Give him something that costs nothing:
Some alone time with you...wink...wink...
Food - something extravagant -- the biggest and best of his favorite item, catered in the park, if possible, and something he can share with all the family.
Just chase him around the house.
Yup... You're on the right track. Pretty much anything gasoline powered is a winner. A bike, a hedge trimmer, a riding mower, a weed-whacker, a high pressure water pump... You name it.
How about a Rush 24/7 membership? Only $49.95!!!
That's what this dad asked for and got on his birthday!
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/menu/fathers.guest.html
Framed, small photographs.
He'd be the prodigal son, if only I'd give him an inheritance to squander.
A simple thank you will suffice; a heart-felt question-and-answer period on 'how is it like to be a father?' would be priceless. No one wants to learn how to be a father from their father, until after they've left their father's house.
My father-in-law once joked, as my first three children toddled around his yard "kids, the screwing you get for the screwing you got." I always laughed reflecting back on that, until this year. Now I wait for the day when my son will reconcile himself to God and to his mother and I.
If you can, have your children express in writing their love to their father, even if it's a simple emailed "I love you." The only communication I have from that oldest son is painful (but necessary) to hold on to; I long for the day when I can blot out his hateful words with words of respect, if not words of love or admiration.
Encourage your children to talk, and to listen, to their father's instruction.
For my biryhday, my dad gave me a nail driver that uses .22 charges. That thing's a blast.
PS - I'm a dame but I love this stuff!
The best Dad's Day gifts cost little or nothing. My family is taking me to lunch tomorrow and I'll have a quiet day with them. That's all I really want - to be surrounded by those who love me.
On Father's day.
Tell him that it is so much easier for you when he leaves the toilet seat up.
Tell him that yes Nachos are a major part of the new food pyramid.
See if you can find a remote in the shape of a nekked wimmin.
Have the kids where T shirts that say " we have the world's smartest dad"
Suggest installing an indoor putting green.
Where a man's t shirt to bed, bring a pair of scissors and tell him to open his present. If he is a little clumsy you might want to go get a pair of safety scissors.
Something personally written, from each family member, expressing what each one thinks makes me a great, indispensable, unique, irreplaceable Dad. And spend some time with me, talking personally.