VIRTUAL FINDS FOR DAD
Father’s Day is less than three weeks away, and the web is awash with spot-on man gifts that are perfect for Dad — but harder than ever to find.
Megastores and e-commerce giants are competing for your eyeballs and your pocketbooks, and they’ve invested a lot of time and money in ensuring they’ll dominate your online search results. When you write “gifts for him” in your online search bar, the stores that can pay for it are usually the ones that show up.
Some of the coolest online stores can’t afford that level of search engine optimization, but they’re still worth checking out. So, I’ve compiled this handy list of my favorite virtual destinations for Father’s Day gifts:
• TheGrommet.com: It’s an added bonus that this online retail clearinghouse is based in Somerville and emphasizes goods that are made in the USA by socially responsible entrepreneurs. But the primary reason to check out the Grommet is its seemingly bottomless arsenal of dude accoutrement. Some honorable mentions: a wheelbarrow organization shelf, a reusable icemelting mat, a modernized bottle rocket, wearable safety lights that snap onto your sneakers, an emergency paranoid bracelet for survival situations, an oak-infuser for lovers of oak-y wine, and a handmade copper mustache guard that keeps facial hair dry as Dad drinks. Shipping isn’t as fast as Amazon, but rates are reasonable and there’s plenty of time.
Father’s Day gifts are divided into seven sub-categories: tools & DIY, tech & gadgets, kitchen & bar, fitness & outdoors, sharpdressed dad, travel and wellgroomed dad. Most of these carefully curated items you won’t find anywhere else.
• Mancrates.com: This site begins with a Man-ifesto, declaring that “men deserve better gifts. Gifts that stir a primal craze of chest bumps and cheers.” Indeed, Man- crates delivers boldly on this idea, offering themed gift kits that are like the male equivalent of a Mother’s Day spa basket. The gift begins with the packaging: wooden crates and repurposed ammo cans are the primary vessel of choice. Prices range from a $49.99 “Six Degrees of Bacon Crate” (which “ensures that bacon touches literally every aspect of your day, and your being”) to a Whiskey and Woodworking Crate for $189.99, which will allow Dad to whittle while he whiskeys. Even gift cards are manly. They come with spring-hinged safety goggles, a hammer, and a brick that reads “smash me,” which contains the gift card. Other honorable mentions include a bouquet of salami, a “Troutdoorsman Crate” and a personalized guitar.
• Gardeners.com: With two locations in Vermont, Gardener’s Supply Company is a New England clearinghouse of gardening goodness, full of gifts for dads who love the outdoors. Items that dads may uniquely appreciate include a Bat-Chelor Pad to attract mosquito-eating bats, snow tires for your feet, kits to make raised gardening beds and an outdoor bar that doubles as an herb garden. Not everything is about the outdoors: A deluxe homemade hot sauce kit is just $39.95.
• MakerShed.com: If your dad likes to make stuff, and that stuff involves science and electronics, this site might be of interest. From books about at-home science projects to high-end 3-D printers to open-source hardware kits that enable anyone to make electronics that can interact with the physical world, this is a fun site for dads who like to do projects — either by themselves or with their little minime’s and daughters.