Father's Day Gift Guide 2016

Father's Day this year falls on Sunday June 19th - so you still have more than 10 days to choose that perfect gift. Here are a selection of my favourites from what's on offer this year...

Memories are precious to Dads, and they can be emotional, hilarious or just make him proud. Cheerz have an awesome range of gifts including their letterbox sized Cheerz Box which starts at £16 for 30 beautifully packaged prints delivered. We also reviewed their Retro Magnets at £17.50 for 12 awesome magnetic prints delivered to your door. Our Cheerz photogifts review is here...

Board games aren't always for children - here are a few that keep the adults entertained too from University Games:

5 Second Rule - Can you name 3 breeds of dog in 5 seconds? This has got to get funnier as the evening goes on.. Age 8+, 3-6 players, RRP £19.99
Pointless - With a phone app. to relive the drama and tension! We will be reviewing this in a couple of weeks... Age 10+, 2-4 players, RRP £19.99
Smart Ass - My teenagers love this one! We've reviewed Smart Ass here...  Age 12+, 2-8 players, RRP £19.99
Man Bites Dog - Create outrageous headlines, scoring more points for the most obscure words - it could almost be real life journalism. Age 8+, 2-6 players, RRP £14.99

Liberty Trading let me choose a couple of items for my partner from their unusual and eclectic mix of gifts. I chose a gadget and a collectible - the Plasma Ball Bluetooth Speaker and Toonstar Toys Hitmen.

Both were thankfully a great success when we presented them to my partner for his birthday last week - and the Plasma Ball Bluetooth Speaker has excellent sound quality for the price AS WELL as being a plasma ball! How great can you get? At £16.99 for the Hitmen and £26.95 for the Speaker they are not cheap gifts, but they may just please the man who has everything...here's my full Liberty Trading Father's Day gifts review...

For a gadget that anyone can afford with their pocket money, the Paladone Selfie Clip means that Dad can take a photo of all of you at once! With an rrp of £6.99 this will hopefully prevent any thoughts of wanting a selfie stick...it works too. Here are my kids demonstrating without, with the selfie clip and at the extremes of the lens so that you can see how wide it actually goes. I stood still and they only moved further apart, not backwards...available now on Amazon.

For a project to bring Dad closer to his offspring and takes as much time as you like from 5 minutes to many hours, Draw With Me, Dad! is fabulous. A gorgeous book and my son loved getting the attention from his Dad while they sat and chatted and drew. It's very calming and a great way to get the stress of the day out of your system...here's our review of Draw With Me, Dad! A very reasonable £8.99.

Back to games. Board games are a great thing to bring families together and spend time away from screens and actually interacting with each other. Here are a few good ones for grown ups from Esdevium Games:

Ticket to Ride Europe - One of our absolute favourites. Collect stops and create train links across coutries. We have reviewed it and our full Ticket To Ride: Europe review is here.. Age 8+, 2-5 players, rrp £32.99.
Colt Express- Play “desperados” who attack a passenger train. No mercy, no possible alliance: between the cars, on the train’s roof, bullets come from everywhere. We'll be reviewing this one next month! Age 10+, 2-6Players, rrp £27.99
Cash ‘n’ Guns Dad doesn’t fancy being a desperado, attacking trains in the Wild West? Cash 'n’ Guns helps you relive the best scenes of your favourite gangster movies. The goal is to have more money than anyone else after eight rounds while still being alive. We'll be playing this one over the next few weeks too! Age 10+, 4-8 players, rrp £24.99
Doctor Panic In Doctor Panic, you are a surgical team from the most prestigious hospital in the area. Your goal: Work together as a team to save a patient who just arrived on a stretcher before time runs out! One or more players serve as overseers and they give tasks to the other medical personnel on hand. If you complete all of the treatments before the final heart attack on the soundtrack, you are victorious! Age 8+, 2-9 players,rrp £21.99

If Dad is a real gadget fiend, and you have a larger budget, how about registering his interest in a Piro Lighter with fingerprint recognition. The ONLY completely child-safe lighter in the world. It charges by USB and is the one lighter guaranteed to be returned when your mate accidentally wanders off with it...

The more geeky amongst us might appreciate these great Star Wars Construction Books from Egmont. A little project for Dad to do with his children, the models are really nicely done and they are excellent quality. At £8.99 each they're a nice keepsake and project. I will be posting a review and a giveaway later this month...

Last, but by no means least, if all of that inspiration still has you thinking of buying your Dad a bottle of something, don't be lazy. Turning up with his favourite tipple might make him happy enough, but it looks like you picked it up from the garage on the way round. Get him a really nice boxed glass to go with it and you have a real gift.

This is a lovely example of an etched highball glass from Peach Perfect for £10.50. They specialise in the more unusual or hard-to-find gift, (think Hedgehog House or Folding Walking Cane), and I received their Homemade Naturals DIY Bath Melts set for Mother's Day. I took a look at some of their unusually awesome gifts in this post...

Whatever you get Dad for Father's Day, I hope he likes it, and the day is good for you all...