Handmade card of the week: Tie Card

We reckon dad would feel pretty special if he received a lovely handmade card like this for Father’s Day, and the kids will probably have fun making a cute card like this one.

Get crafty with the kids to create this cute card for Father’s Day
Why we love it:
  • The three-dimensional effect of this card is unique and makes it stand out. 
  • The materials required are minimal and inexpensive. In fact, this is a fun way of using up single sheets of card, odd buttons and left-over stickers 
  • You could play with different colours of card, and printed card would also be fun for the tie. 
  • You don’t have to be an origami expert to master this project – the folding technique is pretty simple and we reckon that school-aged kids would be able to make the tie. 
Who would you make this card for? We’d love your thoughts – please comment below…

Handmade Father’s Day gift: Nuts and Bolts Mix

You can’t go past a classic nut mix when it comes to homemade treats for blokes, especially when it looks this tasty…

Handmade ‘Nuts and Bolts’ Mix

Why we love it:
  • Who doesn’t love a nut or nibble mix (unless of course you’re allergic to nuts!)
  • You can customise your mix to suit your recipient, using high-quality products. 
  • This is a thoughtful, yet inexpensive gift. 
  • You can have fun with how you present your mix – in a tin as above, in a basket, bottle, plastic container, etc. Hand-write your own label, create a label on the computer, or get the kids to draw a label. 
What would you include in your ‘mix’ and who would you give it to? We’d love your thoughts – please comment below…

Competition time! Win a pair of Corona Glasses…

Hooray! Today is International Beer Day:-) To celebrate all things beer, we have a pair of our lovely Corona glasses (which have been made from repurposed Corona beer bottles) to give away. 

To enter:
1. LIKE this post AND the Mr Gift Facebook page
2. Tag someone you’d like to have a drink with (even a non-alcoholic one) in the comments. 
3. Comp ends midnight Thursday 13/8/15 and winner will be randomly selected (open to Australian residents only, sorry!).

Thursday thought…

My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. 
The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better. – Marlo Thomas


Handmade Father’s Day gift: Golf Tee Jar

You’re about to tee for for a round of golf. Clubs? Check. Golf ball? Check. Tee?…Rummaging through your golf bag for a golf tee before you’re about to tee off is frustrating. This handy jar will ensure that dad won’t run out of golf tees for a while…

Golf tees in a jar – a useful, inexpensive gift for Father’s Day

Why we love it:
  • This is a super-useful gift for golfing dads
  • It’s inexpensive – you can easily pick up a pack of golf tees from a sporting shop for very little expense, and the jar is a recycled jam or sauce jar. 
  • You can hand-write your own label, use a Dymo Label-Maker, create one on the computer, or use a swing-tag and tie it around the neck of the bottle with some lovely ribbon or jute twine. 
  • You could choose a selection of different coloured Tees, or write his initials on the top of the Tee so he can easily recognise his Tees. 
  • You can experiment with putting the Tees in other things – little fabric bags, other interesting boxes you can find from craft shops, plastic containers, etc. 

Do you know a man who plays golf who’d love a gift like this?

The best advice my dad gave me: Barry Maher

There’s just over a month to go until Father’s Day. If there’s one time of the year we can help people with gifts for men, it’s for Father’s Day. This month, we’ve dedicated our blog posts to everything for Father’s Day – gift ideas, cards, quotes, inspirational stories, recipes and more. 

This post is the first in our series, The best advice my dad gave me. We look forward to sharing more of these stories, gift ideas and Father’s Day goodness throughout the month… 

In our first post, speaker and author Barry Maher shares some of his Father’s wisdom: “The best advice I ever got from my father took me awhile to absorb. But, eventually, while standing in a pool of sewage, holding a sewer rooter with a badly frayed chord, I realized the value of my father’s advice that “You’ve got to have a profession, one where you can make a comfortable living comfortably.” And I understood just exactly why he’d worked so hard to put me and my brothers and sisters through college.

Barry Maher, speaker and author – www.barrymaher.com



The lesson seems obvious. But my father understood it in a way that, growing up with far more advantages, I really didn’t. Because he’d watched his mother clean houses to support her family, and to manage to send him to college. Eventually he worked his way through Harvard Law and built a successful law practice. He tried to tell me repeatedly about the importance of having a good career and later, once it finally dawned on me that he had a point, his example taught me as well. Once it finally did sink in, I did everything I could to develop that kind of career, first building my own business, then working my way through the corporate world and eventually writing and speaking. Now I talk for a living, which I guess is the definition of making a comfortable living comfortably. It certainly beats unplugging toilets.” 

Barry Maher is a speaker and author, who is frequently featured in publications like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the London Times, Business Week and USA Today. For more info visit www.barrymaher.com

What was the best advice your father ever gave you? 
We’d love your thoughts – please comment below…

Today is…Watermelon Day!

We love watermelon, because:

  • It’s refreshing and reminds us of hot summer days
  • It’s pretty inexpensive and can feed a crowd
  • It’s a healthy option for kid’s birthday parties
Here are a couple of fun ways to jazz-up watermelon…

Healthy watermelon pizza
Image from www.mrshappyhomemaker.com

Scrumptious guilt-free watermelon cake
Image from www.paleocupboard.com

What’s your favourite way to enjoy watermelon? 
We’d love your thoughts – please comment below…