Dear Ol' Dad Deserves a Father's Day Word Cloud Gift

Say It All with a Father’s Day Word Cloud Gift

It’s that time of year when we get to show our appreciation for our Dads! If you haven’t decided what to get your dear ol’ Dad for Father’s Day this year, I’ll show you some ideas in this post along with tips for creating a special Father’s Day word cloud for your Dad.

Up to 60% Off Gifts for Him – Use Code: ZGREATESTDAD – Expires: 6/11/2015

My Dad has been pretty sick lately, so my siblings and I collaborated on a gift that would show him everything he means to all of us, while also being practical and useful at the same time. Here it is with my husband as the model, since Dad hasn’t received it yet…

Here is my husband modeling the Father’s day word cloud tshirt and cap we purchased for my Dad. He wears it well!

My gifts are a t-shirt and a cap with a word cloud describing many of the things that our Dad is to us. I asked all my siblings to contribute words to include and the word cloud began to take shape. Several of my four siblings are writers, and as you can see, our word list got rather large! Despite our wordiness, I really love how it turned out and I think it will be a great conversation starter when Dad wears it.

Here are the Zazzle previews of the Father’s Day Word Cloud tshirt and cap I purchased for my Dad, including a view of the back of the cap.

The quality of Zazzle’s products has always impressed me and these products are no different.

Zazzle Men’s Basic T-Shirt

The t-shirt is Zazzle’s “Men’s Basic” tee made by Hanes. It is 100% preshrunk cotton in a natural beige color and it’s tagless, which is always nice. Although this is one of the lower priced t-shirts on Zazzle, the material is not super thin like some budget t-shirts and the stitching looks well-made. The word cloud I designed looks fantastic on this shirt! The printing is crisp and sharp and fills a large area on the front of the shirt.

Headsweats Knit Performance Cap

The Headsweats Performance Cap is a brand new product to Zazzle that had just come out the same week I ordered it. It comes in a knit or woven style and I chose the knit. It is only available in white, but all four sides of the cap can be printed with your custom design.

The cap I received is really nice. The “Eventure Knit Race Cap” is soft and lightweight, made from 100% Coolmax® polyester. The underside of the bill is black to reduce glare and the inside of the cap has a gray terrycloth sweatband. The back of the cap has a snap-together buckle with adjustable strap. According to the hang tag, the cap won’t shrink, is machine washable, and dries 3 to 4 times faster than cotton. When my husband modeled the cap, he liked the lightweight fabric and said you almost forget you are wearing it. His only complaint was that the sweatband flips down when the cap is removed.

As this is a new product, I wasn’t sure what to expect for the printing. I added my word cloud to the front of the cap and my Dad’s last name to the back. I opted to leave the left and right panels blank. As I mentioned above, we got carried away with words and when I re-did the layout of my word cloud design from the shirt to the cap, I neglected to remove some of the words to ensure it was readable at a much smaller size. As a result, some of the smallest words on the cap are not readable. I think it still looks cool, with the unreadable words appearing as splashes of color. But I won’t make that mistake again! If you click the link to my cap, you will get a revised version using less words which should print better.

Up to 60% Off Gifts for Him – Use Code: ZGREATESTDAD – Expires: 6/11/2015

Create Your Own Father’s Day Word Cloud Gift

Dad Word Cloud Gifts for Father’s Day

If you like this idea as a gift for your Dad, I’d be happy to work with you to make a custom word cloud product that’s just right for you and your recipient–feel free to get in touch. Of course, if you have time to experiment, you can easily create your own word cloud for free using the Wordle.net web site. Just be sure to keep the size of your product in mind as you create your word cloud so you don’t make my initial mistake. There are several other sites for creating word clouds, but personally I like the options you get from Wordle.net. The only drawback of Wordle.net is that it can only save an image as large as your computer screen, so if you need something high resolution, you have to use the print to PDF or SVG workarounds described in their FAQ.

One of the things I love about Zazzle is that it allows me to give gifts that are thoughtful and unique, but useful at the same time. The quality of the products are excellent–and with hundreds of products, there is something for everyone!

Grillmeister Father's Day Word Cloud Gifts

Father’s Day Word Cloud Gifts for the Grillmeister Dad
can cooler, credit card size bottle opener, apron, hot sauce

Word Cloud Design Tips

If you decide to make your own word cloud, here are some tips to keep in mind:

Decide on the product you are going to print before working on your word cloud design. Note the dimensions of the designable area, and keep that in mind while making your word list and adjusting the layout of the word cloud.
Keep your word list to about 25 words or less for small print areas. Go wild with words on products with a larger print area like blankets, tablecloths, and so on.
Plan ahead whether you want your layout to be square, landscape, or portrait, and with more rounded edges or straight edges. Decide if the words will be oriented only one way or both directions. Wordle also offers an “every which way” option for those that aren’t too OCD. Use the relayout options until you get something you like.
The Words to Use web site is great for triggering ideas for words to use in your word cloud. The have large lists of adjectives, nouns, verbs, and phrases for all sorts of occasions.
If you have some design software experience, you can use a print driver from Wordle to print to PDF format, which will give you a vector file that is editable in Illustrator, Coreldraw, or Inkscape (free). This will allow you to change colors, make the background transparent, and reconfigure the layout to something more pleasing. With a little tweaking effort you can even make something that will tile seamlessly. Keep your file as a PDF for uploading to Zazzle–they accept PDF files!
Of course, you can type out all the words in a graphics program and manually arrange them into a word cloud, but it can be time consuming! Wordle is a great shortcut to get something you can work with in other software.

Active Dad Father's Day Word Cloud Gifts

Father’s Day Word Cloud Gifts for the Active Dad.
air freshener, gym towel, Cap Sac visor, tshirt, baseball, water bottle, gym bag tote.

I’ve created a line of products using a “generic” list of Dad words that should work for just about anyone, but won’t have that personal touch you’d get by making a custom word cloud design. You can use these products as templates to upload your own custom made word cloud, or purchase them just as they are! And don’t forget you can contact me about a custom word cloud for Father’s Day or any other special occasion!

Up to 60% Off Gifts for Him – Use Code: ZGREATESTDAD – Expires: 6/11/2015

Father’s Day Word Cloud Template Gift Ideas

Here is a selection of “manly” products that I think work well for the Father’s Day word cloud gift idea, and you can find many more Father’s Day Word Cloud products in my Zazzle shop!