There are plenty of great online resources for Father’s day. Here’s a short collection of websites that Mashable listed as great places to find gift ideas for dear old dad:

FamilyCorner.com - A lengthy list of crafty gifts you can make for the upcoming holiday.

FamilyFun.com - Lots of gifts you can make at home, fun certificates kids can print out for their dads and more.

Gifts.com - A seemingly endless list of suggestions for just about every type of dad you can think of.

Kaboose.com - Has several home craft gift ideas Gift-Giving-Guide-for-Executives with instructions, a history of the holiday, recipes for meals and more.

MarthaStewart.com - If it’s a holiday celebrated by more than two people, then Martha Stewart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Stewart probably has some suggestions for you. Has a mixture of homemade gifts and recipe suggestions.

Shopping.AOL.com - Has lots of great resources for gift ideas, but this article in particular has a great list of 10 do’s and don’ts for picking out a gift for dad.

Dad’s can be world’s harder to buy gifts for then moms, but luckily there are lots of suggestions out there to help ease some of the pain.

I of course just told my wife that I wanted a massage for Father’s day. Simple enough a Father’s day gift if I do say so myself. I guess we’ll see what gift her and my children get me for Father’s day.

I asked my husband this morning what would make him feel spoiled. I was somewhat surprised that he had a difficult time with the question, but then, he explained that “spoiled” is something he thinks is an ongoing state, not something that happens on occasion.

So, to him, being spoiled is something that would happen all the time. Okay, I get it. I then asked what would be a daily activity that would make him feel spoiled and he said, “breakfast”. You see, if you know my husband, you know that he loves a good breakfast. Unfortunately, he rarely gets a good breakfast. I gets up an hour before I do during the week and so I’m usually still in bed when he leaves.

To make him feel spoiled, I would be getting up every morning and making him breakfast. Breakfast would consist of omelets, eggs benedict, pancakes, bacon, sausage. I think you get the picture. I do make breakfasts like this for him once in a while, but I probably should do it more often. After all, I would like him to feel spoiled!

What do you do to make your spouse feel spoiled?

Young lovers do silly things sometimes. When my husband and I were courting, we frequently left silly little poems on small slips of paper for each other. We then hid the papers in hidden places for each other to discover later, such as in a book or in a coat pocket. After 19 years of marriage, we still giggle when we recall those silly– and sentimental– moments of our early years.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue;
I’ll meet you at the park
Where sweet kisses are due!

Roses are red,
Violets are turquoise;
When we are together
I want to make lots of noise!

I think I made a poem for every color in the Crayola crayon box! But my husband loved finding these little notes in unsuspected places. He fondly chuckles when he remembers them.

If you’ve been together with your spouse for a long time, those silly little moments are easily swallowed up with other things. Building careers, raising children, buying a home, etc., come to the forefront and the sentimentality of romance and relationship are shifted to the back burner. We marrieds don’t intentionally neglect those times of sweet romance; it just kind of happens. So, it takes effort to stir up those sparks. Doing so can really revitalize your relationship and prevent entropy.

But how does one go about it? Sometimes finances are tight. Sometimes they are not! But whether you buy your love a new kitchen or sports car or a chocolate bar, what really matters is that you keep it personal. Your goal is to stoke those fires that burned during those early years. Sometimes all we have to do is shut out everything– the bills, the TV, the kids, the pets, the clamor of the day– turn off the lights, light the candles, and enjoy each other’s presence. Remember together why you chose each other to have and to hold, for better or for worse, til death do you part. Every relationship needs this kind of attention, but it seems the longer you are together, the more you need to do it.

Take some alone time with your spouse. You’ll probably have to schedule it in! That may make it seem “less romantic” but it needn’t be. Remember those early love notes or sweet things you did together. Stir up the embers of those first days, and before long you’ll have a steady flame going.

Sometimes we wives can be so wrapped up in our house duties, jobs, or child-rearing that the husband takes a backseat in our attentions. But your man needs loving just as much– and often more than– that job, the baby, and the laundry! A man needs to feel needed, and thrives when his wife shows respect for him. There’s a tendency in our modern age to focus on the needs of the woman. Women certainly do have needs! But so do the men! Here are some ideas to help you kindle that relationship. The nice thing about it is that the man, when loved and respected, will return the love and respect to his wife. So it’s a win-win situation!

Here are ten easy ways to spoil your husband. Be flexible, too. Just the fact that you pay attention to his likes and dislikes will warm his heart. Remember how you like to be treated, and do likewise!

1. Praise him publicly. Never mock him or ridicule him publicly.
2. Cook a nice dinner at least three times a week. Know what his favorite recipes are, and serve them frequently.
3. Tidy the house before he comes home from work. Wipes the kids’ faces, perk some coffee. Make his homecoming a big deal.
4. When he comes home from work, greet him at the door if you can. Don’t ask him how was his day, but let him shake off the cares in his good time. Offer him coffee or a snack.
5. When he’s feeling particularly stressed out, take the kids out of the house to a park for a while, so he can have some alone “down time.”
6. When he offers some advice or an opinion, don’t dismiss it, even if it isn’t very helpful. Consider his input as you would like him to consider yours.
7. Wear neat, clean clothes and dress up from time to time– just for him.
8. Create a special room or a special area just for him and his hobby. Even if it is an armchair with a lamp and some magazines, make a place that is “his” and do not allow the children in that area.
9. Do not overspend the budget.
10. If you are a stay-at-home mom, don’t make him get up for baby’s nighttime feedings. You can get a nap during the day; he works all day and suffers more from lack of sleep.

Every husband is different, so be creative. Sometimes we can put so much emphasis on a new barbecue grill or an HDTV that we forget the more meaningful things. But it’s the meaningful things make the material gifts all the more precious!

How NOT to spoil your husband:

10. Dump all the day’s problems at his feet the moment he walks in the door from work.
9. Whip his butt in arm wrestling.
8. Whip his butt in chess.
7. Know the football teams and their stats better than he.
6. Joke with your girlfriends about his nighttime intestinal problems… while he’s in the room.
5. Win every argument (or say that you win every argument).
4. Buy him a pink polo shirt and sulk when he refuses to wear it.
3. Wear flannel to bed.
2. Tell him repeatedly that he’s getting bald.

And now for the #1 way how not to spoil your husband….

1. Say “Oh, you again” when it’s “frisky” time.

OK, that was all in good jest, but you know that all things humorous have an element of truth to them! Stay tuned– I’ll be back with the Top Ten list with ways that you can actually spoil the big guy!

Tonight I got home from a long day of life and my wife and children were in bed. My wife and I had agreed that we weren’t going to spend any money this Valentine’s Day. That doesn’t mean you don’t give a gift to your wife for Valentine’s Day. It just means that you have to be more creative in the gifts that you give her. Tomorrow I’m going to give her a CD mix and redo the ones I gave her previously that have gotten scratches. Should be a nice touch.

However, I’ve wanted to do something more. When I got home tonight the house was quite the mess. See the pictures to see what I’m talking about.

Bathroom Before

Living Room Before

Kitchen Before

In popped the perfect idea. Clean the house. What better Valentine’s gift or any gift could my wife wake up to than a clean house? So, I went to work picking up all the crap my children had spread throughout the house. The bathroom was a particular joy. My children had enjoyed themselves so much in there I couldn’t even walk into the bathroom because there was crap everywhere. I’m sure my wife was looking forward to cleaning it up tomorrow, but instead she’ll have a nice Valentine’s surprise when she sees it all cleaned up and organized. For good measure I also did all the dishes and put the laundry in. Here’s the after shot:
Bathroom After

Living Room After

Kitchen After

Now I just wish that I could get a picture of my wife’s face tomorrow when she sees it all clean. The amazing thing is that seeing her happy actually turns out to be a great gift for me too.

Amazon Unbox is a really cool service that sells movie downloads that would make a really high tech Valentine’s gift. Sure, there is something cool about having the movie in your hand, wrapped and ready to be opened. However, for those people interested in being a little more green this Valentines, you might consider giving the gift of a downloaded movie. Same great gift, but no wasted paper or other packing materials. Check out some of the hot movies Amazon Unbox has available for this Valentines:

We previously wrote about giving the Amazon Kindle as a gift. It turned out to be very popular with our readers and many people were able to give their loved one the very unique Amazon Kindle as a gift this year. The problem was that back in December the Amazon Kindle was quickly sold out and so many people had to wait over a month to get their Kindle actually shipped to them.

Well, no need to worry about that problem for Valentine’s Day. The Amazon Kindle is a great gift for the readers in your life. That turns out to be most people. Add in the incredible battery life, free wireless connection to download books and you have a very unique gift for that person you love. One review I read of the Kindle even described how the user was able to download for free the first couple chapters of a book and decide whether it was worth purchasing before doing so. Ended up saving him a bunch of money.

Buy the Amazon Kindle for the love of your life this Valentine’s Day. You’ll be glad you did.

You barely have the confetti vacuumed out of the carpet and the hype for Valentine’s Day has already started.
Don’t shrug it off. This could be the most important spoiling day of the year: the one critical time to spoil your wife or girlfriend; the one day you have to totally spoil your husband or boyfriend.
And your significant other will be watching you, especially in mid-February, for the following signs:

• Perspiration and shortness of breath
• Bad hair
• Crazed, harried look in the eyes
• Phone calls at odd hours

All these signs indicate that you haven’t done your Valentine’s Day shopping and that you haven’t made reservations for your special dinner.

To avoid this suspicion, shop early… and shop often!

It hasn’t been easy, but you’re almost there. You made it through pre-season.
And then the regular season.
And dozens of odd-sounding college bowls. (The Humanitarian Bowl? What the heck is that?)
Now it’s time for the NFL playoffs???
Football season may seem endless for you, but it can also be the source of endless spoilings. Take a little interest in the sport and watch a game with your husband or boyfriend.
Football isn’t the easiest sport to understand, but the female intellect is more than capable of grasping a game. Still, ask him a few informed questions and you’ll earn his undying love and respect.
To prepare for the games, there are a few great guides to the sport that aren’t written in “Man-eese”; they’re football guides written by women, for women.