Your dad does not have high expectations this Christmas. Any man who is being completely candid with you will admit that most gifts he has received during his adult life fall under “It's the thought that counts.” But it needn't be so. With a little research and some thought, you can give the father figure in your life the best gift for a dad that he's ever gotten.
I am a dad, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what people should get me. Luckily, since I work here, people are happy to send me those very things for testing. I take this sacred responsibility very seriously and have spent hundreds of hours thinking about the gifts I'd give to, say, a dad like yours. The ideas below are the sum of that work for the year 2025 and feature all new picks from the version of this guide I did before Father's Day. I'm confident the list below has the perfect gift for your dad. If somehow you don't like any of these ideas, you're probably wrong, but might I still suggest you stick with something sharp or that catches on fire?
A Super Shave
Like many dads, I am bombarded with advertisements for shaving devices. The Henson AL13 razor caught my eye with its unique value proposition, which is the opposite of Mr. King Gillette's famous maxim to “give ’em the razors and sell ’em the blades.” Rather, here you are paying a premium for a precision-machined razor that's designed to work wonders with the cheapest of blades. Henson was founded by machinists who work in aerospace, and they built this razor with insane standards (tolerances of less than 0.0005 inches) so that it will hold a generic double-sided blade at an exact angle with zero jitter, so you get a close, clean shave. You can buy enough replacement blades to last two years for 10 or 15 bucks, making this a razor your dad can keep forever.
A Soft Shirt
Courtesy of True Classic True Classic Carbon Premium Pima Crew Neck $40 $32 (20% off) True Classic
Your dad probably needs a new T-shirt. If he's anything like me or most dads I know, he likely wears the shirts he owns well past the socially appropriate levels of stainage and frayedness. True Classic tees won the praise of the tailors we asked to help us find the best T-shirt, and I've enjoyed the True Classic pima crew neck immensely in my testing. The fabric is soft but heavy and drapes in a pleasant way.
The Perfect Medium-Rare
I've tested the wireless meat thermometer that one of our contributors named the best, and also this Meater Pro Duo. I like the Meater a lot better, though I am less of an expert chef than that writer. What I love about the Meater Pro is that it reads internal and ambient temperatures of a given cut of meat, and if you set your preferred finishing temperature it will estimate the remaining cook time and then alert you when it’s done. This is all done via an app I find very intuitive and stable. If your dad will be cooking any kind of roast this Christmas, put one of these under the tree.
Top of the Tipples
... continue reading