Why Don’t We Celebrate Dads as Much as Mums?

Father’s Day is the perfect opportunity to celebrate and show appreciation for the special dads in our lives. But, according to a recent survey from Create Gift Love – a handmade personalised gifting company, of over 1000 people buying gifts for Father’s Day, this isn’t always the case. Over a third of Brits spend more money on their mums for Mother’s Day than they typically do on their dads for Father’s Day.

Emily Carr (39) co-founder of Create Gift Love with husband Tony Carr (39) from Christchurch, Dorset said: ‘Although we have seen a rise in sales for Father’s Day, it’s still a long way behind sales for Mother’s Day, and we wanted to try and find out why.’

‘Traditional family dynamics are changing, it was the case for many that mums were the main caregivers while dads were the providers, this isn’t the case anymore, we’re much more fluid and more likely to see caregiving split between the parents, or see dads stepping into the role fully.’

According to Dr Anna Machin, author of The Life of Dad; The Making of a Modern Father, dads are special; ‘a unique parent who is vital to their children’s lives, whatever shape or size they may come in. And because of this it is crucial that we support him as we support mum. See him as a true co-parent, not the secondary one consigned to carrying the bags and making the tea, but someone who has an equal input into pregnancy, birth and beyond and is equally impacted by them.’

With this in mind, Create Gift Love wanted to show their support for our forgotten fathers and surveyed over 1000 dads to better understand what they really want for Father’s Day. When it came to gifts, 74% of dads surveyed said they’d prefer a personalised gift over a non-personalised gift, and when asked what would mean the most to them this Father’s Day, nearly half said they’d prefer to spend time with the family.

Carr goes on to say, ‘Perhaps the biggest surprise for us is that dads would choose a personalised gift (31%) over a practical gift (15%), we know that our personalised gifts, especially ones with photos in such as our photo keyrings do really well around Father’s Day but, before these survey results, we had no idea that dads preferred personalised gifts over practical gifts.’

‘In the last few years, there has been a strong drive to get men to open up and express their emotions, and I believe this is reflected in our survey results. Dads are preferring quality time with their families and sentimental or customised gifts over useful items or food and drink. We just need the rest of the world to catch up and recognise that dads are changing, they’re just as important as mums, they’re sentimental and family-orientated, and now our Father’s Day gifts can be just as thoughtful as Mother’s Day gifts.’