Laura Newell: What would be the best Father’s Day gift of all

It’s the time of year when anyone wandering into a suburban shopping mall will see harried-looking mothers shepherding their progeny from store to store, with a sighed “well, he’s YOUR father, YOU need to decide what to get him” falling from their lips.

If you didn’t already have it tattooed on your forehead, yes, Father’s Day is coming up fast and with it the annual “gift guides”, myriad adverts for personalised mugs on social media and endless calls on the radio to “book your table now” for your local “well-priced” pub-grub meal on the big day itself — September 4..

Days of such celebrations are big business — just ask Hallmark — but in a change from tradition the tills don’t appear to be jingling quite as much this year.

While the early days of rising inflation may have been seen most acutely in the weekly food shop and at the petrol bowser, as time has marched on and every household bill has risen sharply, even pocket money is feeling the pinch of belt-tightening.

We know of several families who have had to slim down the “chore benefit” list, with pay for hoovering tumbling from an eye-watering $5 for 15 minutes to a bargain $2.50 in one household. Emptying the dishwasher, one 12-year-old told us this week, is now at a “barely worth it, but for the shouting” $1. Talk about disproportional devaluation of their hard work (or, as Mum puts it, “what they expect me to do for free as well as pay for their new clothes”).

That was all a great racket on behalf of Mum, according to Dad (and this coming from a man who cheerfully admits moths would fly out of his wallet if he opened it up and that he’d happily drive 20km for an extra 1c off petrol). But, he tells us quietly that he’s very concerned those pocket money savings will affect him disproportionately, with his “special day” around the corner and not “all the way away in May”.

Turns out the Australian Retail Association fears he is right to worry. We are set to spend “just” $735 million on our dads this year, down 7.7 per cent, according to a poll released this week by Roy Morgan.

More worryingly for our dads, the number of people planning on buying a gift at all plummeted by four percentage points, with just 36 per cent of people saying they’ll spoil their dad this year. Unsurprisingly, the most popular presents will be food, wine, spirits and confectionery.

But perhaps that’s where we’ve all been going wrong with this gift-giving business.

Now, call me old fashioned, but as a mum, my most treasured Mother’s Day gifts — the ones that remain on my bedside table long after the box of chocolates has been scarfed down — have been those made by my girl’s own hands.

So, kids of Perth, I say you’re right to steer clear of the piggy bank. Instead, pick up those pens and paper and get back to thanking Dad in a far more personal way, with something that truly comes from the heart.

Laura Newell