by Kristie Janeway Jernigan BS MHA

Created on: June 03, 2009

Father's Day was first celebrated in the early 1900's as a response to Mothers Day. It was founded to commemorate fathers by providing a special recognition day of their very own. Father's Day is celebrated all over the world. This year it will fall on June 21, 2009 in the United States. Over the years Fathers Day has grown to be a real money maker for many retail stores. However, you do not need to spend money just to remember and commemorate your father. There are many ways that a son or daughter can celebrate the day even if you do not live nearby or your father has passed away.

One of the most common and popular ways to remember your father is to send a greeting card. This is something that has made a fortune for the greeting card industry. Although, purchasing a card is not the only way to send a greeting card. Hand making a card can be a wonderful way to verbalize your true feelings about your father. Showing your own art or a special poem can be a particularly special way to pay a tribute to your father and many fathers find this particularly touching. Also, with today's technological advances e-cards are becoming very popular. This allows the sender to be able to pay a tribute from longer distances without the need of depending on the postal mail. E-cards can also be specialized for the particular person it is intended for.

If you live near your father one easy and rather inexpensive way to celebrate Father's Day is to spend some special time with him. This is a wonderful way to show your father that you love him. Many fathers miss spending time with their adult and underage children and actually look forward to spending time with them. This is a solution that works for everyone and is especially beneficial for father's that live away from their children and do not get to visit with them frequently.

Another way to remember your father is to do something that he enjoys or enjoyed doing. There are many things that fathers like to do and can range from golfing to going to a movie. If your father is deceased then doing the activity that he enjoyed the most is a great way to pay tribute to him. You can even make it a family event so that all of the children or grandchildren can participate.

Celebrating a father that has already passed on is difficult for many children. Many times taking a memorial to his grave or to a special place that he enjoyed is helpful to children. You can even donate or volunteer for a particular charity that he enjoyed. This is a wonderful way to pay forward all of the special things that your father did for you. It also provides the ones left behind with a special way of filling the void for the paternal loss and allows them to feel closer to their father.

However you choose to remember your father on Father's Day you should keep in mind one thing. It is not about how much money you spend but the quality of time that you and your father share together that make the biggest, most remembered impact on our lives. Father's Day should not be about showering your father with gifts but about paying a special tribute to your father in whatever way he will or would have enjoyed.

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