Why the mug makes the perfect first Father's Day Gift

Our guest Daddy blogger, Tom Ellis-Jones explains what makes the perfect Father’s Day gift.

‘First times’ come thick and fast in the first year of being a parent.

First nappy change; first family photo; first intrepid outing to the park; first public melt-down!

Many are done together; you muddle through with your other half as you figure out all the many intricacies of caring for your little one.

And as your baby grows up through that first year, the ‘first-times’ get ticked off thick and fast.

There’s one ‘first-time’ however that really surprised me in my daughters first year. It was my first-time Father’s Day as a new Dad.

For years, prior to having children, Father’s Day was a day that always completely blind-sided me. It was suddenly there; I hadn’t bought a card. I hadn’t bought a present and I certainly hadn’t booked a table anywhere. And even worse, because it was Father’s Day – not Mother’s Day – I’d settle for buying a below-par card from the corner shop and dispatch it to arrive late the day after (I wouldn’t get away with that on Mother’s Day by the way…!!)

But in my daughter’s first year, my much-more-thoughtful-than-me wife made no such mistake. She celebrated my new role as a Father by spoiling me rotten. I remember being brought tea in bed and opening two cards – not just one, but two! – and then unwrapping a china mug that my wife had had imprinted with my daughter’s 7 week old footprint and a message that said “Happy Father’s Day x”

As first-times go, it was a really special one. And it’s completely changed my view of Father’s Day.  Because now, Father’s Day is a day I have in common with my own Dad. We’re both Fathers. And I appreciate how very important that is.

As for gifts for my subsequent Father’s days, I am building quite a collection of mugs and i think its a perfect gift, mainly because every Dad needs a good cup of tea to start the day and it’s just good to have keepsakes.

From my son’s footprint mug, to a heart Daddy mug, the personalised mugs and my recent favourite the  BabyBlooms Daddy Bear mug, my collection is growing a bit like my children. Very fast.  My now-very-busy-wife says she will buy from BabyBlooms again  as everything comes beautifully wrapped so its one less thing for her to do. Sign of a busy parent heh?