Father’s Day is almost upon us, but it will not be complete until we’ve put together the annual Father’s Day Gift Guide from THE FATHER LIFE. Of course, many of the recommendations from the past still apply, so you can always reference the 2009 and 2010 gift guides if you need more suggestions!
Our first recommendation is courtesy our Director of Development, Adam Cohen, who suggested a brilliant idea: a subscription to a Bacon of the Month club! This is a great option for a last-minute Father’s Day gift. There are several places that supply a Bacon of the Month Club, but we’re picking Bacon Freak (http://baconfreak.com) because of the many options they give you. No pepper? Nitrate free? Yeah, they’ve got that. Bacon + coffee, bacon + pancakes, and more. Prices start at $47.95/month and go lower if you purchase a multi-month subscription up front.
Howard Ludwig suggests something near and dear to my heart: a gift from Crutchfield. He says:
“For Father’s Day, I’ve always enjoyed car audio gifts from Crutchfield.com. New speakers and stereo receivers for the car are always a good gift in my book. These little upgrades come in all price ranges too. You can upgrade speakers for as little as $60 or go for a high-end, touch-screen stereo upgrade for $1,000.
“Perhaps the best thing about gifts from Crutchfield is that every add-on is custom for your car. Basically, you tell them the make and model of your vehicle. Then, the folks at Crutchfield access the specific type of speakers, stereo and what other add-ons that fit and sound best in your ride.
“These items are all shipped with detailed, step-by-step instructions for installation that’s custom for your car.
“For example, I received new 5.25-inch speakers for my Chrysler minivan for Christmas. I opened the speakers and followed the instillation instructions. It seemed like a big job. I had to remove the dash, take out the old speakers and install the new ones. However, the instructions were so good, I had the whole job done in 25 minutes. The instructions even told me where the clips holding my dash on were located. This let me know where to apply pressure so the dash would pop free.
“In short, Dad’s (heart) car audio gifts from Crutchfield.”
TFL founder Ben Murphy digs the hand-drawn and hand-screened t-shirts from Rockstar Revolution (http://rockstarrevolution.com), all featuring original designs. If you’re picking up the “Daddy of all Daddies” design, you can take 20% of the regular price of $25.00 (which is a good deal anyway) by using the promo code DADDY. That’s right, The Father Life can help you save money, too!
My own recommendation: a remote control helicopter. That’s right, a remote control helicopter. When I was a kid, you couldn’t find anything like this unless you were buying a high-end piece of equipment (and dropping many hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars). But the technology has come a long way in the past few years, and you can now pick up a durable, easy to use helicopter for as little as $25.00. Some of them, like the one above, can even charge on a USB cable. Make sure you get one that uses gyroscopes to keep it balanced. You can find these at a number of places on the net, but the prices at http://xenonproject.com are hard to beat.
Another idea is to get your father the latest 4g phones on the market if he is a technology enthusiast.
Of course, if you’re a strict traditionalist, you can still get dad a tie. I actually like getting (and wearing!) new ties, and I’ve found great selection available over at http://ties.com. 
Ben Martin is the CEO of THE FATHER LIFE. He lives with his wife and five children in the Rochester, NY, area.