With Father’s Day right around the corner, how are you going to make your Dad (or husband) happy? For me, any type of gadget will make me grin, but that is probably not what each and every dad wants. The best bet is to develop a strategy with your siblings or kids in order to work together to get the best gift for Dad. When it comes to shopping, especially if you are doing it at the last minute, dividing and conquering is the best tactic. But how do you ensure that the “Dad shopping army” doesn’t buy the same thing or gets hung up not knowing what to do?
Here is a simple list of tips for working together to get your Dad (or husband) the right gift. First, you need a smart phone (like the HTC Tilt 2, a Blackberry, an Android device or an iPhone). That’s it. Really! After that, you can follow some of the tips below to help strategize and get that perfect gift for your deserving Dad!
- Texting is good – assuming you have a group heading out to shop, be sure you stay in contact via text message on what types of things you are looking at.
- Take photos – when you find something that you think that Dad might like, take a photo of it and share it with the Dad shopping brigade. You can do this via email or MMS.
- Do research – sometimes it is hard to just go and browse. It’s better to have a plan of action when you hit a store, otherwise you may be wandering the aisles aimlessly, even more confused than when you entered the store. Google or Bing are your friends. Try a search that is around your subject matter like “Father’s Day Gadgets” or “Father’s Day Golf” or “Father’s Day Clothes”. Try throwing it good keywords like “gifts” or “buying guide” to fine tune your results.
- Do comparison shopping – many times, the price of certain items may be cheaper at other stores or online. There are websites and applications that can help you check one store’s prices against another one. But be sure, if you are buying online, to check the delivery times on shipments so you don’t miss the big day!
- Social check-ins – if you are doing stealth shopping and if your dad isn’t part of your social network, you and your co-shoppers can use some of the social media tools like Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook or even Twitter to coordinate your shopping efforts, share photos or ideas or just know where you guys are in a mall.
- Conference calling – of course, instead of texting or emailing back and forth, you can use your smart phone for what it was originally designed for, making phone calls. You can conference in the shopping army and have a conference call as you go through stores.
- Ask for suggestions – you can always turn to social media to get recommendations from others. Send a note to Twitter or Facebook asking what people are giving or find out what is hot!
- Be Upfront – of course, you could flat out ask your Dad what he wants! Give him a call, text him or send him an email.
- Shop online – if you can’t hit a physical brick & mortar store, take your shopping efforts online. Amazon is a great place to do that. They have a mobile store front as well as Blackberry, Android and iPhone store applications to help you. Also, many of the major retailers also have mobile sites or even applications to help.
- When all else fails – get your dad a new cell phone! It’s really hard to go wrong that way!
This post is part of an on-going series for the AT&T Lose the Laptop Challenge. This month’s challenge is all about SHOPPING so it’s pretty appropriate that you get out there and shop for your Dad for Father’s Day. Remember to VOTE (for me, especially). You can vote every day and you have a chance at winning a $500 Amazon gift certificate (possibly to pay off anything that you bought your Dad for Father’s Day) plus an HTC Tilt 2 device.
Remember that the shopping experience for getting a great gift for Dad can be a fun, social experience. Use the technology you have to get ahead of the game. A smartphone is a great way to stay connected during this process.
Disclosure Text : I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. More information can be found in my About page as well as here. More information about the “Lose the Laptop” program is available here.
HTD says: How do you shop for your Dad for Father’s Day? Is it coordinated or chaotic?
1 comment
Sentinally
Shock and horror, my father slyly sidled up to me a few days ago, nudged me, looked me in the eye and said: “So. You’re going to get me a little gift aren’t you?” And before I could really answer; “and you know that barbeque set you got me last year…that was lovely, thank you. But I need something else this year.” The dread welled up in me like a big locomotive steam engine being fired up. I was imagining my dad asking me for a loan, or worse…a new set of golf clubs (as accessible to me as a loan). He stood there looking at me, physically squirming in the thoughts of how exactly I was going to deal with this, and said; “a cellphone.”
Many things went through my mind then. OMG, he wants the iPhone 5 pre ordered, with 6 months unlimited everything paid upfront. All the accessories, he’s seen his friends at the golf club have…plus subscriptions to 10 major national newspapers, and a house party to celebrate his new phone. I don’t know what led me to this dreadful scenario, but as he was still looking at me, I had to say something…”yes? A cellphone? Have you heard all the dreadful stories about the radiation? Why a cellphone? You’ve never had a cellphone before, why now? He then told me that my Mother and himself had been pondering going on a road trip, and that would necessitate having a mobile phone. He then proceeded to tell me that he knew perfectly well what he wanted, as he had been doing some research of his own…and that knowing me, I would probably go get him an iPhone and such needless gadgetry. He wanted a tracfone SVC phone. I was stunned; “yes, whatever you say Daddyo. Do you want some airtime also?”. At which point he told me not to be silly, it was only like $20 or something.
And that pretty much sorted that out for father’s day.