The first Sunday of September – this year on September 4 – is Father’s Day.

The first Sunday of September – this year on September 4 – is Father’s Day. It is a day to celebrate and honour fathers, fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society.

Do take the time to find a way to spend time with the father in your life on this very special day.

Our clever friends at www.simplesavings.com.au are a goldmine of information on special ways to celebrate Father’s Day, so click over to their website if you are short of ideas.

What Simple Savings excels at is providing low cost ideas that won’t break the budget.

For example, here is a clever gift idea from a member of Simple Savings that anyone could make for that very special father or grandfather in their life.

1. My son and I created a fantastic, memorable birthday present for my husband that cost next-to-nothing.

On a recent rainy day with nothing to do, I was inspired by a cheap wooden photo frame I'd bought. Using pieces from a jigsaw puzzle my son no longer used, we attached them to the outside of the frame to make a colourful surround.

I then took a photo of our son holding a sign that read 'I LOVE YOU TO PIECES!' and popped it into the frame.

It was inexpensive and great fun to do and this year both grandparents will be getting one too!”

2. Another member posted this terrific idea:

For a low cost and memorable Father's Day present, grab yourself a cassette tape, stereo and a list of questions. Ask your children (it doesn't matter how old they are) questions such as:

* What is the best thing you like about Dad?
* What is the funniest thing you can remember Dad has done?
* How much do you love Dad?
* What does Dad do for a job? (You will be surprised by these answers!)

Tape it all live and write names, dates and time on the cover before wrapping it with decorated wrapping paper (that the kids have done of course) and it will be the most memorable Father's Day gift ever! Something that he will be able to keep forever and even tease the kids about when they get older.

You will all enjoy your Father's Day listening to and laughing at the surprising answers; the kids love to listen to their own voices on tape and the whole projects costs very little.

3. Or how about this:

Go through all of your photos and find five or more pictures of your dad with various family members – photos with you, your children, his brothers and sisters – whatever is meaningful to him. Then take yourself to a bargain shop like Crazy Clark’s. Buy a cheap photo frame or better still, look for a cheap large framed poster (about $6 - $20). It will probably be cheaper than an empty frame and as a bonus, you can turn over and use the existing poster as backing paper onto which you can glue your pictures.

Either glue the pictures in an overlapping manner, or else draw an outline of each picture on the backing paper and use poster paints to paint the background, personalising it with messages written in texta or paint as you go.

Once dry, put it into the frame and you will have an instant, very personal, and sure-to-treasured gift for very little money.

4. If your dad is computer mad, a great gift idea is to get him a mouse pad with his children or grandchildren's photo on it. They do these at places like Officeworks, camera shops and similar outlets.

5. The most simple gift idea is to just ask your dad what he wants to do and join him! My dad is always asking us to go for a coffee with him or come and visit at his house and we usually don't have the time. This is probably the best present you can give many dads, and they'd enjoy it much more than a gift!