Looking for some adventurous gifts to give to the rugged dad in your life? We've got you covered.
It used to be that fathers were expected to be found in a smoky room, playing a game of poker with some dudes from the office. Oh, how times have changed! Nowadays, men are allowed to be more expressive. They can share their true thoughts and aren't expected to bottle up how they feel. They also aren't expected to live a life of solitude or to want to have guys night anymore. Or wear suits and ties and go ‘bowling with the fellas.'
Adventurous Gifts for Dad – and the Whole Family
I'm glad I got to become a father in this new day and age, because it means that I can do the things I like. Adventurous things. Outdoorsy stuff. Stuff with the family. Of course, I am big on travel both far and near and have become well adept in it as an exercise. I love traveling, the boys love it, and Chelsea definitely loves it. It's a great way to see new parts of where you live regionally or to really stretch your horizon further and further. You can meet new people, see new sights, and – as I especially like to do – taste new foods. I have traveling in our adventuremobile down to a science.
So this season, I'm making sure that I'm getting adventurous gifts. Things that can really help us get out there! No fear of grossly designed ties, unnecessary mugs, soap on a rope, or boring golf gear. I mean, golf gear would have been a waste on me anyway. This year, I got things that help me spend a day just the way I wanted to. With my boys.
An outdoor game.
Nothing makes spending time together better than a classic yard game. Lawn darts have been made essentially illegal in our household since we've learned that they're SUPER not safe, so I went with another classic. Cornhole!
A cooler with wheels.
As I recently made plans to take the boys on a short day trip to hang out together, another demand came to mind. Drinks. You have to have drinks when you hang out with the boys! Of course, my boys are all under eight years old so by drinks I mean the likes of vanilla cream and orange cream soda.
I picked up a nice Coleman cooler with wheels to make the boys pull along…because that's their job. As my dad used to say when I was a little kid, “Mom and I had you and your brother so someone would do the chores.”
He was only half kidding.
A wallet and pen that go everywhere I go.
As much as I want to say that we only eat meat that I have hunted with my bare hands and I take notes / sign checks with charcoal and blood a la cavemen…that's just not true. On occasion, while we're on the go, I have to pay for things. Like the aforementioned soda. And sometimes I have to take calls and jot stuff down. Never fear, there are non-bulky solutions that make the perfect adventurous gifts for guys like me! Chels bought me an Allet Sport Wallet and Allet Micro Pen which fits in the wallet.
Both fit into any pocket I may have around, be it a vest coat or a tiny joke of a shorts pocket that I think is supposed to hold some sort of little pocketknife situation. Point being, I'm a rugged DUDE. So my pocketknives are big. And my wallets and pens are tiny.
A rugged thermos.
Why? Because four boys means I need coffee. Coffee in the morning, coffee in the evening, coffee at night. Coffee all the time.
Thanks to parents, coffee investors made their millions. It is just another delicious way I like to boost my time with the boys. I seem to need a boost now just to keep up with them, and this is one of those adventurous gifts that makes a solid addition for any road tripper.
With my little boys, I enjoyed trying to teach them the rules to cornhole. The best part of having boys this young is the less than five minutes it takes to watch them go from playing “cornhole” to “peg your brother with a bean bag” and “throw the bean bags off the hill.” Again, this is why I need coffee. Eventually, we rallied for a few more minutes before playing yet another classic game of “how many bean bags can dad catch at once?”
With that, we can all take our break and enjoy the type of sunset that only Southern California has to offer. A bottle of Orange Cream soda for each of the boys (baby excluded as he isn't soda drinking age yet and he knows I will card him). We all sit back and watch that billion year old burning ball of hydrogen sink down into the horizon.
It's funny watching the boys. Aside from Chelsea, they make up the entirety of my life. I laugh every time my three-year-old takes his first sip of a soda. He always forgets it's fizzy. I love it when he looks at me, completely surprised, and shouts, “IT'S SPICY!” My gosh, how spicy have they started making these orange cream sodas? Back in my day, they tasted like orange…and cream. With some practiced sips, he comes to grips with the fizzy bubble sensation he isn't yet accustomed to, and he starts to enjoy all that is Southern California heaven.
Now, I'm well stocked on my travel games, coffee containment, a cooler we can use for just about any of the trips where ice makes our drinks cold.
What are your favorite adventurous gifts?