When searching for a unique birthday present for your father it is important to keep his personality and interests in mind. He is more than just dad. Bill Cosby has a great line; Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope.

Hopefully your foremost goal is to make sure your father doesnt have to pretend that your gift is the greatest thing in the world. Think about your dad as his friends do for a minute. Think about him fishing or golfing. Think about hunting or some of his interests that are not because he is dad but as a man or an individual.

The more versatile a gift is the more likely you are going to get a look like Cosby describes. If you give a tie that says worlds greatest dad, have you really thought very deeply about the gift?

Now notice it says that if it is versatile it is more likely to be a soap type gift. It doesnt mean it has to be so. If you want something that is versatile but unique than how about a nice leather wallet that is already outfitted with pictures of the family. Include in the wallet, pictures of mom, kids, grandkids, brothers, sisters, and parents. You could ask each of them to write some birthday wish and you have a keepsake that will be difficult to top.

There are many other ideas. One idea that is always a winner is a gift basket. Some of the things you could include in Dads gift basket are a small breast pocket size calendar with all of the important days already circled and marked. Things like birthdays, anniversaries, and Valentines Day can be marked.

Instead of a calendar it could be an electronic organizer already programmed with those dates and reminders set.

In addition it is a good idea to include other items in the gift basket. Things that are specific to his interests. Fishing items if he is a fisherman. Hunting items if he is a hunter.

Books are always a great addition. If he has ever said that he wished he knew more about something, find a Dummies Book about that subject or the equivalent.

You could enlist Moms help to find out his 10 or 15 favorite songs and make him his own compilation cd of those songs. This can be done easily now with Wal-Mart and other online stores offering single downloads,

The only danger in not buying a dad gift is that you may wind up with a you gift. What is meant by that is buying him clothes that are in style. If he wanted in style clothes, he would more than likely buy them himself. You will wind up giving him closet filler and not a truly unique gift.

You can be fairly certain that your dad will like his gift because it is from you. Dont stress about it and just buy for the person and you will be amazed at how easy it can be to buy a unique birthday gift for dad.

Check out other unique birthday gifts and ideas.