Crafting for dudes

The Downtown Spokane Partnership sent out its newsletter today with a suggestion in there to businesses and individuals to start thinking about how to celebrate Father’s Day. Sure, we’re still a few months away, but this year marks the 100th anniversary of Father’s Day and, as you probably know, it was a Spokane resident (Sonora Smart Dodd) who invented it.

So it’s kind of a big deal around here.

The DSP offered these ideas to its members:

-Wear roses. Dodd set the tradition of wearing a red rose to honor a living father and a white rose to honor a deceased one. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m all over the rose-wearing thing .

-Decorate business windows with images of fathers and children. (Can I donate my husband and children to the cause, put them in a window for a week, and take off for Florida?)

-Decorate with early 1900s costumes, fashions, cars and antiques.

-Promote Dodd’s belief in buying fathers gifts to honor them.

-And so on.

The mention of Father’s Day in the newsletter got me thinking about gifts for men in general. My husband’s birthday is Thursday, and while I usually like to give my loved ones at least one handmade gift on special days, I hardly ever make anything for him. He’s just not the coffee cozy-carrying kind of guy. He likes techie stuff, but has never expressed an interest in me making him a quilted laptop sleeve with his phone number embroidered in it like I made for myself.

I know guys who sew. I wrote about it for the S-R once . It’s just that my guy doesn’t sew.

So that sent me Googling for tutorials for men. Here are some projects I found that my husband might like to receive.

Make a …

- men’s fleece hoodie

- necktie

- camera strap

- Thermos-style carafe

- notebook-style reusable lunch bag

- vintage hotel-number keyrings

- sleek dining room table

- mounted deer head made from foam core

- macho coffee cozy (maybe he’d be OK with that one)

What ideas do you have for handmade gifts for men, whether your dude has a birthday coming up or you’re planning for Father’s Day with the rest of downtown Spokane?

P.S. I just asked my husband what ideas he had for handmade gifts he’d like.

His response: A big-screen TV.

Help. Please.