Father’s Day Gift Guide

Editor's Picks, Home & Family, Kids, Traditions
on June 11, 2011

If Dad likes watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and listening to bluegrass, here’s a CD that’s the perfect combination of both. On Dance ‘Til Your Stockings are Hot and Ravelin’, the Grammy-nominated band The Grascals applies its impressive chops to six toe-tapping tunes—including “Dooley,” “Leaning On The Everlasting Arms” and “Boil Them Cabbage Down”—originally performed on the iconic television series. And the seventh track is a whimsical Grascals original based on one of the show’s most famous monologues: Barney’s “Boy, giraffes are selfish.” ($5.98)

Fab Four fans will really yeah-yeah-yeah for Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs, a collection of shots by Sir Paul’s shutterbug wife. The handsome coffee-table book is an eye-opening reminder that, in addition to being Mrs. McCartney from 1969 to her death in 1998, Linda was a first-class rock-’n’-roll photographer, looking through the camera at The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and other musical icons that became part of her star-spangled, inner-circle world.  ($41.99)

Dads who are handy with a rod and reel will enjoy the wet ’n’ wild fish tales in River Monsters, the behind-the-scenes book companion by Jeremy Wade, the host of the hit Animal Planet reality series following his globe-spanning pursuit of mysterious, menacing and sometimes even mythological creatures that reportedly lurk in the murky depths of Earth’s inland waterways. ($26)

Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man, the Hulk and other iconic superheroes, scours the Earth for real-life counterparts in the A&E network series Stan Lee’s Superhumans. Season One DVD includes all eight episodes of this quirky quest to find dozens of people with genetic traits that translate into astonishing physical and mental abilities. Dear ol’ dad may be “super,” but how does he stack up against the Los Angeles blind man who has the radar sense of a bat, the Bostonian whose thick skull can withstand the blows of a sledgehammer, or the Londoner with the world’s stretchiest skin?

Who wants a slice of outer space? Fans of the trailblazing sci-fi TV series Star Trek can echo the show’s iconic catchphrase as they boldly slice like no man has sliced before with this stainless steel pizza cutter in the shape of the show’s galaxy-hopping flagship, the U.S.S. Enterprise. ($24.99 from thinkgeek.com)

Tickle your dad’s funny bone with The Ernie Kovacs Collection, a bountiful box set of the on-the-air works of the 1950s TV-comedy pioneer whose offbeat wackiness rippled through just about every strain of TV comedy—including Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Captain Kangaroo, Pee-Wee Herman, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In and Saturday Night Live—that followed in his zany wake. ($56.97)

It was widely, almost universally reviled as the worst made automobile of all time, an inexpensive little import that became an international punch line. How did the Yugo earn its spot in the basement of the transportation hall of shame? Jason Vuic’s The Yugo, new in paperback, is a fascinating, enjoyably bumpy ride through the optimistic rise and precipitous fall of the lowly, low-cost, low-quality lemon the whole world came to hate. ($14)

HBO’s acclaimed documentary baseball trilogy When It Was A Game: The Complete Collection, now on Blu-ray, spans the game from the 1930s into the ’60s and takes fans for a unique, golden-glow walk down memory lane with vintage home-movie footage, rare snapshots and vivid storytelling about the game’s most memorable players and moments, plus commentary by Billy Crystal, Kevin Costner, Geraldo Rivera and other stars, sportscasters, players and writers. ($29.99)

Dad will be pleasantly surprised—but not shocked—when he gets a Wet Circuits water-resistant power strip, with innovative circuitry designed to operate safely even when exposed to rain, snow, sleet, coffee spills or other splashy events. And its groundbreaking safety features make it perfect for use in areas frequented by kids and toddlers. It won’t even give a jolt if someone does the very thing you’ve always told them not to do: stick tweezers, a paper clip, screwdriver or any other metal object into its outlets! ($70 from wetcircuits.com)

This article was originally published as Father’s Day Gift Guide on DailyParent.com.