Thoughtful, low cost ideas for celebrating Father's Day (especially great for first time Dads)

June 13, 11:15 AMEarly Childhood Parenting ExaminerAngele Sionna

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You don't need to spend a lot of money to make Father's Day special! If this will be your husband/partner's first Daddy's Day, a great idea is to start a tradition this year that you can do every year. It doesn't have to be anything complicated. Just something memorable, better than any gift. And it's never too late to start a tradition, no matter how many Father's Days are under your belt.

Make a tradition to celebrate Dad

For my husband, I came up with this tradition for each Father's Day a few years back... every year on his special day we pack a picnic lunch (the only one we go one every year, really) and we go to a spot that we've designated as "our spot" in an area park. It is remote and relaxing. We bring picnic blankets and kick back for the afternoon under the shade of a tree.

Every year we take the same photos in the same spots to measure our family's growth. That means both the number of people in our family and how tall the little ones have gotten next to the small baby tree we found the first year. We never mark on the tree (of course) we just document this day with photos.

This has become something my husband looks forward to (as do the girls and I) and talks about starting at the beginning of June every year. He loves to start looking at the previous years' photos too so we take the same shots!

For an expecting Daddy

And if you've got another baby on the way (like I do), I like to include that little one too! We take photos of my pregnant tummy on our picnic just like we take photos of the family and the kids. It makes for a laugh when we look back at it.

Also for expecting Daddys, make a Father's Day card with a ultrasound photo. If you have a scanner, just scan the image into a computer, import into a photo editing program or even Word. Add something funny or touching and print on card stock. You've got a really cute custom photo card. Or if you have kids already and no scanner, have them hold an ultrasound photo and take a photo of them holding it. Then put that photo front and center on your card and print. If you don't have a printer, just print out for a few cents at a local photo center and paste it onto a piece of card stock or construction paper and write a nice note inside!