kind holidays: my thoughts on father's day
Bear and Christopher brought me mulberries and flowers from the Farmers Market on Mother's Day
Father's Day is Sunday, June 17! I always like to know the history of the holidays we celebrate, so here's a little backstory on Father's Day:
The first Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910 in Spokane, Washington. A woman named Sonora Smart Dodd came up with the idea to honor her father, a Civil War veteran who raised his six children as a single parent. How sweet is that? Three years later, a bill was introduced to make Father's Day a national holiday, but Congress didn't want to pass it, because, ironically, they feared it would become too commercial.
It wasn't until 1966 that President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a presidential proclamation designating the third Sunday in June as an official day to honor fathers. In 1972, President Nixon made it a national holiday by signing President Johnson's proclamation into law.
As with all holidays, Father's Day has become a big sales pitch- which is really, really sad. Just buying presents because we're being told to misses the point. But we get sucked in, and if you decide to boycott a holiday like Father's Day, you look like a jerk!
In our family, we dance in between. We are romantics and suckers for any opportunity to celebrate and mark a moment! But we are not big on exchanging gifts. Instead we just really enjoy each other like we do everyday, and just try to make holidays about being a family. If you want to do something special, send a nice card or make a thoughtful gesture, like offering to clean your dad's house, or cook him a nice meal. If you feel you should give a gift, pick something eco conscious that your dad really needs.
Here are some more ideas for how you can celebrate a kind Father's Day, plus how my family celebrated Mother's Day:
The Earth's precious resources provide an inspiring reason not to buy gifts. Go No Impact Man style! The less we buy, the better off we are. And if we do buy, let's make those choices really Earth-friendly. A bonus is that you get to save money at the same time! Win-win. Be creative and heartfelt in what you give - it's way more meaningful.
A great idea is to veganize something your father loves...his favorite desert, for example. This is good for all holidays and celebrations. Create something that is your loved ones' favorite meal and just make it as yummy as you can in the direction of what they love.
Organic flowers are also great for older parents or for anyone who doesn't need anything. Organic flowers can make you feel special. I feel bad that they die, but they are grown responsibly and no workers suffer (check out my Valentine's Day blog for more info about organic flowers). I feel good suprising someone who may not expect flowers...so every once in a while, for the right person, flowers are lovely.
Check out last year's post for some delish Father's Day recipe ideas!
How do you plan to spend Father's Day?
More kind holidays:
kind holidays: my father's day gift guide
kind holidays: recipes to try this weekend
kind holidays: nine kinder sodas for memorial day weekend
mother's day: english breakfast in bed and more goodies for mom!
18 comments
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Had a great Father's Day. Took my 14-month-old twin boys to the market in the morning, my wife watched them during the afternoon so I could have some much-needed alone time to relax (read a book, ate chips and salsa, took a long walk through the park), then for dinner she made me a delicious meal - carmelized tofu, thai mango and cucumber salad and sauteed mizuna greens with garlic. Absolutely better than a tie or some other random "thing" I don't need. ;)
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I gave my dad one of those small kitchen composters - he seemed pretty excited about it! He has had a compost pile in the backyard for as long as I can remember.
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lovely boys! ♥
in europe we don't celebrate fathersday that much.
it's more kind of a young boy drinking day... that we've on ascension day.
pls have a kind look at my blog
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I planted a mulberry tree in May. Its the most amazing fruit.
But the mesquito larve gets in the fruit if its too ripe and when you cut one open you see tiny tiny white worms so you have to be careful the mulberry is not too soft or it will have these tiny worms but most people dont know that so they just bite and eat with out checking first the worms are in the very dark soft fruit thats the only way the mesquitos can lay their eggs in the fruit if its soft and too ripe. Its usually in the most sweet mulberry pieces and those are when they turn black and soft.
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I am not one to buy gifts. I recycle jars and cardboard from food packaging materials and make home made decorations and gifts. This year I wrote a poem for my dad and I painted him a picture and taped the poem to the back. And I'm taking him to dinner because it is tradition.
The poem I wrote last year made him shed a tear. My dad comes from a star!
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We don't celebrate Father's or Mother's Days in my family due to how commercial they have become, but we do make an effort every weekend to spend quality time as a family. This weekend we will be spending time together getting good and dirty planting a veggie garden in the backyard. =) I'm really excited about it and happy that both my teenagers and my husband are also into it.
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I can't say my Father's Day gifts are perfect, are always eco but they are what my Father really uses and enjoys-coffee gift cards. I use to struggle to buy him gifts. I'd get him the box set of his favorite tv show at the time(24 season 1 remains unopened after all these years), try to get creative and have it fall flat. He loves pepper so 3 years ago I got him a neat looking pepper grinder and some jars of different, unique peppers. The pepper grinder collected dust and then broke. Annoying, this year, my Father asked for a freaking pepper grinder!!!(grrrrr), so my Mom took care of that. Anyway, year after year I've always added on a gift card for his favorite places to get coffee and that sticks way out in my memory as the gift that really makes him smile and he uses. He's in his late 70's and he likes to go out in the mornings and get his coffee(he has several reusable eco travel mugs courtesy of me!) and then gets a paper or runs errands or whatever the heck he does. He just loves getting that coffee. It became apparent that coffee was the perfect gift for him and he liked having the freedom to choose which and get it on the go with a gift card. So my suggestion is that yeah a gift card is likely going to be made of plastic and the coffee might not be orangic or fair trade depending on where you go but luckily my Dad enjoys coffee from some coffee shops that support this, and one that does not, and the gift cards are reloadable so when they're empty he can give them back to me and I can reload them each year for Father's Day instead of throwing it out and getting a new card. This year he gets 3 different gift cards loaded with $25, $15 and $10, a nice card that he'll enjoy, and a polo shirt(polo shirts are the other thing he seems to cherish). What are ya gonna do?
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Very nice Alicia. It's alway good to see Christopher and Bear in your blog especially looking so happy and healthy. I think spending time with people is more important than giving gifts but food and homemade or hand-me-down gifts are great! Love, peace and happiness to you always.
Blake
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I like to give my Dad the gift of time, and by that, I mean spending time with him doing something we both enjoy. We love baseball, (the Mets) so I get him a ticket for a game, either on Father's Day (if they are playing at home in NY, like this year) or for whatever game is as close as possible to Father's Day. Enjoying the game together and watching our favorite team is the best gift for him!
btw, Alicia, I just was changing channels to see if anything good was on and I came across a movie you were in called Beauty Shop. You are very funny in it! I like your character, Lynn and Queen Latifah looks like she was fun to work with.
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I definitely appreciate Fathers Day as it does give a reason to really thank him for everything he's done for you. One year I gave my dad a big basket of all different kinds of mushrooms becuase he was really into them at that point and he loved it! Another year I bought a goat for a village through one of those donation programs like World Vision - he definitely appreciated that too. There are a lot of earth friendly gifts out there! :)
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Personally I hate Fathers and Mothers day. It has become way to commercial. I am 28. I have learned to handel the pain and move on but as a kid, every year it was thrown in my face that my father had just died. Everyone would talk about how wonderful their plans or presents were and I would just go home and cry. There is no reason for his day other than profit. Otherwise just pick a day and celebrate.
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So cute! What a good looking family you are. Love your tips for Father's Day, I also would much prefer to make a delicious feast for my dad than giving him a material gift. He appreciates it, too! Thanks for sharing this loveliness.
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I love the picture of your husband and son, how precious! We have two mulberry bushes, a working mangrove, papayas, 2 Lychee trees, banana tree and four different types of avocado trees! Come visit any time and help yourself if your ever this far south, Redlands, FL!
Thank you for sharing your family! Debi & sons
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I love your ideas Alicia. Less is so much more. Why we feel compelled to give gifts is really the consumerism market working. Plus we get into the habit and the recipient often expects a gift, so the earlier we can make the shift to spending time with our loved ones, make a meal for them and a card, I think that is more special.
Since both my husband's father and mine are getting up there in age and both live pretty far away, we continue the tradition of sending them something to make them feel special.
My father is homebound and in a different state. I like to send him a special book and card, and I always try to add some type of cream for dry skin. He always appreciates the gift as it makes him feel special and loved.
For my father in law, I use to send him chocolate and jam and a card as those 2 edibles are his favorites. But the cost to send the box often was more expensive than the gifts, so this year we decided to send a gift card to a restaurant. I think he will appreciate going out to dinner and not have to cook.
I really agree with lessening our spending habits and creating time with our loved ones as the best gift of all.
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