Fathers’ Day has its origins in the United States. There are two versions of the first Fathers’ Day.
According to some accounts, the first Father’s Day was celebrated in Washington state on June 19, 1910 after a lady called Sonora Smart Dodd came up with the idea of honouring and celebrating her Civil War veteran widowed father while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at church in 1909. He brought up six children by himself on their small farm in Washington. Sonora initially suggested June 5th, the anniversary of her father’s death to be the designated day to celebrate Father’s Day, but the celebration in Spokane, Washington was deferred to the third Sunday in June.
The other has it that the first Fathers’ Day was celebrated in Fairmont, West Virginia on July 5, 1908 when Grace Golden Clayton suggested to the Methodist minister that services be held to celebrate fathers after a deadly mine explosion killed 361 men.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recommended that Father’s Day become a national holiday. But it wasn’t until 1966 that Lyndon B. Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as the official day to celebrate Father’s Day. It took another six years until Father’s Day was officially recognized as a national holiday in the US.
More recently other countries have followed suit and the third Sunday in June has been designated as Father’s Day in the UK and many other countries around the world.
Now you know a little of the origins of Father’s Day, here are a few ideas to help you give the dad in your life a bit of treat this coming Sunday.
Not on the High Street has plenty of ideas including loads of things for those on a budget.
The website Menkind has some unusual and classic gifts that your Dad might actually like.
The Independent has also published a list of fashionable gifts that are sure to go down well.
Books can also go down well. For the history buff the Top 10 has some interesting stuff including Arnhem by Anthony Beevor and Spitfire by Tom Holland. For the fiction lover there is Anthony Horowitz’ latest James Bond outing Forever and a Day, or Stephen King’s The Outsider.
And for the father who is relocating, why not have a look at one of our show homes and then take him out for a pub lunch?
Whatever you do have a great day! Happy Father’s Day from the team at Allison Homes.
