by Madison West

Created on: June 15, 2008

The first step in selecting a gift for the first-time father is to remember that any gift you come up with will pale in comparison to the precious gift of the newborn son or daughter that he has just received. So when you go shopping for Father's Day gifts, what you are really looking for is the second best gift you can give a first-time father.

If he doesn't already own one, or he has already worn out the one he does have, a DVD camcorder is a perfect gift for the new dad. So many wonderful milestones occur during an infant's first year of life, and beyond, and this is a great way to preserve those precious memories. With so many to choose from, in so many price ranges, you can most likely find one that works for both your budget and the dad's "camcorder using" abilities.

Tying with the DVD camcorder as the "second best" gift, would be a nice, uninterrupted nap.
Anyone with parenting experience knows how sleep-deprived you become between your child's arrival into this world and until they leave home, some 18 to 30 years later. If you have the time and ability to give the new father some time off from his new parental duties, he could use this time to catch up on sleep and/or get reacquainted with the first-time mother.

If neither of these gifts are a possibility, there are many other ways to commemorate a man's first Father's Day. A good thing to keep in mind is that it's not only the new mom that can experience "separation anxiety" when having to go to work and leave baby behind for the day. Daddies can suffer from the blues too and there are plenty of gifts that can help him make it through a day at the office. It's a pretty safe bet that Dad has already taken plenty of pictures of his newborn, so a picture frame for his office or cubicle at work is a great gift.

Besides having pictures of his son or daughter at work, there are other special items that can remind Daddy of his little one while he is away from home. Some fun gifts for the office are items that have been personalized with his baby's hand and footprints. If you aren't able to take the prints of the baby yourself, there are kits that can be purchased as gifts, and Dad can have fun making the prints himself. Another fun gift for Dad to enjoy at work would be a jar of personalized M&Ms or Skittles. You can order these online and personalize them with a message just for the new dad. And, if you are a Father's Day gift-giver who just can't resist shopping for a necktie, you can have one personalized with

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