The only Father's Day gift I can recall my own dad getting was a plate of fried sardines. It was prepared by my mother, his ex-wife, who knew how gratefully he'd receive a dish he grew up with in the Italian neighborhood of a steel town dying with such theatrical flair that Bruce Springsteen named an acoustic song after it. We lived in a nearby city that had plenty of red-sauce restaurants, but they weren't serving tinned fish in those days. As my father had only the most limited of food preparation skills and didn't date the kind of women who could cook, this was the only way he'd ever taste that flavor again.
Playing catch is one of those classic activities dads and kids love to do. Over time, I've found, it transitions from the kid asking to toss the Frisbee around to the adult asking. Yes, the Aerobie is still the best flying disc you can buy, but the real reason to gift it is as an excuse to toss it around and talk.
Bocce is the best backyard game - it's great for people of all ages and has no learning curve, though it's possible to get better with practice. I hoard bocce sets from thrift stores and have owned like four; the best set is one like this from St. Pierre, which is made in America and is the brand they use in tournament play.
Jacobsen Sea Salt is hand-harvested on the Oregon coast, where the waters of Netarts Bay impart a lot more character than most of what you buy at the grocery store. The Grilling Trio has three variants blended with herbs to create flavor profiles that complement Dad's dishes. My favorite is the steak blend, which includes dried garlic, coriander seed, fennel seed, and a half-dozen other classic herbs.
Oyster has made the prettiest coolers on the market since the Norwegian brand's debut in 2023. These aluminum ice boxes are double-walled for vacuum insulation, as you find on a travel coffee mug. The new Tempo Pro adds a small digital thermometer that tracks the temp inside without spoiling its clean lines.
I wear an Apple Watch Ultra most days, but nothing annoys me more than needing to keep it charged during vacations and weekends. That's where this very cool watch from Vero comes in. It's a collab with Realtree, the Gucci of camo, and will track the tides for 14 days while being waterproof to almost 400 feet. Even - perhaps especially - if your dad has a smart watch or a luxury watch, this is a great gift that will serve him well in the outdoors and especially near the ocean.
I have been slathering myself in sunscreen - most dads I know do this too - which is why I've quickly become addicted to sun hoodies. I've amassed a half-dozen of them to wear when taking my daughter to the beach or pool, or when going for a hike. The best I've used so far is the Sunguard line from EMS, which offers 50 SPF protection in a polyester-elastane blend that's thin, soft, and breathable. It dries ultra-fast, and the hood will cover as much of your face as you need to without being cumbersome when not in use.
There are dozens of OBD2 scanners out there, and I've owned three or four different ones. The BlueDriver stands out for having lots of powerful features without requiring a subscription or credits to unlock its functions. This device connects to your car's port and pairs to a phone app via Bluetooth so you can read, and in many cases clear, trouble codes. It plays pretty well with my VW, though it's not a full VCDS system.
Decked makes the sturdiest of the many car storage systems I've used over the years, and what the medium-sized Halfrack lacks in size it more than makes up for in sheer toughness. It's gasketed so it doesn't leak, and not only can you stand on it, but supposedly drive a truck over it without it cracking (I have not driven my truck over it). It has a locking lid that can be opened with one hand and a convenient carry handle that folds down flush when not in use. This is the gateway to a full system of boxes and drawers, so if your dad likes it, you have gift ideas for years to come.