His birthday is the 22nd. Per HIS request, we're going to a beautiful scenic place to walk around, have lunch, enjoy the area....then going to an indoor shooting range to shoot a fully automatic machine gun (LOL). He's in touch with the finer things, but still a guy. I set up the babysitter and lunch reservations, printed off directions to the shooting range.
For Christmas: more of his cologne that will be completely out probably this week (like just a few drops left in the bottle)...an MP3...the DVDs for seasons 1-3 of Breaking Bad (his favorite show)...an ornament...and a beach cruiser (bike) that I found at a great deal on Craigslist. He wants to take family bike rides and get a little exercise but enjoy nature. My 5 year old made him a butterfly house for his garden since he's an avid gardener (a free kit from Home Depot on their monthly build and grow program), and then we painted and decorated it together. My 2 year old made a handprint Santa claus ornament (thumb is the hat, 4 fingers are the beard, and after baking it I painted it).
Family gifts that I got with him in mind ALSO: a tent he helped me pick out, a new sleeping bag, and an airbed (I'm happy on an egg crate, but he wants an airbed when camping b/c it's easier on his back).
Other things that I had "out there" as possibilities (but just ran out of room in the budget): a nice watch because he wears a suit to work everyday and would like one...GOOD binoculars for bird watching and playing with in the nature preserve because he's expressed an interest in it...hmm. I can't remember what else. I think that was about all. My husband, like some others suggested, LOVES events. Concerts, shows, sports, whatever...he likes to "go and do" so those gifts are always good with him.
The best gift I ever gave him, HE says: I made a father's day photo book. I made the book about HIM. My oldest at that time was learning his alphabet and everything, all the time, was ABC this and that. So, I made a book that I titled "The ABC's of Dad: Father's Day 2010". The cover was 6 great photos of him doing different things. We made the book about things he's done as a father. A is for the Admire (a picture of him and our newborn infant staring at each other), Love that is Absolute (a picture of the 2 of us on a special trip), Travels Abroad (a photo of us at Windsor Palace), and the Dallas Aquarium (a neat photo of him and our 3 year old staring watching sharks)...B is for (etc, etc). It took some time! I had to break out the dictionary for some hard ones (Q and X were tricky...I had a picture of "little Quackers" (him laying on his belly feeding some tiny baby ducks) and just a photo of him under a waterfall that I said "Quality man"....and X was Xeric (I found that in the dictionary: desert like conditions---we had a road trip and saw Monument Valley and got married in the Grand Canyon so we had some neat shots I used for that one word)....everything was was pretty doable. The very first page of the book was a little note about the book, why it was conceived, what it was about, followed by an interview I conducted with our 3 year old over the course of a few days. I typed it exactly as his answers were (HID a video camera so I could record his voice without him knowing, so I could replay and type it correctly). He says that was the best gift ever. And a nice toolbox for all his random bits and pieces.