If you haven’t already got a present for the Dads in your lives, it’s probably a good time to refer back to my BlogGreen post of a few weeks ago where I suggested that buying into the commercial side of Father’s Day is not necessarily the best thing for the environment and that there are other (more valuable) gifts that you could give your Dad.

If you have bought him a gift, I hope that you’ve gone green and bought him something that at the very least is not damaging to the environment in its manufacture and very existence.

You’ll need to wrap your gift up next. Here again, please consider taking the greener route by using recycled gift wrap, either manufactured from recycled paper or simply paper that you received a gift in and saved for re-using. Another eco-friendly route that’s very easy on the pocket is to use newspaper or magazine pages to wrap the gift, and you could jazz it up with potato prints, or some cut-out stars, or pretty ribbon.

If your Dad is the sort who likes to have a kick around on a Sunday afternoon, or even if he’s the devoted coach of the local children’s team, here’s a football themed present that will give a chance to children who are at risk of being forced into becoming child soldiers and will also support Fairtrade.  For every ball bought, £2 will go to the Campaign against Child Soldiers.  Make a real difference this Father’s Day.

If you have a Dad that prefers his bike to other forms of transport, chances are he’s a pretty green guy already. Here’s a gift that will take his green transport to the next level. The Trevor Baylis Micro Bike Front Torch isn’t just a wind-up bike light, it’s also doubles as an emergency torch. It comes with a quick release handlebar clamp, and features a triple LED lantern that gives 90 minutes of light for each 60 second wind. No more batteries. Now that’s green.

And while we’re on the subject of bikes and cycling, you may be interested to know that the UK’s Bike Week 2008 runs from the 14th to the 22nd of June with plenty of fun-filled family bike rides planned. Go for a ride with your Dad to enjoy some quality time together engaged in activity that’s good for the planet and good for your health.

For Dads who are great explorers but seldom get further than the sofa on a Saturday afternoon. Let David Attenborough take your Dad on a life-affirming journey of the wonders of our planet’s oceans with the Blue Planet Special Edition DVD box set. If he isn’t thinking conservation before he sits down to watch this awesome series, he will be afterwards.

The 4 discs that make up this box set give a huge 10 hours and 40 minutes of fascinating viewing.

In my opinion even the slightest whiff of a celebration is a good enough reason to break out the bubbly? So for a day as important as Father’s Day, make Dad feel really special by toasting him with a bottle of Naturian Fizz! Organic Brut. As in the case with many things in life, what goes in is what comes out. So if you don’t want to be drinking pesticides and other chemicals when you toast Dad on Father’s Day, make sure that the wine, beer, or champagne you’re buying is organic and, if possible, Fairtrade too.

Unless the Dad in your life has a religious or medical reason not to, the chances are that he’ll indulge in the odd tipple or two from time to time. In my experience of Dads this has always proved to be the case. Rugby or cricket on the television, or friends round for a barbecue tends to have them heading for the beer fridge at least once or twice on a Saturday afternoon.

You could make your Dad’s beer or wine drinking a far greener experience by buying him one of these lovely recycled glass gift sets for Father’s Day. They’re Grolsch beer bottles, cleverly cut up and re-purposed to make lovely wine (or beer) glasses. The perfectly green gift for a Dad who likes his beer.

We’ve already established that most Dad love gadgets, and this year, whether they’re eco-Dads or not, I hope that they’ll be getting green gadgets for Father’s Day. So next on the list of gorgeous green technologies that Dad’s won’t be able to resist is the Freeloader solar power supply and charger.

The Freeloader is a portable power supply that can be charged up either via its solar panels or a charge cable that plugs into a PC or laptop’s USB port. Once it’s charged, the Freeloaders internal battery can power an iPod for 18hours, a mobile phone for 44 hours, a PSP for 2.5 hours and a PDA for 22 hours.

It comes in a tough yet stylish aluminium casing, ready to take life’s knocks wherever your Dad may find himself, whether on a business trip to Manchester, back packing in the Himalayas or chilling out on a traditional English campsite.

Toys, gadgets, what’s the difference? If there’s a Father’s Day gift that a little (or not so little) boy could enjoy with his Dad, then this is it. You can explore an advanced green technology together while having fun with the H-racer hydrogen fuel cell car.

The beauty of this toy car is that there are no batteries to be thrown away afterwards. You’re creating your own power with water which is converted to hydrogen with the help of a solar panel. The only exhaust is water too.

The hydrogen fuel cell is an amazing system that may be used to power cars of the future, and even towns, the point in case being Woking, which is already partially powered by a hydrogen fuel cell system. Very space-aged, very advanced. Perfect for the Dad who likes to play with the very latest technology.

In my experience, Dads are pretty partial to gadgets, so I’m starting off the eco-friendly Father’s Day present suggestions with a series of some of the greenest technology available.

And first up on the list of green gadgets for Dads is the Trevor Baylis Wind-up Eco Media Player. Mum’s like this one too, I can tell you that because I have one of these and I absolutely love it. But it’s Father’s Day coming up so we’ll focus on the Dads.

This brilliant alternative to the iPod or other MP3 player not only stores your music, its powered by hand (40 minutes of play time for a 60 second wind) or via USB, can play videos, charge your phone, has a built-in torch and the most comfortable and well-fitting earphones that I’ve ever worn. It even has a special connection with it so that Dads can record their favourite old vinyl LPs onto the media player (so excellent for Dad’s who are a bit long in the tooth too).

Unfortunately there’s no image here on Pricegrabber for me to show you, but it has a great retro look, and although it’s a little bigger than the iPod, it’s green credentials make it absolutely worthwhile. The men that I’ve allowed to play with my Eco Media Player have all been very impressed with it and green with envy. It’s perfect for camping, hiking or fishing trips, or anytime when you’re away from a power source.

Father’s Day falls on the 15th of June in 2008, so it’s probably time to start planning a special day for the Dads that are part of your life. Gifts don’t have to be things, they could also be an action or some of your time. Over the next few weeks I’ll cover a variety of ideas for making Father’s Day a green experience rather than just another commercial landmark over the course of the year.

To get the ball rolling, here are a few ideas of gifts of time.

1. Wash Dad’s car.

2. Give him a shoulder massage.

3. Make him a special dinner.

4. Mow the lawn so that he doesn’t have to.

5. Do the weeding in his allotment/vegetable garden.

Use your imagination and make it personal. If you are going to go down the route of giving him a gift, make it something that will enhance a greener lifestyle. I’ll be concentrating on green gadgets and other gifts for Dads with a green twist as we count down the four weeks to Father’s Day.