There are lots of great Father’s Day pressies you can buy, but there are also plenty of thoughtful gifts that cost absolutely zilch! Most of these free Father’s Day gifts are intended to be things you can help the kids to do for their dads, but there’s no reason why many of them can’t be transferred to your own dad too!
Photo by Anna Hardy
1. BREAKFAST IN BED
Who doesn’t love breakfast in bed, particularly made and delivered by your own kids? A tray with a big mug of his favourite tea or coffee, his favourite brekkie and a couple of flowers grabbed from the garden… Smaller children can still easily enjoy making it all themselves switching the tea/coffee for juice, and a bowl of cereal instead of anything cooked.
2. PRINTABLE COUPON BOOK
These lovely printables from Botanical Paperworks can be filled out yourselves, so you can choose things that will be especially appreciated by your particular dad. There’s also a space for a name on each one, so each book can have different coupons from different children in the family too.
3. COOK HIM DINNER
Let the kids cook dinner for him – they may well enjoy making it more than Dad enjoys eating it, but it’s the thought that counts! The BBC Good Food website has some great kid-friendly recipes. If you can’t face tackling a full meal, kids love baking cupcakes & this recipe from Annabel Karmel is super-simple and can be decorated with icing, sprinkles or just throw on whatever sweets you have lying around.
Photo by Anna Hardy
4. HANDPRINT / FOOTPRINT ART
There are loads of great ideas for easy art using painted hands or feet. Either keep it loose or frame in an inexpensive frame from IKEA/Poundland or similar. A few of my fave hand/foot-print ideas: Monsters, Dinosaur, Lion, Owls, Elephants.
5. BE DAD’S ‘SERVANT’ FOR AN HOUR / MORNING / DAY
Let him put his feet up and order you around for a while. Cups of tea… the papers… the remote control… run him a bath… give him a foot massage (if dad’s gnarly feet are approachable)… he’s the boss!
6. FILM NIGHT WITH POPCORN + PIZZA
Grab some popcorn and Dad’s favourite pizzas and curl up under a blanket on the sofa together to watch a film you’ll all enjoy. Personal family favourites for us are: the Star Wars series, Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse, The Goonies, Labyrinth, Coco, The Witches, the Madagascar movies, the Hotel Transylvania series, Indiana Jones films (although I still can’t bring myself – or allow the kids – to watch parts of the Temple of Doom!), The Hunger Games trilogy, Home Alone, Mary Poppins, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Elf, E.T, the Shrek movies, Spirited Away, Bumblebee, Early Man, The Grinch, Chicken Run, Edward Scissorhands, the How To Train Your Dragon series, Lord Of The Rings trilogy, Wallace & Gromit, Stand By Me, Matilda, Fantastic Mr Fox, Coraline, Chicken Run, Inside Out, Turner & Hooch, The Incredibles movies, Big, the Toy Story series, the Lego movies, Neverending Story and the BFG (NB. obviously depending on the age of the kids, not all of these listed above are suitable for younger nippers!)
Photo by Anna Hardy
7. FATHER’S DAY NAME POEM
Make an acrostic poem from Dad’s name – using each letter of his name as the first letter of a word or sentence to describe him (example below for Graham – my own Pops!)
Greedy
Ready for anything
Always kind
Hugs tight
Affectionate
Makes us all laugh
8. REASONS I LOVE DAD LIST
Self-explanatory! A list of all the reasons Dad is ace.
9. HOMEMADE STORY ABOUT DAD
Make Dad the superhero in a story written by the kids. If they are struggling to think of a plot for the story, these free story prompts are a great way to spark their imagination and give them something to get them off the blocks.
10. WASH HIS CAR
What kid doesn’t love getting soaking wet and chucking water and soap suds around? A bonus if they can actually clean Dad’s car in the process.
Photo by Anna Hardy
11. DECORATE A ‘THRONE’ FOR DAD FOR THE DAY
Grab one of the chairs in the house and let the kids go nuts decorating it and making it into a ‘throne’ for him to sit on for the day. Tinsel, silver foil, cardboard, glitter, pipe cleaners… whatever is to hand that will make his ‘throne’ extra special!
12. HOMEMADE CARD
You can’t have a list of free Father’s Day gifts without including homemade cards on it – always far better than shop-bought ones. Here are some great ideas that aren’t too taxing – also the handprint and footprint art ideas (number 4 above) can easily be used on the cover of a card too.
13. CREATE A WEBSITE ABOUT YOUR DAD
There are some great free simple website creators around such as Wix and Weebly – fill Dad’s website with pictures, photos, quotes, stories, habits, all the things you love about him… whatever you like – then send him the link on Father’s Day!
14. A LIE IN
The stuff all parents dream of.
Photo by Anna Hardy
15. MAKE A PLAYLIST
Make a compilation of songs that remind you of Dad in some way – a mixture of his favourite songs, ones that were playing during good times you’ve had together, or ones with titles/lyrics that are relevant to him in some way… Then you can then pop them all on a playlist and send them to him.
16. MAKE A TREASURE HUNT
Obviously these can be as simple or elaborate as you like, but at its simplest, just hide a bottle of Dad’s favourite beer or his favourite chocolate bar somewhere in the house, the work backwards location-wise with the clues for as long as the kids are interested! Make your own clues from scratch if you and the kids are feeling especially creative, or if you get stuck, here are some ready-made riddles, and this is a great resource for ideas for making clues.
17. PHOTO COLLAGE
Make a photo collage for him. If you fancy doing it totally DIY, print off lots of pictures of the family, then glue them onto a sheet or sheets of paper, slightly overlapping the pictures so that no background shows through. You could keep it the standard rectangular shape of the paper, or you could cut the paper into letters spelling DAD and stick the photos on to those, or cut the paper into a heart shape… Or if you prefer, you can do it all digitally.
Photo by Anna Hardy
18. PICNIC
Get the little ones making Dad’s favourite sandwiches, pack a lovely picnic basket and head out somewhere nice to eat together in the great outdoors.
19. MAKE A FAMILY VIDEO
Make short clips of each member of the family saying what they love best about Dad and their favourite memory they share with him. To keep it simple, you can just film it all on your phone or tablet, then create a video with iMovie (there are various alternatives to iMovie for both iPhone and Android)
20. HOURLY HUGS
A massive bear hug, on the hour, every hour.
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So there we have it! Lots of lovely free Father’s Day gifts, hopefully lots of happy Dads and not a penny spent!
Of course, the best present of all is memories with his family, and if you’d like me to capture these for you so that you can all look back on and cherish them for years to come, just download my brochure to get the ball rolling! Gift vouchers are also available.
Do you have any other suggestions for free Father’s Day gifts? I’d love to hear them – pop them in the comments below!
Anna 🙂
✨ SOME FREE STUFF FOR YOU ✨
FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY E-BROCHURE
Download my family photography e-brochure to find out how I could capture your own family’s magic & adventures – the ultimate Father’s Day gift! 🙂
FREE PDF: 5 TIPS FOR TAKING GREAT PHOTOS OF YOUR KIDS
Some simple techniques to get better photos of your kids, no matter what camera you’re using – phone, DSLR, compact, anything 🙂
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I’d also love to chat to you on Instagram or Facebook if you’re on there – come and say hi!
Take care folks and enjoy those lovely families of yours!
Anna 🙂
Such a lovely list of heartfelt Father’s Day ideas—simple yet so meaningful! Truly proves that the best gifts don’t need to cost a thing.