Sweet Orange Fox

Warning - Matt, don't read any further!  

Speaking of Matt, he is going to be one lucky dude this Father's Day. I have had so many ideas buzzing around my head for his gift, and I wanted to share them with yall! I always like giving a themed basket/box/etc of little goodies rather than one formal gift (remember the baby shower bath tub??), so I decided to stick with that strategy for this occasion, too. These are all super easy, and everything came from TJ Maxx, the Dollar Store, Target, etc...so you don't have to break the bank for a fun gift! And you can do smaller (or larger!) variations of all of them to suit the guy in your life. If you aren't married/don't have kids/etc, these still work great for your Dad, Uncle, Grandpa...and fur babies can always give Father's Day gifts, too! There are several ideas...so this might get lengthy...stick with me, here, people! It'll be worth it!

First...SUPERDAD!! 

I can rarely resist anything with stars and stripes, so I had to have this cooler from Target as soon as I saw it. We are always going to my parents' house for pool days during the summer (or to the local neighborhood pool), and we will look way more sophisticated using this than our usual Kroger bags. And when it said it holds 36 cans of beer, I was sold.


Next, I put a shoe box in the bottom of the cooler so I didn't have to fill it ALL the way up with gifts. I mean..I love Matt and all, but..come on. You could use anything though...a package of diapers, a package of toilet paper...or those 36 cans of beer...


Finally, I filled it with a ton of "Superdad"/superhero/Superman themed stuff, including:

- MUSCLE Milk
- POWERade
- SUPERfruit Jelly Bellys
- Matt's favorite vitamins
- Planter's Stars & Stripes mix (looks amaaazing!)
- A Superman shirt so that Matt can match Trent's new favorite outfit
- Superman lounge pants/PJ's
- And of course I had to have the Superman straw sippy cup for Trent :)

I topped it off with the adorable "Superdad" card (also from Target)...which was perfect because it had a big "D" on the chest (for Denny!).





And if you REALLY want to go all out with the theme, you can get tickets to the new Superman Man of Steel movie that just so happens to open on June 14th, two days before Father's Day on June 16th! WHAT? This would be PERFECT as part of the gift...if only we had a babysitter. I don't remember the last time we went to see a movie! Another idea would be to have supersize tator tots from Sonic make a breakfast/snack of all the different superfruits and superfoods.

Or if you just want something super quick, easy and cheap..


Grab a six pack of his (or your) favorite beer, slap a few capes on those bad boys, and don't forget the card! Also..he probably won't notice one (or two) missing from the back row. Go for it, momma.

I cut these capes out of some spare felt I had just to get the idea across, but you could get really creative and put some little logos on them, etc.



Idea #2 : For the Running Dad




First...you just need an old shoe box. You can use anything really, but I thought a shoebox would be cute for the running theme! I decorated the edges with some tissue fringe. You can buy it in rolls or make your own (as below):







 Next, just fill it with your goodies! For this gift, everything came from TJ Maxx or the grocery store, but it was all great stuff that Matt would actually use!

- Puma running socks
- Puma running shirt that matches one of Trent's onesies
- Running headphones
- Nike arm band
- Camelbak straw bottle (Matt's new favorite kind of water bottle)
- Sunscreen
-Gatorade

As part of the theme, a great idea for the gift would be to register your family for a 5K (or any run, really). There are usually several to choose from in any given city on Father's Day weekend, and many of them have a "Dad" theme. This year, we are going to do the DadFest 5K on the Saturday of Father's Day weekend. Matt and Trent will be wearing their matching running gear, obv. Anyway, in the inside of the box lid I taped the race bib you get with your registration. Not only is it a fun piece of the gift, but it fills that dead space nicely! (obviously this is not the REAL bib..we don't have them for DadFest quite yet) If you don't want to do that, though..this would be a great place for a card, handwritten message, picture, etc.



Idea #3 : A Day at the Pool




First, you need one of those cheap foam ice chests. They are literally like $2 and always come in handy for those impromptu tail gates/pool days. Or you could use a real ice chest if you wanted (especially if you have been meaning to buy one anyway OR find a super cute one). I used the shoe box trick again to fill the dead space and trimmed the edges with some more tissue fringe.




And again...fill it up! For a day by the pool, I thought Matt would like:

- A cute beach towel
- Sunscreen
- Bug spray (of course)
- A beach ball (or any of the awesome pool toys at the Dollar Tree right now!)
- Beer
- His favorite snack (buffalo pretzels)
- A magazine
- A koozie



And if you really want go all out, spend that extra $1 for this  hybrid dragon/dinosaur/horse creature.


Okay, I think I will stop there. Hope this gave everyone some good ideas for their guys this year, and you have a few weeks to make these happen now! And don't forget, these don't have to be strictly Father's Day gifts. You can change them up slightly to make them fit any occasion...birthday, graduation, bachelor/bachelorette party..just to name a few. 

Wishing everyone a fantastic weekend!

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