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What's on your Christmas lists, dads of Tildes?
It's that magical time of year where I'm being badgered for a Christmas list. I'm 44, have 3 middle teens and a 3 year old (he's late to the party). I have everything I need, but I get asked anyway. I don't want just socks and random tops that I'm not a fan of this year, so I need ideas.
Hobby wise, I'm in IT so tech is already done and not something I can ask for. Asking for a 9" grinder so I can remove some posts next year seems a bit non-chrismassy, or is it because it's something I need and will use?
HELP!
20 minutes of uninterrupted silence.
So, huh, you know... Santa isn't real :/
What about Hershel, fighter of the Hanukkah goblins? He's real, right?
He even fights David Bowie at the end.
Or a day of not having to do any dishes*! That'd be the best gift this dad could ask for.
*The usual method of "leaving the dishes for me to do the following day" doesn't count.
There's no way I'm letting any other member of this household load the dishwasher. I want it to work and clean stuff, if they load it then this does NOT happen.
Ok, I'm not alone in this. My wife can load it without breaking it, thankfully, but I prefer she just dump everything in or next to the sink (seriously people, don't put glass and sharp knives in sinks).
I can get an entire day's dishes in one load, most other people can't who have tried.
It's not that hard: Follow the rules (all small cups on one side), but then know when to break them (squeeze small cups between other things).
Currently on vacation in Australia visiting family for a month (unlimited PTO at my company so I'm testing it). My wife and SIL took the kids to the park and I'm sitting out on a shaded deck, while drinking coffee I didn't need to find cold in the microwave multiple times and for the first time in a very long time finished a video game on my steamdeck. No Xmas present will top that.
If we are making ridiculous wishes, why not go for a full day?
In this vein, when you have what you need, focus on experiences. Gift cards to things you like to do , staycation ideas, day spas, etc. Coupons for a dads night where everyone takes care of you. Effectively… 20+ minutes of silence somewhere else.
My parents had a rule that the only gifts my brother & I could give them were things we made, we weren't allowed to buy gifts for them (and gifts from us to our parents were always optional). I made things from drawings to fabric flower arrangements to painted ornaments to origami to puzzle hunts (the last one being more of an obligation than a gift, considering they had to then do the puzzle hunts...)
Dunno if your teens are the type to enjoy this but that's what I'd recommend!
I'm only a dog/cat dad but I also work in IT! I also need to ask, is your username an homage to phone phreaks?!
Anyways, my wife and I are skipping big gifts this year so we can work on house projects so we settled on stocking stuffers. Here is my list of things I would be stoked to get. In no particular order-
I've nicked a couple of these. Thanks you.
As for the name, no, that came with the change from arckane (arcane, taken from a song by Therapy?) which was my first handle back in the early 90s. I needed something that represented me but also my online nature. It seemed to fit.
Your comment is the first I've heard of silicone wedding bands. May I ask for what reasons are you inclined towards that versus a metal ring or band?
I have a metal ring, but also a cheap set of silicone rings. Good for travelling, exercising, physical labor, etc. Any situation I'd be worried about losing or damaging the ring.
I think most people would just take the ring off in those situations, but I like having the silicone one to still wear something.
I wear my metal ring no matter what. I had it on me al the time when we were building our house. It has marks of wear (this is heavy understatement) but I like that it lives the life with me.
That's okay, and pretty sweet, but just think of it like having fancy dress clothes and coveralls. They're for different occasions...
Also, nice to have something that won't deglove you when working on heavier machinery.
Not disputing, just adding my 2c worth.
My fairly robust metal wedding ring saved my hand/fingers from being slammed in a car door.
Ended up with a little bruising rather than mincemeat.
So I'm pro-metal wedding ring precisely because it acted as a safety device.
I was in that same boat until I accidentally shorted a car battery to ground via my wedding ring. That was close enough that now I have a silicone one I wear while working on things.
Yeah, I forgot to mention that I take it off when working inside computer case or on some electronics projects. But cutting wood with saw? Count me in. Digging hole with shovel? No problem. Painting rooms? Perfect. I even have it when doing stuff on motorbike.
I've seen too many videos (one video, that was enough videos) of degloving to wear my ring while doing certain sports.
Lets put it this way. If a heavy enough object were to drop on your hand, there's a decent chance a metal ring escalates things from "broken bones" to "severed finger". Imagine you have a sponge with a nail through it loosly into a board. Then slam the nail with a hammer.
Live your life, but those aren't dice I'll roll.
I have one I use when I’m biking or doing anything where injuring a finger is more likely. It’s much easier to cut through a silicone band than get a metal ring off a severely swollen finger.
Oh I have a nice rose gold wedding band. It has a lot of patina and wear from running, working out, yard work and travel. I want one as nice alternative to wear to keep my OG band is decent condition. I started doing more "woodworking" and I still have horror stories about my dad getting de-gloved when working with his table saw. So I figured it be a nice want and not a need. Hope this helps!
Been wearing silicone wedding bands for a couple years now. Originally had a tungsten one. Had some allergic reaction one night and woke up with very puffed up hands, ring was completely stuck on my finger (none of the normal tricks like floss worked). 3am visit to the ER, $2,000 for them to cut if off with a $20 tool off Amazon. Never going back to a rigid wedding band.
Very common in industrial workplaces, where you have various types of machinery that could catch on a ring, or where a ring could amplify any injuries. Better to have the ring rip off than your finger.
A friend of mine actually went a step further and got a wedding band tattoo instead of a ring, for similar reasons I suspect -- safety, cheap, novelty.
Get an Ember Smart cup. With that many kids I don't doubt you've had some cold coffee in recent times.
Never again I say!
It's just slightly too expensive to justify buying it yourself, but it's just the right amount for a (pooled) gift and is something actually useful.
I wasn't sure how much I was going to use mine. Turns out it's every day.
I bought one of these for my wife and she LOVES it. I was also surprised how well it works. They're legit.
Huh, up until this exact moment I thought there was nothing on my Christmas list.
edit: couldn't wait, bought one immediately and it is great.
Added and also a cheaper variant added, since it's like £120+ in the UK.
Yeah it's pricey..
I personally prefer one long term, quality gift over a ton of different consumables and this really is a gift you can use for a while.
I find myself in a difficult position every holiday season and try to keep a list, but inevitably I end up buying whatever I want / need.
That last link has a little glitch
Thanks, fixed!
I have an unrealistic list and a realistic list.
The unrealistic list is a list of things I would never expect anyone to buy for me and would probably shudder if anyone did:
Vinyl Cape Jawa
NES Box
Double Eclipse LP by Hardline
PSVR2
Realistic:
Good running socks
Running shorts
multimeter
Magnifying lamp
green coffee beans
40 volt chainsaw? Is that realistic? No, probably not. I'll buy it myself.
I'd settle for free time to visit my kid at college.
LEGO Rivendell ($500 USD) Have them pool their money towards it for successive holidays and birthdays or give LEGO gift cards.
6167 pieces =0
I received the Ultimate Millennium Falcon 75192 ($800 uSD at the time) a few years ago. It is amazing. After deciding I could not realistically keep it anywhere assembled (it takes up most of the dining room table), I took the time to de-assemble it by working the instructions backward and putting the parts back into numbered bags. I'd say that was almost as much fun / satisfaction as the assembly. It's probably about time to build it again.
I know a friend who was in the same situation, possibly with the same Millennium Falcon! Their solution was a custom made coffee table with a Perspex top and a sunken table underneath, with the Millennium Falcon always on display and always safe from being bumped or touched or broken.
We have Lego sets all over the house because my kid got into building when she was around 10 and I pulled out my old 1970s Universal Building Sets. This led me to buying Lego at yard sales and stockpiling pieces. 20 or so odd tubs-full later and the kid at college I'm trying to decide what to do with all of the sets displayed. She built the Saturn V and it was knocked off the shelf. That was 5 years ago and I am going to rebuild this winter, I think. We have a table devoted to Hogwart's Castle and a shelf for London Bridge. I was given the Death Star 10 years ago and the Atari 2600 last year but we really have no room so they're still sealed. If you're going down this hole be sure you have room to devote.
For sure. We’ve got Lego spilling out all over the house and our offices now. It’s hard to stop once you get started!
I want the Kwik-E-Mart
About the same price. eBay Search
I was lazy and just grabbed a bunch of things I wanted off coffee geeks’ end of year list(a):
https://www.coffeegeek.com/new-products/best-coffee-gifts-under-100-holiday-2023/
There’s several others for different price ranges, focusing on espresso, etc.
Dad needs coffee when this lil dude wakes up at 5am
My list for myself this year:
Not a very amazing list. Mostly I want close family to not buy any items and instead buy tickets for days at the zoo or the kids adventure zone thing and take the kids for the morning. A day with grandma at the zoo is way more important than the 16th doll for the dollhouse.
Unsolicited recommendation: I had weather tech mats in a previous vehicle and they never fit very snug. I bought some 3D maxpider ones for a different car, and they fit so much better. Bought them for our new vehicle and I'm still impressed.
I've used the weather tech ones in multiple vehicles and never had any issues, but will absolutely keep this in mind for the future if I have any issues. Thanks for the alternative option! It's not something that I have spent a lot of time researching.
I would recommend EVA car mats (idk if its a brand, maybe a style?), I had them cut locally to fit my car. It is extremely functional, you rarely have to clean them and they're very easy to clean.
What is your use case? Also, Is the yubikey superior to a 2FA on your phone (not a text message, but rather the code generator).
I wanted to get a yubikey bc I thought it would allow me to bypass typing my long master password to my manager, but it turns out I can’t use it for that purpose.
I like the yubikey authenticator. Rather than installing the authenticator on my phone, I have the yubi authenticator that just reads the codes from the key. This might sound pedantic, but it allows me to use the authenticator in places that I can't use my phone or allows me to keep my work and personal stuff separate.
It also has some key storage functionality so I can use it as a requirement to ssh into my servers, but that is a less common use case.
But really I just want to be ready for when other services allow for hardware authentication. I don't have a real practical use case that can't be done in other ways. That is why it is a Christmas gift idea rather than something I have pulled the trigger on already.
unfortunately just cash to get me out of inflation and medical debts :/ not very exciting this year...
I have maintained for years that we should do Christmas on the 30th December, and all presents have to be bought in the sales.
No one else I know or in my house wants to join in with this but it would save us so much money.
I would like to have a month without any social commitment. Basically 30 days in which I time travel to the pandemic (minus the people dying).
Also, a new CPU for my computer. My AMD processor is severely outdated.
But chiefly, I am in serious need of a very long stretch of alone time. Or, if that's not possible, just myself, wife, and kids.
I really want a nice safety razor but I can’t decide between the Henson or Rockwell 6s, or another brand.
I can vouch for the Leaf Thorn but then I do like a single edge razor. It is one of the best safety razors I've used and I have a drawer full of the things collected over the years. The Twig is a bit less aggressive but they're both super smooth to use.
Thanks for this suggestion! Definitely a solid contender I hadn't heard of before. Although I'm more interested in a double edge razor. I have a single edge supply razor that I rarely use as I like the standard style platinum Gillette minora blades, I get the least amount of irritation from those.
I ended up just pulling the trigger on a vintage red tip Gillette from eBay this morning, price was right and it's a definite step up from the cheapo safety razor I'm using right now.
The nice thing about the leaf razors is they use standard DE blades which snap in half remarkably easily and consistently. I don't think I've ever not had one break right and I must have used a couple of hundred by now. Astra blades for me, but on occasion I will use a Feather instead.
I like a safety razor but with a DE I was never sure if I'd used both sides of the blade equally..
Oh true that makes more sense now. The supply needs injection razors and there's not nearly as many options. I know what you mean about using both sides equally, I've recently started to shave my face in halves with each side as a result.
Do you have any favorite soap brands? I've only gotten one from PAA and two from Mikes Natural Soaps that I'm slowly working through. Stirling seems like the best bang for the buck.
Honestly, and I know this would get me killed in /r/wickededge, I use King of Shaves or Bulldog gel-in-a-tube from the supermarket. Both are decently slick and nice to my skin and it's genuinely better than most soaps I've tried, with a lot less trouble to prepare. I used to use Taylor's creams but haven't had any around for a while now.
Admittedly I live in an area where the water is so hard it's essentially just damp gravel coming out of the taps, so building any kind of lather is a lot of effort and most of the time I just want to be slightly less hairy.
Lol it's all good man! I have hard water too but I find my lather issues mostly come from either too much or too little water in my brush. When I nail it the lather is wonderful. I wonder how much of that issue is from my hard water now that you mention it. I just love the scents and using the brush though. I love the old-timey ritual.
I went to Wegmans recently and noticed they have a slightly larger shave selection than my usual grocery store and purchased this $1.50 Gillette after shave lotion that feels and smells really good. So definitely not opposed to supermarket shave finds, I'll gladly take budget recs.
I've used a Rockwell 6S for almost 5 years now and love it. The adjustable plates are great and make it more compatible with varying blades if you switch between them. I haven't seen a reason to buy a replacement so this thing is probably my razor for life. That being said, I haven't tried the other one you mention so I can't compare them.
Yeah the Rockwell would be ideal, it looks timeless and just high quality. The Henson is cheaper, and their marketing budget must be huge because every other ad I get on Instagram is one for their razor and I acknowledge that it seems to be working.
Not a father, but I am someone who does struggle with figuring out gift ideas, and do not want a lot of stuff. I normally ask for quality upgrades of frequently used items that I already have. An example is last year switching over all my cotton socks to Darn Tough wool socks, which I would not have personally paid for but I do enjoy the quality upgrade
I'd like a new job. I'm kind of in limbo after a big international move while some paperwork finishes processing. It's been an interesting few months being a househusband.
More practically:
There's other stuff that'd be nice to have and we're realizing we probably should have shipped over with us. I usually want to get more books to add to my collection, but my wife had me agree to not buy more physical books until I finish the ones I have. There's a lot of cool games and things I think would be fun but I've come to realize I just don't have much time for that stuff and already have enough to last me for a long time.
I joked with my wife that by the time we get to "have more time to do things" with our kids being a bit older and playing with each other, we'll have another one on the way and be in the same boat.
I hope you all have a merry Christmas!
I usually ask for parts for an upcoming project so the barrier to starting is super low. I would probably buy them on my own, but that's not as fun.
I am younger, no kids, and similarly feel like I have all I need.
So a few years ago I started asking people to donate to organizations that I pick each year and/or I ask them to donate to organizations that will give me something for the donation. The latter option is helpful for those people who refuse to not give you a physical thing.
Actually, I can play but I just don't get time anymore. I have a nice Yamaha acoustic hanging on the wall. I've put a classical guitar on the list too, just because I miss picking at a classical occasionally.
I'm not overly good though.