The Gourmet Father's Day Gift Guide

By Vicki Richards, National Customer Manager at The Gourmet Pantry.

Father's Day falls on Sunday 6 September this year, and the safe gifts (the tie, the mug, the socks) are exactly that: safe. If Dad already has everything he needs, the better move is something he'd never quite get around to buying for himself.

This is a guide to that kind of gift. Nothing here needs wrapping paper origami or a card he'll lose by lunchtime. Just good food, a genuinely useful tool, or both.

For the dad who's always at the grill

Every backyard cook has a spice drawer full of half-used rubs. The eat.art BBQ Grill Tube Gift replaces the whole drawer with eight actually-good blends in one tube: Texan BBQ, Louisiana Grill, Smokey Chipotle, Caribbean Jerk and more, so he can find his favourite instead of guessing.

Pair it with something to drink while he's minding the coals. The Ultimate Gourmet Hamper pairs a Château Tanunda Grand Barossa Shiraz with a Stoneleigh Sauvignon Blanc and a genuinely generous spread of chocolate, nuts, crackers and shortbread. It's less a gift than an afternoon sorted.

For the dad who takes his kitchen seriously

If he already has a proper knife and doesn't need another apron, look at what's missing instead. The Dreamfarm Fluicer is the citrus juicer that folds flat: no dead drawer space, no wondering where it went. Small, but it's the kind of thing that gets used every week rather than once.

For the dad who cooks properly, not just on weekends, the COMFORT Book Grater Pantry Gift Box bundles Ottolenghi's Comfort cookbook with a proper fine grater and a handful of the sauces and seasonings the recipes actually call for. A cookbook alone is a nice idea he might not act on; this one comes with everything needed to cook from it that night.

For the dad who'd rather have a snack than a gadget

Not every dad wants another thing to find a drawer for. Some just want good biscuits and to be left alone with them.

Jen's Traditional Biscuits Deluxe Mix covers every base in one tin: Anzac, choc chip, ginger, shortbread, so there's no risk of picking the one flavour he doesn't like. It's an easy add to a card if you want the gift to feel bigger without the spend growing with it.

If you're still deciding

A few questions worth asking before you commit:

Does he cook, or does he eat what's put in front of him? A cook wants tools and ingredients. A non-cook wants things that are ready to enjoy: snacks, biscuits, a hamper that arrives complete.

Is this a big year or a normal one? A milestone birthday landing near Father's Day is a fair reason to spend more on something like the wine and gourmet hamper. Most years, a well-chosen smaller gift reads just as thoughtfully.

Will you see him on the day, or does it need to travel? Anything with glass, like the wine hamper, is worth choosing early if it needs to be posted, so it isn't a last-minute scramble.

Whichever way you go, our full Father's Day hampers range and the Father's Day gifts collection have the rest of what's on offer this year, from ready-made hampers to the individual pieces above.