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Last minute Father's Day gift ideas and children's activities

Father's Day is here, the one day a year when we celebrate the fathers in our lives! With little ones, you may be trying to think of a way to help your kids show their dad how much they love and care about him. Here are some fun, last minute ways in which you can help your kids celebrate Father's Day!

Make a scrapbook

Set aside some pictures that your child can look through for his Father's Day scrapbook. You can use a photo album or staple construction paper together to form a scrapbook. Pull out the glue sticks, glitter, scissors, and crayons and get to work. Let your child cut out fun shapes to put on the pages. You may consider adding fun stickers based on the hobbies in her father's (or grandfather's) life - whether it be golfing, fishing, sports, hunting, you name it!  Provide washable crayons and markers to your child to write messages or draw pictures in the scrapbook. A child's drawings and messages will mean the world to her dad!  Wrap it up in a box with wrapping paper or place in a masculine colored gift bag with matching tissue paper.

Cook up breakfast

Who doesn't love a homemade breakfast?  Father's Day is the perfect opportunity for your child to come up with a breakfast for their dad or granddad. Depending on their age and skill level, they can make pancakes, eggs, or French toast. For younger children, it may be easier to have them prepare a special bowl of cereal and some toast and jam. Have your child invite their daddy to breakfast at the dining room table or help him take breakfast to dad in bed.

Make a Father's Day dinner

What is his favorite meal?  Invite your child to go grocery shopping for the ingredients for his special dinner. When you prepare the meal, invite your child to help. It's fun for kids to help out in the kitchen and it will be even more special if dad knows that his little guy helped prepare it for him!  Always supervise around fire, hot, or sharp objects. You can celebrate the Father's Day Dinner with dad alone or invite family and other dads over for the special occasion.

Bake a Father's Day Cake

My family loves cake, so we have a tendency to make cakes around special occasions like Father's Day.  You can have your child help break eggs, add water, or mix the cake batter. Depending on the child's age and skill level, you may want to pour the batter into the cake pans yourself. You can invite your child to help frost the cake or decorate it with sprinkles when it's cooled off. Present the cake to dad after dinner and enjoy!

Shannon Steen-Larsen is the author of The Mommy-Files, a blog where she talks about motherhood, recipes and cooking, travel, product reviews, and giveaways. Shannon is a busy mommy of tjree boys living in California and experiencing the many joys and challenges of motherhood.

My last Mother's Day in limbo

For the past decade or so, my cousins, aunts, and I have gotten together for our annual Dead Mothers Club (DMC) dinner on Mother's Day.  When my mom was still alive, we would drive  to the designated restaurant together and talk endlessly about my two grandmothers, both of whom passed away when I was in college, and how much we missed them.

In the early years of the DMC, before I was formally initiated, I would look around the table at my family and wonder how these women, including my own mom, could laugh so much when someone so important was missing in their lives.

I remember at one point asking my cousin Judy how she felt, and she explained that Mother's Day was also a day to celebrate being a mom.

My mom's been gone for nearly five years and I "talk" to her all the time, but holidays definitely make me take a step back and think about all the events that have happened over the past few years and how I hope that somehow she knows what's been going on.  It's amazing, but as they say, the world does keep on turning.

In honor of Mother's Day, here are a few things I wish my mom knew...

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Mom,

Remember the guy I introduced you to a few weeks before you died?  You leaned over to me and whispered, “He’s adorable.”  We got married on what would have been your and dad’s thirty-third wedding anniversary.

The Red Sox won the World Series, twice.  My husband Charlie is a Yankees fan.

I sold our family home and bought a new place that I absolutely love.  We have a tiny yard, planted rhododendrons and hydrangeas, and even have a white picket fence.

Charlie and I lived together before we got married and we survived despite your dire warnings of living in sin.

Your wedding dress fit me after adding about six inches of lace at the bottom and my own loss of 15 pounds.  I promptly gained back 20 in the three months after the big day.

Martin Scorsese filmed a movie right down the street from your old office in Downtown Boston. It won the Oscar and you would love it.

I’ve had four jobs in the five years since you died, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.

 “Me Too” is my new favorite brand of shoes – comfy, cute, and they fit my big feet.  I think of you every time I find a new pair that fits and then I buy them.  Just like dad, Charlie doesn’t quite understand (yet).

I still only know how to cook one dish, a tofu stir-fry.  I miss your stuffed peppers, salmon on the grill, avocado salads, turkey burgers, fruit salad, tuna fish, and a full cookie jar.  Auntie Elise threw me a “Recipe Shower” but I still haven’t tried any of the recipes.  I could use your help.

We're going to have a baby girl in September and we've already picked out her name.

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I'm already looking forward to Mother's Day next year.