“You have remembered it’s Father’s Day coming up… haven’t you?”
Words to strike fear into the heart of children (and some responsible mothers too – we see you, repping your toddlers on Father’s Day!).
But fear not. Help is at hand. Take a few calming breaths. Don’t panic and check through our great Father’s Day gift ideas – updated for 2020.
You’re in a rush. We get that. You can skip the preamble and get straight to the ideas if you want. There are more than 43 gift ideas here to save your bacon!
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Best last minute father’s Day ideas
- Father’s Day Gifts from the 1970s – 5 ideas
- Father’s Day Gifts from the 1980s – 5 ideas
- Father’s Day Gifts from the 1990s – 7 ideas
- Retro Gift Ideas – 16 ideas
- Buy Dad a Drink – 4 ideas
When is Father’s day?
Father’s Day in the UK and the USA falls on the same day: Sunday 20 June 2021.
And to help you avoid this panic next year… Father’s Day is on Sunday 19 June 2022.
Last gasp Father’s Day present ideas
You and me – together, we got this. You’re gonna be OK.
I’m a Dad (of three) and you know your Dad. I’m gonna make some suggestions of things I’d be thrilled to bits to get. Some of them you’ll think: “Ugh, crikey… Dad would hate that.”
That’s no problem. Just skip on to the next idea… or you can always resort to the ‘forecourt flowers’ equivalent like a jumbo Toblerone… or just the flowers?
Master of his universe
Fathers, by definition, have kids.
Most fathers really would quite like to re-live their childhood.
Given time travel is not (yet) possible many do this vicariously – living it through their children, sharing with them the wonders of discovering new things, new toys, much loved books and favourite movies together.
Think how many Father + son/daughter combos flocked to see the latest Star Wars franchise movies? Exactly.
So here are some great ways to help your Dad re-live their youth, split by decade they were born in:
Father’s Day gifts from the 1970s
If your Dad grew up in the era of ‘Flower Power’ and free love (some of which may be responsible for you being here, so don’t mock too hard!) – then these presents will help him remember his past.
There are some terrific, affordable and ‘here bang on time just like you planned it’ gift ideas in here.
- ★ Bumper Retro Sweets Selection - supplied in a stylish designer Cosmic Treasure Box
- ★ Crammed Full of 47 of The Most Iconic Sweets From Your Childhood Sweetshop
- ★ Delicious Trip Down Memory Lane With Iconic Nostalgic Sweets; Space Dust, White Mice, Anglo Bubbly, Wham Bar, Curly Curly and Many More
- ★ Perfect as a Christmas Gift, Secret Santa or Birthday Present for Him or Her
- ★ A Gift That Everyone Will Enjoy And Love
I especially like the idea of a the retro sweets – which will send your Dad a gift box of sweets straight out his (long lost) youth.
Dip Dabs, Refreshers and ‘candy sticks’ (known as candy cigarettes back when that was politically allowed!) – it’ll be a lovely trip down memory lane.
And all delivered super quick to spare your blushes.
Father’s Day gifts from the 1980s
Oh. M. Goodness.
As a child of the 80s myself… even compiling this list gives me the ‘I want that’ tingles. You can give that to your Dad and we’ll both feel like heroes.
He-Man & The Masters of The Universe – A Character Guide and World Compendium
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Various (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 383 Pages - 05/23/2017 (Publication Date) - Dark Horse Books (Publisher)
We first recommended this book last year. Sadly, since then the hardback has gone out of print but… you can still get a Kindle e-reader version and honestly, this is worth it. This book is a serious piece of kit and it’ll help your Dad remember all those obscure characters from the much-loved animated TV series.
He-Man was like the Pokemon or Sponge Bob of his day – trust me, if your Dad grew-up in the 80s he’ll know it and almost certainly have loved it.
The book was about £60-70 on Amazon for a brand new, wrapped copy. A new Kindle is about the same, so push the boat out get that; this great nostalgic book maybe even a free trial of Kindle Unlimited to really convert the old man into a 21st century reader!
A 1980s Childhood – book
- Johnson (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 240 Pages - 09/01/2012 (Publication Date) - The History Press (Publisher)
And yes, he almost certainly had a shell suit. And no, it wasn’t OK – even then.
If you’re looking to pad out those ideas, the 1980s CDs above (I’ll have you know CDs were considered cutting edge technology for your Dad!) will have him dancing along to the tunes of his childhood – from Wham! to Queen and Rick Astley, Adam and the Ants to Elton John and Luther Vandross.
I bear no responsibility for the woeful singing along to “Oh, I remember this one! What a choon!”. Sorry.
Father’s Day gifts from the 1990s
If your Dad grew up in the 1990s he’ll love this lot:
From Spice Girls CDs to tamagotchi games.
If you’re thinking “Tama-who-now?” they’re kinda like a really cr*p version of ‘Pokemon Go’.
You get a little pet on your tamagotchi device.
The name Tamagotchi comes from the Japanese “tama” meaning egg and “gotchi” meaning watch – so you have your little pet hatch from their egg – and you have to look after them, feeding, cleaning and entertaining them. And if you didn’t – they died. Childhood tragedy.
Believe me, it’ll make sense to your Dad, is bound to get an “I remember these!” and much laughter all round. If he had one it’ll be great to reminisce, if he didn’t they were all the craze in the 1990s so maybe it will finally be a scratch to that itch!
Retro Father’s Day gifts
Looking to push the boat out a little further? Perhaps you already missed Father’s Day and are looking for that gift idea that’ll get your back in the good books?
These will blow his socks off (and please don’t buy him socks).
- Rediscover your favourite 80s videogames in HD! Each title for the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System is displayed at a smooth 60Hz via the included HDMI cable and can be enjoyed in one of three visual modes!
- Comes packaged with an HDMI cable, a USB cable for powering the system, and one Nintendo Classic Mini: NES Controller
- Rediscover an old favourite or experiencing the joy of NES for the first time, the fantastic collection of NES classics included with each and every system should have something for all players
- Relive the 80s when the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System
- Thanks to the inclusion of four Suspend Points for each title, the fear of losing passwords and game progress is now a thing of the past!
- The Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System has the same look and feel of the original system only smaller and comes pre-loaded with 21 games.
- Launched in Europe in 1992, the Super Nintendo introduced what many consider some of the greatest video games of all time
- Step back into the 90s and re-experience some timeless classics when the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
- The Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System contains 21 pre-installed classic games - classics such as Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario Kart, Super Metroid and -ZERO
- Included with the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System are one HDMI cable, one USB power cable, and two wired Super NES Classic Controllers - perfect for players to dive into multiplayer action right away
They’re retro games consoles… but given a millennial makeover.
Each one of these boxes contains everything you’ll need to transport your Dad back to his button-bashing pre-teen/teenage years.
They’re literally plug-and-play games consoles from his era.
The ‘NES’ (Nintendo Entertainment System) – is a snip at only £49 and comes, pre-loaded with 30 games including absolute classics like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, PAC-MAN and Kirby’s Adventure. And yes, those names will mean something to him even if you’re drawing a blank on all of them.
He may ask “Where are the games cartridges?” – you see, back in our day games weren’t included in the operating system or ‘in the cloud’ or even downloaded (the internet was a mere pipe dream back then!). We had to put blocks of plastic with each game on into the console for it to load that game.
One cartridge, one game. No cartridge, no game.
But no more – these babies come with the games pre-loaded into the device (which is also about half the size of the originals – but with neat nostalgic nods to the past in the design that he’ll love).
The ‘SNES’ (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) works on a similar vein. At over £100 it’s not quite the whimsical purchase – but it depends how far into the dog house you are, eh?
The SNES has ‘only’ 21 games pre-loaded – but again it’s got all the classics. There goes your Dad’s afternoon – and with it goes the memory that you forgot Father’s Day. Mission accomplished.
Will it get here in time?
Lucky for you lots of this stuff is from Amazon. Their free, standard UK delivery takes 3-5 days. If you’ve not left it right up to the last minute this may be OK.
If you’re really cutting it fine you can pay £5.99 to get one-day delivery or, for some items, £6.49 for Express Delivery; or £6.99 for Same Day Delivery (which guarantees next day delivery before 1pm – for orders placed before 10pm the day before).
If you’ve got Amazon Prime you can get all of these delivery options at no extra cost.
Psst… want a good tip? You can get a free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime – get all your Father’s Day stuff delivered in double quick time and then cancel it… if you want to.
Are you a student?
And can you prove it? Students can get a free six month trial of Amazon Prime and/or it’s only £3.99 a month (half the cheapest main Prime price) and yes, you do get all the Prime video and music gubbins too.
Check out Amazon Prime Free trial offers
Retro t-shirts
Like the idea of nostalgia but not quite sure about the books, CDs or games console?
Does your Dad like to ‘wear’ his personality? In which case, he’d love a retro t-shirt. Check out these beauties:
And to save your blushes (and make it look like you put the thought it, not me) they are, in order:
- Flash Gordon – an iconic movie from the 1980s
- Star Wars – crikey, I hope you at least know this one…?
- Cobra Kai from ‘The Karate Kid’ – yes, it was originally an 80s a movie and no, it didn’t have Jaden Smith’s dad in…
- Knight Rider – a classic 1980s TV show. The hero had a super intelligent car (called KIT) – the t-shirt shows KIT’s iconic control panel (he’ll know it)
- The A-Team – another 1980s TV classic
- He-Man – 80s TV cartoon.
Perhaps your Dad is more of a football fan? Does he rattle on about it saying things like: “Load of softies… diving and holding their faces… it were better in my day…” Sound familiar? In which case he’d be thrilled with a retro football shirt from Score Draw – something like these:
You do know what team he supports, right? Good.
In which case, if it’s not one of the ones I picked out above then check out Score Draw’s Amazon Store
Will it get here in time?
As above, most of this lot is from Amazon. You can wring your hands about killing the high street later – once you’ve made sure you’re not getting evicted or written out of your inheritance.
Amazon‘s free, standard UK delivery takes 3-5 days. If you’ve not left it right up to the last minute this may be OK.
If you’re really cutting it fine you can pay £5.99 to get one-day delivery or, for some items, £6.49 for Express Delivery; or £6.99 for Same Day Delivery (which guarantees next day delivery before 1pm – for orders placed before 10pm the day before).
If you’ve got Amazon Prime (around £9.99 a month) you can get all of these delivery options at no extra cost.
As recommended above you can get a free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime – get all your chosen Father’s Day gift ideas delivered just in time and then cancel it… if you wanted to, though personally this has saved my skin on more than one occasion!
Are you a student?
If you are (and can you prove it) students can get a free six month trial of Amazon Prime and/or it’s only £3.99 a month (half the cheapest main Prime price) after that. And yes, you do get all the Prime video and music gubbins too.
Check out Amazon Prime Free trial offers
Thirsty for more?
How about some great British beer?
Whether your Dad is a real ale drinker or prefers a drop of gin or whisky, I can heartily recommend Adnams as purveyors of all things delicious and alcoholic… or even not that alcoholic if your Dad’s watching his waistline.
Adnams are based in Southwold on the Suffolk coast and genuinely brew their beer on British shores – and I know as my family got me the gift of going on one of their fabulous brewery tours.
They have people that know their way around a brewery.
Personally I am partial to a drop of their Southwold Bitter. It’s a lovely smooth pint.
You can get a box of 12x 500ml bottles for £18.99; or a 5L mini-cask is lots of fun (he can play as his own landlord!) and that’s only £16.99.
Their ‘First Rate’ gin is pretty bloomin’ lovely too and is the creme of their distillery. It’s £31.99 but… given you get free delivery if you spend over £60 it seems a shame not to indulge your old man.
Whisky more his thing? They’ve got you covered there too – with a single malt, triple malt and even a rye whisky.
Don’t worry too much about the terminology (triple or single just refers to the number casks it was aged in before being bottled) and they’re all priced pretty similarly. If your Dad likes whisky, he’d be well pleased to get a bottle of any of these.
Veering more towards the beer but not sure where to start? Allow me to share my expertise in this area.
Broadside is dark, ruby beer (much stronger on the alcohol content) but if your Dad is more about real ale and flavours – Broadside will make his day.
If your Dad is more of a lager drinker Lighthouse is a pale, golden almost lager-y ale that goes down a treat on a warm summer’s day.
Ghost Ship is the middle ground (and one of Adnams‘ more popular beers). They also do a great alcohol-free version which, in all honesty, takes almost exactly the same as the alcohol-in version.
Adnams do have their own lagers too, so if your Dad is one of those that thinks real ale drinkers are all a bit ‘beardy-weirdy’ you can just get him some of their ace lagers. They even have one that’s infused with Earl Grey tea!
Will it get here in time?
UK-wide delivery is £2.99 and takes 3-5 working days, quick enough… if you’re quick.
If you’re not (and let’s face it, you probably won’t be reading this if you were) you can pay £5.99 for next working day delivery– so if you’re reading this on the Saturday before Father’s Day, sorry you left this one too late.
If you spend over £60 standard delivery is free – but next day is £5.99 whatever you buy. To get next day delivery you need to order before 12pm so don’t dilly dally – if you like this idea, get on with it, quick!
Hopefully somewhere in those 37 ideas is something to save your Father’s Day. I hope you both enjoy it.
Got a suggestion for us? Something your Dad loved which you conjured up at the last minute? Leave us a comment below – we may add it to help your fellow Father’s Day shoppers out!
Last update on 2021-06-11 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API