Hobbies

[tarotgal]

I could use some advice.

My father is retiring in a few years and he went to a workshop recently where he learned how important it is to have a hobby. Only he can't think of anything he wants to do. We've been teasing him about it constantly. So for Christmas I thought I might put together a small sample/variety kit. Only he's VERY difficult to please. He never likes things we buy him (he made us return the massaging and heating chair-topper than we bought him last year- who turns that sort of thing down?!!). I've been going through lists and I think I might buy a cheap hobby book.

Anyway... I have a few ideas of what to put in the kit (model cars/airplanes are a no-no!) but I was wondering if anyone had any favorite hobbies? Any hobbies your fathers like? Any hobbies you think a former hippie and federal statistician who spends his free times fixing the house and hates everything we give him might like?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I don't really have any interesting suggestions. My Dad does puzzles, and my father in law tries(not necessarily successfully) to fix things around the house. My husband is a video game kind of guy or is doing something with the kids. We had a big remote control Christmas here two years ago..... but I'm digressing.
I did find an intersting web site while poking around that might give you some ideas - http://www.findmeahobby.com/

Good luck, my father is impossible to buy for.

Tina

[tarotgal]

Great website! Thank you!

My mother and I do puzzles (though not often, because of the cats who love to play with the pieces while we're working on them). Good on your dad! Puzzles are a dying hobby, I think, but I still love them.

Remote control Christmas? What's that? *is curious* I've never heard the term.

Thanks for the help :-)

[(Anonymous)]

Nothing exciting, everyone here(except me) got remote control cars for Christmas, my husband's (of course) being the biggest, a truck, but we had the Barbie RC car, a truck for my son, and they all had little mini ones too. It was all anyone did around here for a month or so.

Tina

[(Anonymous)]

Wait the second I posted I did have one thought - would he be interested in something like photography?

Tina

[tarotgal]

Good thought! :-)

He used to (before I was born) do photography. I believe they even had a makeshift darkroom at one point. He also did pottery- had his stuff displayed in a cultural center once during a festival, I believe (I've seen the slides of his pieces displayed, and he has a few around the house still). If a potter's wheel wasn't so expensive, I'd totally buy him one of those. I'm thinking of buying him a small photo album for the hobby kit to symbolize photography. That way he can always use it for something else anyway (being practical).

[(Anonymous)]

Gift certificates are painless...however they're a bit impersonal. Um.. my Dad reads a lot. Maybe throw in some books? Of course I could never pick out a book my Dad would read, but that's just me. He recommends excellent books though.

Good luck!

~A

[tarotgal]

Gift Certificates- absolutely. That's usually what we end up getting him... after he returns the gifts we get him, that is. LOL

Reading. Excellent suggestion! He does read a lot- usually reads a chapter or two of something before bed (he liked mystey-crime novels but I could never figure out which he HAS read and which he HASN'T). But I took your advice and stopped by the library on the way home today and bought a few books for him:
-one on fishing in our state
-one Hardback copy of the NEW Way Things Work (because it's entertaining and because, hey, if he wants to start fixing things as a hobby, that'll be useful, too)
-one copy of Angela's Ashes which I don't think he's ever read but should because he's getting into his whole Irish herritage thing now
I think I'll print out some labels for him, too, to encourage him to try BookCrossing as a hobby. He goes on so many trips that I think that would be fun for him, leaving books all over the world!

[(Anonymous)]

Glad I could be of some help!
Good luck!

~A

[(Anonymous)]

One word - Sudoku! Seriously. :-D

[tarotgal]

Seriously, anonymous person!

I am a Sudoku NUT! Man... I need a Sudoku user icon, now that I think about it. LOL

I do the puzzle in the paper every day (in pen) and I even have a book of puzzles for when I feel like doing five or six at a time. My dad bought me the book on our trip to Iowas together, incidentally.
I got half my relatives hooked on it, and I had to make and print out blank grids so my mother could also do the daily puzzles.

Mom and I have TRIED to get my dad into it, too. He's done ONE puzzle. He didn't mind it, but wasn't as hooked everyone usually is after doing one. I'm *totally* still hopeful that he'll pick it up again. Because it's so perfect for him!! That's an EXCELLENT suggestion. I'll print a few puzzles out and put those in the kit for sure. Thanks!!

[ladykorana.livejournal.com]

I spent half my Thanksgiving vacation playing Sudoku! It's fiendishly addictive, and I always seem to get to a point where I get suck and have to finally make a guess and see where it leads (I put a little mark in each of the squares after the guess, so that if I'm wrong I know which ones to erase.) My dad is retired as well, and has very few hobbies, so that's what he spends a ton of time doing.

[ladykorana.livejournal.com]

Oops, 'stuck' not 'suck'...for once I'd like to make a LJ post without some embarassing typo in it.

[symphonyflute.livejournal.com]

my grandpa does carpentry as hobby. You know, like making chairs and stuff out of wood. He has a whole workshop in the basement.

[tarotgal]

::icon love::

Awww, how neat is that?! Wow. At our new house my father will have his own permanent workbench in the storage room. So that's a nice suggestion. Thank you!