Father’s Day here in Germany is a relatively recent addition to the calendar.  For reasons unknown to me, it is celebrated on Ascension Thursday, which this year was the day before The Bavarian’s birthday.

Unfortunately for me, I was having trouble getting a birthday present organised. The special fly fishing books I had ordered were not going to arrive on time. That’s how rare and special they are. Wondering what to get as a replacement present to give on the day took up so much of my time that Vatertag (Father’s Day) was forgotten till it was too late to get out to the shops.

Our only option was to get crafty. But if you can’t get the children to get involved in a bit of make and do for their daddy, then when can you?

Having set Number One and Number Two the task of making cards or pictures for The Bavarian, Number Three and I got the paints out and the socks off. Well, his.

The strange thing about toddlers is that while they love getting messy, if you actually want to paint their feet, they throw a wobbler. After a few attempts, we got one foot painted and a couple of nice foot prints.

Yes, it would be more authentic if the child paddled his feet in paint and then toddled across a length of paper. But in the situation we were faced with, using his foot like a rubber stamp and manually plonking it down onto a page of card was the best we could manage.

While we were at it we did a few handprints too and saved them for the birthday card. I’m not mad enough to try painting a toddler two days in a row. Best to get one big mess made and cleaned up, right?

By the time bedtime rolled around, Number One and Number Two had their Father’s Day contributions finished, so we huddled together in their room under the pretense of reading a bedtime story and wrapped everything up nicely.

The folowing morning there was breakfast in bed accompanied by the boys and their handmade gifts. Is there a better way to celebrate Father’s Day than with your children showing their love for you through snuggles and their own little artworks as keepsakes?

Inspired by our own simple but effective Father’s Day celebration, I created this printable – Happy Father’s DayDaddy – for you to download for your children to fill out.

Letting the daddy of the family know what they love most about him is a heart-melting way to start off Father’s Day.

Does he put on funny voices when reading stories?

Or he help with homework?

Does he give the best hugs?

Or make the world a happier place?

Is he your child’s biggest fan?

Or does he teach them the things he know?

Whatever it is that the daddy does best, get the children to tell him.

 

I’d love to hear how you get on with using my printable and whether it was well received by children and daddies. If you have any trouble downloading this printable, let me know and I can e-mail it to you.