Snappy Pappy

{This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Snapfish}

My dad is old school.

He wears tie-dye t-shirts, chops wood for his pot-belly stove, and rocks out to the Beatles. He just recently got a cellphone, but still doesn't watch DVDs because he doesn't have his DVD player quite figured out yet. He still prefers to correspond by mail, actual old school snail mail, and he has birthday flowers delivered by calling the florist on the telephone to place an order or, if you are in the same town, by creating a bouquet himself from his flower garden.

My dad still uses a 35mm camera and takes his film in to be processed. I suspect he doesn't even pay for that crazy one-hour film processing business, opting instead to pick up the pictures a week later.

He's definitely old school, in the most awesome and endearing sort of way.

A couple of weeks ago, BlogHer and Snapfish asked if I would be interested in creating a Father's Day gift for my dad. They gave me an allowance and set me free on the Snapfish website to create a gift.

I immediately eliminated some gifts from the realm of possibilities for my dad: neck ties (hippies don't wear them) and collage mousepads (he doesn't even own a mouse to put on the pad). I eliminated the square key ring because he already has a cool peace sign keychain that I gave him a decade ago (even though, whoa, how classy is the key ring? If I was shopping for myself, I might have gone the key ring route!).

In the end, I decided to make two gifts with my allowance: a collage mug and set of playing cards.

The mug has a variety of photos of my dad, Will and I, taken over the past ten years. My dad and I celebrated our 50th and 21st birthdays, respectively, together in 2001, so that made it on the mug, along with photos of my college graduation and my wedding. In other words, it's basically all about me. He's so going to love it.

The photo on the playing cards is my dad's band, The Sound of Today, circa 1969. He sent me some photos of his band to see if I could figure out how to make duplicates since the negatives are long gone. I not only scanned those suckers, I made one of them into playing cards.

How fabulous are these playing cards!? I love that modern technology has made it possible to design such a retro set of cards.

I just know that my dad is going to be impressed by these Snapfish gifts. Indeed, he is going to be completely wowed by his photos being on a mug and, perhaps even more so, by a picture taken in 1969 somehow making it onto a set of playing cards.

He's the kind of guy who would treasure a photo gift that I cut and pasted in my living room (case in point: he still has a Christmas decoration I made in 1983 out of plaster of paris and cotton balls), but these professionally made photo projects are going to absolutely knock his socks off. They are the types of gifts that parents treasure forever.

Plus, they are such useful gifts--a snazzy deck of playing cards for playing poker on camping trips and a nice, big sturdy mug for morning coffee outside in the sunshine.

Bonus: no cutting, glue-sticking, or plaster of paris-ing required!

I should mention how fun and simple the process was. I promised myself that I wouldn't spend too much time playing around on the Snapfish site, what with finals so rapidly approaching, but I ended up having a lot of fun uploading photos and testing out collage gift options. (Luckily, my dad will still be proud of me, even if I get some Bs this semester. He sent me a congratulatory bouquet of flowers (ordered via telephone, of course) even before the finals period had concluded.)

If you are interested in making your pops a present, there are a ton of great dad options. A desk organizer? A golf towel? A frosted stein? Just note that if you are ordering for Father's Day, you'll need to place the order by June 13 to ensure delivery by Father's Day.

Are you interested in giving Snapfish a go? I certainly hope so because I am presenting the first-ever contest on Slice of Pink! Snapfish will be giving a $50 gift certificate to one lucky reader. FIFTY DOLLARS! A GRANT! (Which is, of course, like a Benjamin, but half as much and with Ulysses S. Grant on the bill. Your trivia fact for the day, folks.)

With fifty smackaroos you can even purchase a snazzy photo book.

To enter, leave a comment below telling me whether your dad is tech-saavy or straight old school. You may also write a post on your own blog and leave a link to your post in the comments below. The contest will begin at 9:00 a.m. (PST) May 11, 2009 and ends 5:00 p.m. (PST) June 13, 2009. Leave a good email address, because that's how I'll contact you.

Legalities:

• No duplicate comments.
• Get an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments
• Get an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US Residents only, age 18 or older.
• Winners will be selected via random drawing, and will notified by e-mail.
• Official Rules and more information.

There are actually FIFTY SEVEN chances to win (how awesome are those odds?), so click over to BlogHer and enter for more chances to win!

UPDATE: The winner is the lovely Ms. Cupcake. Happy Shopping!

Comments

[Neena]

My dad is old school, as in paper and pens, transistor radios, and cassette tapes that contain his entire musical collection. He's also the best!

[Eryn]

My Dad is a mix of tech saavy and old school. He has a device that he installed himself in his car where he can see his mpgs and engine performance. On the other hand, he firmly believes that anything can be fixed with "duct tape, a funnel, and a few feet of clear piping". He fixes a lot of things on his own but I'm not sure if he lives up to his own mantra.

[A Twitter User]

I guess my dad is tech savvy...although he can't seem to figure out twitter. He's a (really amazing) photographer, so he's down with all the digital editing stuff, which makes him pretty awesome...

[Mandy]

My dad is sooooo old school. He doesn't even have an email address. Who doesn't have email these days?!

[Kait]

My dad is actually kind of proud of the fact that he can't turn on a computer. I love him for his old school, stuck in his ways, stubborn nature. He's a keeper.

[Jennifer Berthiaume]

My dad is such a tecchie, he's looked up my whole family genealogy online, and found out that I'm related to Honest Abe!

He also built me an extremely sllooowww computer so that I would have my own in high school.

[Jennifer Berthiaume]

Here's my tweet!

[Jennifer Berthiaume]

oops. it didn't link.

https://twitter.com/jennbizzle/status/1771092420

:)

[sarah]

My dad just upgraded from dial up internet and all of our tvs and cars have built-in tape (not CD) players. Definitely old school.

[wilda wallace]

My dad is no longer with us. He never touched a computer, he did however bring me lunch every week for almost an entire year. He would go to the store and take the free samples wrap them up in napkins, have the clerk in the fruit dept cut open a variety of items to taste before purchase. He would them come over and proudly displays all that he had collected for the past hour or so. Hey Wil, I brought us lunch. Got something to drink?

[Erin]

oooollllld school, fo sho

[Rachael]

My dad for sure is old school despite his very young age. He drives an old Pontiac with more than 215,000 miles on it that he likes to fix himself. He writes checks and still has no idea how to use his debit card. No cellphones adorn his pockets and he sometimes uses the computer to check sports and the news but types one finger at a time (envision pecking bird). He thinks the world today offers too many options and doesn't like to leave his hometown. He's had the same job his entire life and wears Levi's and t-shirts with my high school's mascots on them even though I graduated 10 years ago. He has a killer 70s and 80s tape collection he jams out to and his form of entertainment is Scrabble and Strat-o-matic pen and paper style. I adore him tremendously.

[Nicole]

My dad was previously computer technology manager for the state, but he calls me almost every day asking how to fix something on his computer. And while my dad loves to play spider solitaire on the computer, he and I still play gin on the sofa like we have for years. Aw, I think I'm going to go call my dad and tell him how much I love him. Excuse me...

[Lauren]

My dad is right between, slightly tech-savy but still says things like "far out"

[Lauren]

I posted at lolollapalooza dot blogspot dot com.

[Micaela]

My dad is not tech savvy at all! He has a laptop at home for his job and if I use it I make sure to keep any windows or emails he had open up, or else he will think they have disappeared forever.

[Jaime]

My dad is old school. He has a brick for a cellphone and prefers his cars to be made before 1990.

[Rachie Rach]

My dad is very tech savy. He loves his gadgets and his old school way of life (civil war reinacting). He is a great dad and I hope I win andcan get him something cool with pictures on it. Thanks for the free give away!

[Carol]

My Dad really wants to be tech savvy - his company has sort of a gadget budget for him every year. And he's always upgrading to the latest camera, BlackBerry or laptop.

But it doesn't matter what the product is, You still have to know how to use it. And this is where he has trouble. We all tease him about his 2am phone calls about how to edit a picture in PowerPoint or how it takes him 10 minutes to take a single picture but we still think he's the best!

[sensibly Sassy]

My dad is really technical (he makes clean rooms for computer chips etc) but he can get kinda confused when it comes to the tv remote etc. So he is a fun blend of both!

[Leah]

My dad is definitely tech-savvy. We owned one of the first computers ever (that RadioShack tandy thing). My mom still complains about him racking up long-distance bills by chatting via computers rather than on the phone. Oh, and our first modem involved picking up the phone and putting it on speakers! You had to hear that modem noise all the time!

He doesn't blog (yet!), but he frequently sends me links to cool sites and MSNBC articles. Thankfully, he's not too new-fangled to pick up the phone and call me from time to time.

[Samantha]

My dad is tech-savvy. He has a nicer phone than I do.

[Karly]

My dad is a nice mixture. He can't figure out his phone (I sent him a text message and he called to complain that he couldn't hear anything), but he's good with computers. I like making fun of him when he tries to do anything but dial his phone though. I find it hilarious! :)

[catherine copeland]

my dad is straight up old school. for him high tech was bring our first touch tone phone into his home two years ago.

He thinks I should save the stamp and call people instead of emailing them.

I love him anyway.

[Danielle]

My dad would like to use a computer, but is too chap to buy one. Of course, once he got one, he would be the guy who uses the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder. He is so NOT tech savvy.

[Alena]

My dad is super tech-savvy... always has to have the latest toys. We were one of the first families on the block to have a DVD player or computer, and he had an iPod before I did! He even has his own blog now, where he blogs about classic rock. I love my dad. :)

[Marianna]

My dad is way tech savvy - he's an engineer! He has all the new gadgets and gizmos before I do!

[Janet Carpenter]

My dad is definitely old school - he's 87 years old school! BUT, I will say he's on the computer every day - addicted to Solitaire and Casino. We won't show him how to get on the Internet for fear of a real Casino game!

[Janet Carpenter]

tweet! http://twitter.com/janetmom2maya/status/1907881602

[Janet Carpenter]

I blogged at www.giveawaysonblogs.blogspot.com/2009/05/sunday0524.html

[bonggamom]

My dad is old school -- no internet access at home, owns a computer from 2000 or so, and he doesn't really know what a blog is. He tries, though, he really tries -- checks email when he can, and he's recently begun a huge project scanning old family photos into digital format!

[bonggamom]

I tweeted:

http://twitter.com/bonggafinds/status/1914397945

[Cheap Computers]

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[HollowSquirrel]

My dad is definitely not tech savvy, but he can make his way around the computer and get his Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline onto his iPod!

[Patricia Reiser]

my biological dad was old school too! Never saw a need to rush out and get the latest gadgets. He preferred an old typewriter to a computer with word processing abilities for typing up letters. If he were still alive I know he would have loved some of the gifts I would of made using photos of my kids.

Its still a wonderful idea that I will use to gift my step-dad this Father's Day. And I know my hubby will love the photo gifts as well.

Wishing you a scent-sational day!

[michelle]

My dad is pretty tech savvy, unfortunately. He follows me on Twitter and is my Facebook friend. Which reminds me ... must adjust those privacy settings ...

[Beth B]

My dad is tech savvy -- he loves computers and enjoys buying used and/or broken Macs and fixing them up. I've never had a new MacBook or iPod, but the used ones he's fixed up for me are just as good or better. He loves the internet, especially because he can use it to learn about things to keep up in techy conversations with my generation and keep in touch with me, as I live very far away.
But he is also old school -- he types with one finger (the hunt and peck method), so he doesn't answer e-mails very often.

[Brittany]

Mine is old school but tries to be tech savvy. He's got some neat gadgets like a Blackberry and wifi in the house, but my husband and brother end up programming, fixing, and fixing all the goods.

[Cute~Ella]

My dad likes new technology, but sees a place for old school methods. So he's a techie guy with an oldschool twist!

[Zanzibarfly]

My dad is tech savy. He installed Wi-Fi in our house and has an XBox which he has connected to the internet so he can play XBox live.

However, while he can put these things together, he still has a hard time in navigating the internet and multiple profanities are usually uttered while trying to navigate back to his hotmail account. :-)

[Pamela]

My dad IS the reason I am as tech savvy as I am... he is a computer programmer and has a passion for anything new and innovative in the world of technology.

We drive my mom and sisters crazy with our "tech talk" and sharing of iPhone apps. We recently spent mother's day hooking up a slingbox to my TV so that he can get STL Cardinal games in Omaha where he lives during the week.

Yeah, we are geeky like that.

[Erin C.]

My dad was definitely old school, despite graduating MIT, he was of a generation that seemed to let the secretaries do all typewriter, then computer-related things for him. He was impressed at what computers could do, but I think felt a bit closed off to them. I wish I could have taught him to do email before he died.

[Laurie]

My dad is old school - that is probably why I married the techiest guy I could find!

[Dawn]

My dad is completely old school, but my mother is slowly dragging him into this century. She's not always successful, though. Whenever he complains that the computer isn't working, her first question is "What did you do?"

[Katey]

Dude, my dad is so old school that he gets angry that his cell phone does anything other than make a phone call.

Just ask him.

On second thought, unless you have a couple of hours to kill, don't.

[Michelle]

Old School all the way.

[Diana]

My dad is definitely old school. He's been e-mailing for a while now,but he's finally started to branch out on the internet. The other day I was visiting, and he was excited to show me this "new thing called YouTube."

And he does not carry a cell phone.

[Chris]

I loved the pic of the band you posted a while back and I love the cards! Such a great idea.

My dad? Tech savvy. Savvy enough to get himself into trouble but usually pretty good about getting himself out of it. Though sometimes I get a phone call and end up doing tech support. Which I, um, don't exactly love.

[Nell Coleman]

My dad passed away in '07 but he was always completely old school. We didn't have a color TV until 1977. Seriously. But he was awesome with tools and I swear he could build ANYthing! I miss him.

[Leslie]

My dad is going to be 80 on fathers day and is Tech savvy.

[Leslie H]

My dad is an old-school guy who has flashes of wired wisdom; it is a truly endearing combination. He and my mom own their own business and for the past 15+ years, my dad's had perpetual computer problems. In fact, I don't think the man is happy unless he's puttering in his upstairs office, talking about the possible issues, posting on message boards to see what other folks have to say, etc.

That said, my dad has mastered his HD flip camera with the ease of a midwestern Steven Spielberg, most recently delighting us with a video from Christmas. A special highlight? My white-haired, permanently tanned, outdoor-woodsman grandpa, regaling us with tall tales.

[Lauren @ Hobo Mama]

My dad is tech-savvy but at least a decade behind the times. He gets the latest gadgets a little late. I think he still has a beeper.

I'm digging those playing cards, and I bet he would, too.

[Lauren @ Hobo Mama]

Tweet!

http://twitter.com/Hobo_Mama/status/2151551620

Thank you!!