Father's Day 2015

If you are Elija and Luca, picking out a Father’s Day gift is tough. You can’t just phone it in like Mother’s Day.  There is nothing worse than when Dad gets stuff he doesn’t like. He has no game face. Let us not relive the “Illinois State Redbirds” t-shirt debacle of 2013.

Star Wars is a pretty good bet. But, jeez. Do you really want to add fuel to that fire? The man is one step away from filming himself swirling a broom handle like a light saber in the garage. But it’s so cute to see his little nerd face light up when he talks about rubber masks from 1980.

There may also be a way everyone can win here. Father’s Day doesn’t have to be just about fathers. If you play your cards right you can parlay that particular Sunday into a movie or a trip to Chuck E Cheese or even a toy. But it can’t be obvious. You can’t just wrap up an action figure and claim it’s for him. Because he may take you seriously and play with it himself.  And he usually puts the best toys way up high on that shelf in his closet next to the comics.

Wait a minute.

What if it was a toy that seems a little too complicated for kids, but is really for kids? Like a semi violent Xbox war game? Like Halo! No. That won’t work. Mom won’t go for it. No guns, remember?

Oh! What if it was one of those giant Lego sets? The one with, like two thousand pieces? One that is so cost prohibitive that only adults could afford it? They’ve got Star Wars ones like that! You could say building a huge set like that would be, like a bonding thing for us. It would bring us closer together. As a family!

And then when it’s done you get to play with it!

Giant Star Wars Lego set. Book it. You should also get him some crazy socks just in case the Lego thing is too obvious.

I loved it. And I loved the socks.