Father's Day Contest 2008

During June, the Father's Day Contest accepted stories, traditions and memories as entries. Krystin Ciesco won a Father's Day Album for her winning entry! Congratulations, Krystin!. Contest ended at midnight June 30.

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Permalink Reply by Amber on May 29, 2008 at 9:37am: Father's Day is still new to us. Because our daughter is only 16 months old. But I know what I am going to this year for my husband. His favorite breakfast item is french toast. So I found a special recipe that I am going to make for him. Breakfast in bed with a tray. Then from our little one I got him a framed picture that says dad that will have a picture of the two of them on it. Also a disney mug that says dad. Then from my self I am going to get him a gift certificate for bowling because he likes to do that I don't so that will be his way of getting us all to bowl. ;-) And of course cards and going out to dinner to one of his favorite places to eat Olive Garden. And you can't forget the great Once Upon A Family coupons for dad that you can print off of the newlsetter. Those are great! Plus our once a year fathers day picture. :-); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jessica Ann Reynolds on June 5, 2008 at 9:18am: My best friend, Becka lost her Dad in a plane crash when she was eight-years-old. Knowing that the first father's day would be especially hard, my Dad suggested we take her for the day and do some fun things to honor her dad (fishing was his past-time, and my dad is a sailor - their hobbies coincided beautifully!) So we piled in Dad's suburban and in preparation for a 45 minute drive to Lake Meredith, we stopped to grab some doughnuts, milk, chewing gum, and whatever else sounded good. We honored her pop by dropping anchor and doing a little fishing in the middle of the lake. Since her father was cremated, Becka was able to bring a little bit of her father on our trip and let him spill into the lake. This became a tradition with us, though we've moved since then. Each year, Becka brings a little of her pop on a father's day trip (although now her loving stepdad, and devoted husband and kids come along too). Though money restricted her father from traveling when she was younger, now he's has been many places, including Key West. A difficult time in Becka's life has become a treasured event that we and several other 'dads' look forward to each and every year!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jane Grennes on June 5, 2008 at 12:53pm: I know the "hand in hand" picture is not a new tradition idea. However I decided to start this tradition with a twist. Our family is crazy about basketball. The boys' are involved in leagues, and my husband coaches high school basketball. And...living in Indiana....well, basketball is just part of who we are as a family. Every year on Father's Day I take a picture of Mike's hand along with the boys' hands on a basketball. It's just very personal and says so much about who we are as a family.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by heidi on June 11, 2008 at 8:37pm: This is our second Father's Day and I'm very excited! I am trying the "7 days of Father's Day" tradition, that I read about on the website. My husband has been so excited to rush home every night to see his daily gift. It's nothing special; some socks one day, a pair of gloves the next, today is his favorite candy (peanut m&m's). The final project that my son, Dylan and I will give him on Sunday is a black & white collage of our favorite "Daddy & Me" pictures taken throughout the year. I'm sure he will love it, (he's so sentimental).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Staci Donovan on June 19, 2008 at 6:27am: Jamey woke up fathers day morning to see his three beautiful daughters wearing matching tshirts that I made that said "My Dad Rocks!" We gave him a Fathers Day Coupon Voucher that we all made and filled it with coupons that he could redeem anytime. Things like "One back scratch" or "one lawn maintenance", "garage cleaning"and even a few "your choice" . He loved it and even a redeemed a few that morning. After breakfast the girls put on a show. They danced to the song "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Its a beautiful song about a daddy watching his daughter grow up. So the girls each played a part in the song. Sarah came out dressed liked Cinderella and danced for her prince, then Taylor came out and danced as a teenage girl going to the prom, then Sarah came out again wearing a white dress and the veil I wore on our wedding day, and played the part of the daughter getting married. Then they came out with their baby sister and danced together for their daddy gave him flowers and kisses. He cried, I cried...it was so beautiful. Knowing that Steven Curtis wrote this song for his 5 yr old daughter, who died recently and hearing the words to the song that say "soon the clock will strike twelve and she'll be gone" made it even more special. The rest of the day was all about daddy and his favorite things. extra love and attention and it was just what he needed. He appreciated every bit of it, and we had fun doing it all for him. My girls learned first hand that serving those we love is fun and its a joy, and a priviledge. Its not something we have to do, its something we get to do!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wildmom on June 26, 2008 at 5:59pm: I just LOVE that song! Thanks for sharing that wonderful idea! It must have been just a beautiful memory for your family!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margie Ponce on June 26, 2008 at 5:05pm: The past 11 years of fatherhood for my husband has had its ups and downs. You see he is in the Navy and as all Navy families know we miss a lot of holidays due to deployments. This year we missed Father's day with our sailor. But last September our two girls and I started taking pictures of ourselfs doing everyday things like hair brushing, teeth brushing, doing homework, playing outside, having dinner, etc. We also started writing little notes to him on why or how much we like doing different things with him or for him. In March we started putting together two " Why We Love You Dad Book " each girl got to write him a personal secret letter, put it in an envelope and sealed it. We then all added everythng we had been collecting since September. On the last page we included a picture we took that day. We each added a small mist of our perfume. We added a tin can decorated with our pictures and filled it with Hershey Kisses, one for each day he missed with us. We then mailed him one album and kept one. On Father's day he was able to call us and together we looked thru the albums as if we were all in the same room. I know that this is just one of many holidays we will miss with him in the years to come but our hearts will always be togteher.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wildmom on June 26, 2008 at 6:02pm: What a creative idea! I love the way that you made an extra book so your girls could look through it with him. Please let your husband know that he will be added to our family's prayers of military people abroad, and also let your girls' know that we will also be praying for them as well as yourself...we appreciate the sacrifices that your family makes for our freedom. It is an honor to have you in our group and please know that you now have additional "family" all around you when you need it. Thanks for sharing!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Krystin Ciesco on June 27, 2008 at 4:33pm: Our goal this year was to truly make my husband feel like a KING so we did things BIG kicking it off with a painted banner that was hung up for him to see when he woke up! Then we gave him a Fortune Teller (the folded paper with tabs that you look under for answers/messages) that told him everything we were doing throughout the day. Under each tab were things like "Time to open presents"; "Time to watch the video "; "Time to open cards" and so on. There were messages for breakfast in bed, a picnic lunch, and ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. In addition, as we have done in past years, we decorated a crown and crowned him. We made him a video card where each girl recorded why they love their daddy (my youngest - because you play good putt putt) as well as a brief message and sang songs (including "Happy Father's Day to you to the tune of happy birthday). We know this new tradition will grow as they add to the video each year. One of the presents was a photo of each of my girls wearing the exact items he wore in the last two L.A. Marathons down to his race number, hat and sunglasses. We presented it to him in a home made frame. I actually think he was overwhelmed with everything but we had such a great time preparing for the day and it was truly memorable. The fortune teller was the easiest thing to make and I've already figured out other ways to incorporate it into other areas of our family life (think long car rides, family fun days, etc). We added a lot of new traditions this year and I think we were successful in making my husband feel like a King.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rachel on June 29, 2008 at 6:25pm: I remember, before I was a mother, Karen Meyer asked us to think about what we wanted our specific holidays to look like...to take time to talk and plan them so they happened that way. So, I asked Danny awhile back, before Aiden was born, what he wanted Father's Day to look like. He decided on the picnic, zoo, picture of the two of them and handprints. The day's plan was based on that but some other things became part of it and I think they will become traditions for us each year. This was what Danny's first Father's Day looked like...

We went to church in the morning and then came home to pack a picnic lunch. We then went out to the cemetery to visit our firstborn son, Sean...just to remember & begin to let Aiden know about his big brother in heaven. Then we took Aiden (9 months old) to the park and had a picnic (which he slept through! :o) and then went to the zoo. Danny and Aiden were wearing matching shirts that said Big Guy and Little Guy. When we came home, Danny got to sit and do whatever he wanted (namely tv & computer simultaneously) while I fed Aiden dinner. After dinner we attempted to do handprints; however, Danny had thought to buy fingerpaint instead of stamp pads. It was the most hilarious thing ever! So, we didn't get handprints but we have Aiden's first piece of artwork. It was so much fun I have a feeling it might become part of our tradition. (Hopefully the pics turned out...yes, I still use film :o); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margie Purtic on June 29, 2008 at 9:14pm: My husband works on Sundays until about 4pm at our church. So, while Daddy was working we were busy at home. We started off with writing "We LOVE DADDY!" with sidewalk chalk that covered the entire drive way. We wanted to make sure the entire neighborhood knew how much we loved him. Then we (Jackson 4 and Zoe 3 and Lucie 1) made Eric his favorite brownies. Of course there was a lot of spoon licking! Instead of store bought cards, every year each child draws a picture of their favorite thing to do with Daddy. The idea is to eventually have a book collection of not only all the things they love to do with their dad... but also a collection of their artwork. I know that one day my kid's kids will enjoy looking through their collection of drawings! Next came the photo frame that included a collage of pictures from the past year with Daddy and all the kids for his office. 3 year olds and glue are a fun combination! And last but certainly not least, after we made a picnic dinner, we picked Daddy up from work and headed to the beach for the rest of the evening. This is our second year doing this... and I'm not sure who loves it more... Eric or the kids!; ▶ Reply to This