so I'll be interested to read the responses for ideas. I make my own with what I have on hand, and I keep a pot of herbs on the deck: I do a soy sauce/ginger one with sesame oil added to regular canola oil, oil/dill, oil/thyme, and oil/chives, and add salt/pepper. I use these for veggies and kabobs too - chicken, plus chunks of potato, sweet potato, zucchini, yellow squash, quartered onions, etc. If he likes that, you could include a set of metal skewers.

But my husband doesn't love spicy food so I don't venture to far that way. For London broil, I tenderize with a fork and let the marinade soak in, then flip it halfway and do the 2nd side. I also have a little set in individual thermometers that you can stick in hamburgers as well as chicken fingers. You could add that as well. Kingsford makes a set.

I think it's great to get him stuff he will use over time - yes, there are things he COULD buy for himself, but things he probably wouldn't.

Hope it's a big success! Glad to hear he's grateful no matter what you do.

I think that Williams and Sonoma has good BBQ sauces and ribs and seasonings. We've tasted many of their products. They also have Himalayan salt BBQ products, smokers, and lots of other choices. Their sauce and rub ingredients are good, without high fructose corn syrup or preservatives (I haven't looked at them all, but the ones we've seen seem to have real ingredients that you can pronounce and understand). We make our own sauces, but I think we'd choose W & S for a purchased product. For my birthday, my dh gave me W & S' Himalayan salt mortar and pestle, and I love it.

Another idea is to check out a BBQ sauce and rub "sauce of the month club" type of thing, where your dad would get a selection of sauces and rubs each month, delivered to him, so he can try something new each month. There are lots to choose from; just google bbq sauce of the month clubs.

My husband tends to make his own marinades or just buys whatever is on sale, so I'll leave that up to the other moms for suggestions. Sorry - not much help there..

But I do have a tradition we do here I thought I'd throw out. May not be very helpful where you are - but here, we do a lobster Father's Day. For those of you with fathers, FIL's or husbands who love it, it's easy - we got lobster bibs, those cracker things (to crack open the lobster), the little picks to get it out of claws, and local beer - it's become our easy Father's Day gift. My oldest kids are into it too now.

I just like things that are kind of experiences and easy to repeat (they look forward to this) so thought I'd mention it to moms who can make this happen easily.

my dad only uses sweet baby rays and so if i were going to give something like that to him i would go with some of their stuff. if i were doing this for my kids dad, i would leave out all the commercial sauces, rubs and marinades and pinterest some homemade ones that don't have onion or any spice to them so he could enjoy them... but i am the only one around here that uses the grill so i would love it if my kids got him that!