June 8th, 2010 - Father's Day Memories

Everyone remembers some of the classic Father’s Day Gifts of their childhood, perhaps a bottle of Old Spice?  Or a handmade clay ashtray?

Here’s my story:

When my brothers and I were younger, we pitched in together to buy our Dad a new suit. I was a new salesman at British Importers, two brothers were at BCIT, and one brother was in about Grade 8, but I was able to get us the suit the way we wanted it, and we figured out how to finance the purchase.

The style we chose, and the cloth were things of beauty: a three piece, quarter-milled flannel suit by Progress Brand (now, sadly, out of business), in striking navy blue with a bold chalk stripe. A single breasted, side vent jacket with a 5 button, two pocket vest, and plain front pants. I tell you, it was fantastic. I think it cost $750 or $800 back in the early 1980's. Whatever, it was a lot of money for young guys to shell out for a gift.

So, shivering with excitement, we gave it to our esteemed Father, and he was somewhere between over- and under-whelmed. He liked the suit well enough; we couldn't figure it out.

As it turned out, the suit was too nice and he felt he had to keep for 'good'. He also felt his co-workers would think he was a bit too-, I don't know, fancy-pants for them, so he wouldn't wear it to work, which was the whole idea. In the end, I don't think he wore it twice. It sat, forlorn and unworn, in his closet until it shrank too much for him to ever fit into it again.

After that, we stuck to ties.

We looking for your Classic Father’s Day Gift Memories. Got a funny story? Got a sure fire gift for good Ol' Dad? For the dads out there, are you receiving something we should know about?  Visit our Facebook page by clicking here and share your story.