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Father's Day - Cards & History
For thousands of years...
a chance to connect and say thanks

Cover: Fatherhood is an adventure that takes you places you never knew existed and provides you some of life's greatest joys. Inside: May Father's Day be filled with new meaning for you now that you're a dad-to-be, and may your life be filled with the warmth, the love, and the lasting joys that fatherhood can bring.

The men in our lives...they are always there, in the background – with a shoulder to lean on and a steady love that is too often taken for granted. Once each year, on the third Sunday in June, there is a chance to remind fathers, and the men who step in when fathers are not available, that all of their quiet efforts are appreciated. Father's Day is June 15, 2008.

Children, grandchildren, girlfriends and wives will take this one-day opportunity to put in writing how much they love and appreciate the men in their lives – and to say thanks for all they have done.

This year, more than 70 percent of Americans planned to celebrate or acknowledge Father’s Day (Source: National Retail Federation). Father’s Day is the fourth-largest card-sending occasion with early 95 million Father’s Day cards expected to be given this year just in the United States...and that doesn't include e-cards!

Half of the Father’s Day greeting go to dads of all ages and nearly 20 percent are given to husbands, but the celebration of gratitude and love doesn't stop there. Many people also remember their grandfathers, sons, brothers, uncles, and men who are not related but have earned the right to be called 'someone special'.

Fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, fathers-to-be and more all have a day to stand in the spotlight – Father’s Day. As “nontraditional” family structures become more common, any nurturing man – a “big brother,” a brother-in-law, an uncle, a neighbor or perhaps another special man who is “like a father” – is likely to be honored on Father’s Day. In addition to cards and gifts, Father’s Day celebrations often include telephone calls, family meals and gatherings, special activities and e-cards.

Hallmark, the giant in the greeting card industry, says that Father's Day greetings have changed through the years. Their research has uncovered some modern trends...

• Communication styles on Hallmark Father’s Day cards are changing as attitudes change. Increasingly people are seeking more direct, more personal and more “real life” ways of expressing thanks, appreciation and love for fathers and other nurturing men in their lives. Father’s Day is the one day when people feel free to tell dads how much they mean to them.
  

• It often is more comfortable to make Dad laugh, than cry – humor typically has been a “safe” emotion to share at Father’s Day. Humor typically has been the universal language when it comes to dad – the guy who always teased, cracked a joke, found lots of ways to make us laugh, and never passed up an opportunity to embarrass us in front of friends. Humor cards will continue to be strong, sometimes given along with a “serious” card.

• Father’s Day is a natural opportunity to improve a relationship, reconnect, or connect with a father for the first time. Through maturity and experience people begin to recognize their parents’ mortality and come to appreciate how fortunate they are to have their fathers.

• Young couples may take Father’s Day as an opportunity to act as a couple to jointly thank their fathers or others who are like fathers to them. A card can be an emotional keepsake that acknowledges and intimately captures the bond between a father and child at any age, enhancing the relationship.
  

• Young parents model the behavior that they hope their own children will copy. Parents recognize the importance and value of their fathers having a relationship with their own children. As they move into the young/middle parents life stage, they understand how challenging being a parent can be. That alters feelings about their own dads and intensifies the desire to celebrate him on Father’s Day.

FATHER’S DAY HISTORY & FUN FACTS

You may think that Father's Day is a modern invention, but the truth is that a Babylonian youth named Elmesu carved the first known Father's Day card in clay nearly 4,000 years ago. His special message wished his father good health and a long life. Fortunately, modern cards are a bit easier to fit in the mail box!

Mother's Day and William Jackson Smart of Spokane, Washington were the inspiration for an official day to celebrate Father’s Day in the United States.

Mr. Smart was a widower who raised his six children after his wife died giving birth to the youngest. He was a single parent for 21 years. This may not seem amazing in the 21st century, but in the 1800s it was unheard of for a man to raise children alone...and even today being a single parent of six young children is heroic!

Smart’s daughter, Mrs. Sonora Smart-Dodd (Mrs. John Bruce Dodd), got the idea for Father’s Day in 1909 while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at her church. She encouraged local churches to institute a Father's Day observance the following year on a Sunday in June, the month of her father’s birthday. Through her efforts, interest in the celebration of Father’s Day grew and spread to other cities, states and countries. She also encouraged wearing roses on Father's Day in honor of fathers. A red rose was worn for fathers who were still living and a white rose honored fathers who had died.

Many congressional resolutions proclaiming a national Father’s Day in the United States were introduced through the years. President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day with a presidential proclamation in 1966, but the holiday was not really made permanent until 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed a presidential resolution that made the third Sunday in June oficially Father’s Day in the United States. Many other countries celebrate on other dates.