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To mark your special Dad's special day with as many family members who want to join in, we've found the brunch idea is the best. For many years, our routine on Father's Day was to meet at a local restaurant for dinner. I won't tell you how far back that goes, but I do recall it was not too many years ago when we gathered at the best place in town. We had great meals, including salad, soup, main dish and dessert, all for five bucks each. No more good old days.

Because of rising prices and noisy, crowded restaurants at Father's Day dinnertime, we now prefer to honor Dad with a lunch, or if we plan it a bit earlier in the day, we make it a brunch. If we go out for a Sunday brunch, it usually allows each of us to choose from both the breakfast and lunch menus. Additionally, the prices may be much lower for the early-in-the-day meals. For instance, we checked prices at a nearby favorite place for dinner, and the cost starts at $25 per person, but just for the main platter. Everything else is extra. At the same restaurant, for brunch or lunch, the price, even with more food selections, including a breakfast menu, starts at $10 for the basic platter.

Another suggestion, especially if you want to make the event a breakfast, brunch or lunch, is to gather at a buffet restaurant. The price may be higher than $10, especially on that Father's Day Sunday, but the buffet always includes everything, with dessert and soft drinks. A buffet can be more convenient, much more so if you take children, because there's no fussing while waiting for the waiter to take the order and the delays in bringing the food to the table. Buffet is much less formal and more convenient than regular restaurant service, and your family members can choose from a variety of foods, and go back for seconds or more.

The least expensive Father's Day brunch plan would be an in-home meal. Most simply organized, it would require the host family to honcho the event, first by sending out mail or email invitations to all anticipated guests. For less than $10 a person, you can present a spread of food that is every bit as varied and delicious as you'd get in a restaurant. Or for much more originally, assign each guest family to bring a specific home-made dish.

If the host family decides to buy all the ingredients and make the brunch from scratch, that will require planning, shopping and shared work assignments. An even simpler plan is to have the lunch catered, either by a professional service or by ordering the platters made up in advance by the local supermarket staff. We've had many family gatherings at our house that required very little preparation, except to pick up or get the pre-prepared platters delivered to our house from Costco or Safeway.

Plan your Father's Day brunch any way you choose, from going to a local restaurant, or by making everything from scratch, or by requiring guests to bring home-made platters or by having it all catered. Whatever you do, don't forget the big cake for dear old Dad that says in big letters, "Happy Father's Day".

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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