Six Last-Minute Father’s Day Gifts (Made With Love!)

Looking for ideas for Father’s Day gifts? I found most of these ideas via a Google search for “Father’s Day Crafts” – and there are a ton ideas to be found that way. But to help narrow it down, here are six easy Father’s Day gifts you can make with your child.

1. Portrait of a Dad

This one came from Joss’s school, actually. Couldn’t be easier. Just have your child draw a picture of their dad! They can draw a picture of them and their dad doing a favorite activity together, etc. Joss was a being a little weird the morning he drew his picture. He ended up drawing Daniel, me and himself all wearing the same skirt. With a pet Mega Bunny. If you don’t know what a Mega Bunny is, log into Netflix and watch “Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts.” So good!!

He was mad because he tried to fold it into a paper airplane, and it didn’t work

2. Felt Tie Craft

From this tutorial

This one takes all of 10 minutes to make. You simply cut out a rectangle of felt that is long and wide enough to wrap around a toilet paper roll. Glue it around the roll. Then, cut out a wide “V” of felt for a collar and a tie shape in a different color of felt. Glue these onto the front of the roll.

However, I’d recommend turning this into a useful craft and swapping the TP roll for a tin can or a jar. This way, it could be a cute pencil holder! I tried putting pencils in this version, and it just fell over.

3. Origami Shirt Card

Tutorial here

I’m not going to try to explain how to fold this shirt, but you can find instructions here. Suffice it to say, this is a very easy fold. I tried to fold a paper crane a few weeks ago, with zero success. But this is very doable, even if you’re new to the art of paper folding.

Photo by Erin Velez Photography

Place a photo of your kid(s) inside the card, and decorate the outside however you want!

4. French Fried Compliments

Tutorial here

Well, this is looking very homemade. The original tutorial I saw for this craft used a printed template. Not an option when you don’t have a printer! So for the fry box, I just colored a red shape on a regular piece of paper and cut it out. Afterwards, Joss drew a face on it. Then, I traced the shape on a piece of thicker paper (also colored red on one side) and cut that out. I ended up cutting the back piece just a little smaller than the front piece so that it formed a pocket when the edges were glued together. And yes, you will want to glue the edges together on both side as well as the bottom side.

For the fries, simply color part of a piece of paper yellow (if you don’t have yellow construction paper). Color it front and back. Then let your kid write down what they love about their dad! Or what they enjoy doing together, etc.

When the glue is all dry, stick your fries inside! Give them to dad and read them together 🙂

5. Dad Rocks!

We’ve already talked about drawing a portrait of dad. But you could also do this on a smooth rock using sharpie! We have a wealth of sharpies right now, and it is oh-so-wonderful. The rocks can be used as a paperweight or put in a garden. If you have enough, why not make rock portraits for the whole family so you can all hang out in the garden together!

6. All-Purpose Spice Rub

From AllRecipes

Cheesin’ 🙂

Ingredients: 

• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. That’s it! When you’re done, you can store it in an airtight plastic bag. But since it’s a gift, think about presentation! I tried making a fun label on an old spice jar, which didn’t work out that great. But you could decorate a small Mason jar, improve on my labeling system, etc.

Do I know what to do with this? No! But once we get our grill up and running, I’m sure we will figure something out, ha.

This article was originally written in June 2020 for Tara Rittler’s Spaghetti on the Wall blog. It was updated in June 2021. Find more Father’s Day gifts at tulsakids.com/gifts-of-love-for-fathers-day.