The Night Before Father’s Day!

By Andrew Shaneyfelt

‘Twas the night before Father’s Day and in my dizzy head, a stunning realization filled me up with dread.

”Oh no!” I gasped, terrified and fraught. Andrew’s gifts had not yet been bought! The night still young and my thoughts gone awry, away to Google my desperate fingers did fly. Tools, razors, gift cards, Oh my! My dear husband does love his tools so; I grabbed my keys and wallet and head down to Lowe’s. Roaming the aisles, many items, I ponder. Through all the racks my did eyes wander and wander. Then they landed upon a shiny shaft of steel, a gadget sure to make his head reel. The orange and black pieces around that metal bar, sure to take his wood projects far. Then to my deepest utmost surprise, another fine gift was before my bleary eyes. A contraption, a machine, that’s been on his mind. So much that he’s mentioned it many times. The saw of contractors and DIYers alike, heaved onto my cart, ready to fill his eyes with delight. Now, as I think my trip is complete, an idea, another item remembered, with my other thoughts did compete. I raced to the other side of the store, to check on this goodie I was looking for. A big metal box on four sturdy wheels, intended for preparing many flavorful meals. Exiting the store with a mighty haul, I packed up the car with presents from the Man Mall. A couple of clamps, a miter saw, and a brand new grill, what a sprawl.

The preceding poem, obviously inspired by a classic Christmas tale, is quite the opposite of Angie’s personality. She plans ahead, gets gifts ordered with time to spare. A couple of things may be late to arrive, but that’s okay; I don’t need material items to let me know how much she and Addie love me On Father’s Day, or any day for that matter.

While those are all fine ideas for dad gifts this Father’s Day, making a snap decision to buy some big ticket items like a saw or a grill isn’t in everyone’s budget (certainly not ours), so I‘m going to lay out some sure-fire dad gifts that you can pop into Lowe’s and grab quickly, along with the perfect standby - gift cards. So if you find yourself perusing this list, meandering through Lowe’s or Home Depot, rest assured, the gift card options at either store are vast and plentiful and sure to put a smile on Dad’s face.

Let’s start in tools, since that’s where our fictional wife in the poem ran to first. Is your Dad more into tuning up his car in the garage or are we more likely to see him making sawdust aka “Man Glitter”? Either way, Lowe’s has a ton of items under $50 in tools that Dad is going to appreciate. For the mechanic dad, check out the sockets and ratchet section for that ever-ellusive 10mm socket. If anything, it’ll make Dad laugh. We are always losing the 10mm socket. One thing that will apply to a car dad or a wood worker dad is this Craftsman Magnetic parts holder.

With extra strong magnets embedded in it, it will hold tight to any metal parts he throws in it. If Dad is more like Norm Abram (shoutout New Yankee Workshop and PBS), Lowe’s has a plethora of woodworking tools and accessories on hand. Keep in mind, you don’t have to visit Lowe’s; these things apply to pretty much any big box hardware store. Home Depot and Menard’s have their own selection of very similar items. Anyway, saw blades, drill bits and sandpaper are all great, inexpensive go-to items that a woodworking dad can put to use right away or keep in the shop for when his current supplies run low. At Lowe’s the best blades you can buy are these black Spyder brand blades. I follow tons of contractors and carpenters online as an amateur woodworker myself, and plenty of pros use those daily and they last a while for them, so these are sure to keep up with Dad’s weekend projects for quite some time, maybe even years. If Dad is all stocked up on blades and bits and other consumables in from tools, more clamps never hurt 😉

Moving on, if the Dad you’re shopping for is always doing projects around the house, and his toolbox and containers of hardware in the shop are full, check out the paint department for some primo Purdy brand brushes. Sometimes us guys just buy whatever gets the job done, but I know there‘s always some kind of painting project on the horizon for the average Dad, and we wouldn’t mind cutting in that next room we paint with one of these bad boys. Seriously, these brushes are top of the line for painting, and when taken care of properly will last for years. Lowe’s has no shortage of these brushes on hand for you to choose from, but I believe this 2 Inch angled brush would be the best bang for your buck. While you’re in the paint section, you could also grab Dad a tube (or even the big gallon size) of Titebond Wood Glue. This stuff is the woodworking standard for gluing up projects. If you don’t believe me, The Wood Whisperer himself, Marc Spagnuolo, exclusively uses their products on all of his projects, all of which are immaculate in my opinion. On top of those items, blue tape is a versatile item. not only is it great for masking off areas you don’t want to paint in a room, there are quite a few blue tape tricks out there for woodworkers to try on various projects.

Following our little poem again, let’s check out the grill section! Personally, I am still in the market for my next grill. When Addie was first born, we learned of a few incidents in our area of people with propane grills having explosions happen on their property, and we weren’t willing to run that risk, so we sold our Char Broil 4 burner grill, tank included, on Facebook marketplace, and we never looked back. Since then, I’ve looked at various stores’ grill selections, read online reviews, asked my own dad’s advice and still haven’t fully decided what I want for outdoor cooking. I grew up on charcoal grilling, and I’m intrigued by the idea of a wood pellet smoker grill, plus lately I’ve been pondering a kamado style grill, so I’m definitely unlike the lady in my poem at the top of this post 😂 Anyway, since grills are a big ticket item and likely something Dad will want to pick out for himself, check out the accessories near the grills. Does Dad need an all weather cover to preserve his Pit Boss or Traeger? How about some pellets? If those aren’t needed, this spatula-tongs combo tool might do the tick.

Right next to the grills are suitable selections for the Lawn Dad in your life. Lowe’s carries a wide variety of lawn care equipment and accessories. One thing I always find myself getting every so often in the store is trimmer string. This stuff is a highly underrated consumable in the lawn care department. Personally, I use an electric trimmer, so this blue 6 sided string would make an excellent ancillary gift. Let’s say Angie put together a Father’s Day gift basket, and picked a few things like I’ve already talked about, but there’s a little blank slot in there; this stuff would be perfect to round out the selections she’s made to show her appreciation for all I do as Addie’s dad and my household duties as well as my favorite hobbies. And for the all gas powered equipment dads, this Savage brand trimmer string looks like it more than gets the job done.

If none of the selections already mentioned seem like the right idea, don’t worry, Lowe’s also has a TON of gift cards on hand to appease any father on his special day. Aside from the obvious Lowe’s store gift cards with all kinds of themes tailored to pretty much any interest he has contained within the store, there are also cards available to Bass Pro Shop, Cabela’s, REI and even Top Golf! Is dad a foodie like me? ( I have way too many interests and hobbies - can you tell?) Check out all the restaurant gift cards they have. You truly can find something for every dad at Lowe’s, even if he isn’t into DIY/Home Improvement, Gardening, Painting, Grilling, Lawn Care or any of the other areas of interest Lowe’s caters to. I even came across this thing called a Gel Blaster while capturing images and video for this post today. It’s like a low grade paintball gun and I‘ve heard they’re tons of fun to use. Aside from that, there’s even a Duke Cannon display of soaps and other personal care products for dudes set up in the front thoroughfare, so even if you’re reading all of this on Sunday morning, worried about what to get the dad or dads in your life, you can get to your nearest big box home center and grab a couple things to wow him or them without breaking the bank or searching too hard.

with love,

Andrew