When is Father's Day?

To be honest, the chances of anyone who lives within 200 miles of western civilisation forgetting Father's Day are very slim indeed. The early warning sirens will have given you at least a month's notice. Card shop windows will be prodding you with subtle capitalised slogans, pubs and restaurants will be advising you to "Book now for Father's Day", which is nice of them, and even the new page on your calendar will have that telltale little subheading under the date. And that doesn't take into account the fact that your dad has started being extra nice to you and asking your mum how she enjoyed Mother's Day.

But say the card shops all closed down, the pubs were banned from advertising, your calendar and diary have fallen behind the fridge and your dad is on a business trip to the moon. Then how will you know when Father's Day is?

It's easy. Ever since the first Father's Day was proposed by Sonora Smart Dodd in the early 1900s, it has been held on the third Sunday in June. So: in 2008 it's on 15 June;in 2009 it will be on 21 June; and in 2010 it will be on 20 June.

Now for the complicated bit. Not every nation follows the "third Sunday in June" rule. The ones that do stick with the rule include most of North and South America, a big chunk of Europe plus China, Pakistan, India, South Africa and the Philippines. However, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium use 29 March.

In Germany it always coincides with Ascension Day, which is forty days after Easter and therefore on a Thursday. It's also called "Men's Day", and is not as much of a family day as is the British Father's Day; indeed, the men (not necessarily fathers) often go off into the countryside an engage in what resembles a pub crawl! Fortunately for the German economy, it's a public holiday.

In Finland, Norway, Sweden and Estonia, Father's Day is held on the second Sunday of November, but Denmark holds it on 5 June.

Other major exceptions are Brazil (second Sunday in August) and Australia and New Zealand (first Sunday in September), and there is a smattering of other countries' Father's Days or their traditional equivalents throughout the year.

So now you know when it is, you are just left with the exceedingly simple task of deciding what Fathers Day gifts to get for your No. 1 dad. It's a good starting point to eliminate all the obvious presents and think about to stretching your imagination a little. The internet is full of excellent websites where amusing, innovative and personally meaningful gifts can be found. So start searching for some amazing presents - all you need to know is what country you're in.

To explore our range of fathers day gifts further, please visit our website at http://www.gettingpersonal.co.uk.

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