Father's Day Trivia: The Silly And The Serious

Father’s Day has been bittersweet for me since my dad passed away in 1989. No matter though, it is still a day to remember my dad who taught me so much in so many ways. 

There are a lot of fun facts and trivia about Father’s Day, which is celebrated all over the world. A lot of the facts are conflicting, but it’s interesting to see where the history takes us! Here are 10 trivia items to mull over: 

1. Father’s Day was introduced by Sonora Dodd in Spokane, Washington. She wanted to honor her widowed father William Smart who took care of his six children during the Civil War. Since Sonora Dodd was the girl who first started the tradition of Father’s Day in this country, she had campaigned for her Father’s birthday -- June 19 --  to be declared Father’s Day.
2. More than 110 million greeting cards are sent throughout the world for Father's Day. Fifty percent of the cards are purchased for fathers, 20 percent for husbands, and the remaining for grandfathers and those who serve the Dad Role. (Great news for Hallmark, American Greetings, Jacque Lawson & Current!)
3. The first Father’s Day was announced and celebrated in 1910 in the same city where it originated.
4. The tie is the most traditional and famous Father’s Day gift throughout the world. (I remember buying my dad a Chicago Cubs tie, but he never wore it. He was more of a Black Jack/Vegas guy!)
5. Greeting cards are the No. 1 purchase on Father’s Day, and almost 92 percent of the cards are sold to women. Most of the greeting cards purchased are humorous.
6. Father’s Day is celebrated at different times around the world. In Thailand it falls on Dec. 5; in Australia it’s observed on the first Sunday of September.
7. Father’s Day was first supported by President Calvin Coolidge in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson declared the third Sunday of June as the official holiday. It was President Woodrow Wilson who first said, however, in 1916 that Father’s Day should be given the status of a national holiday.
8. Father’s Day is the fourth most popular card-sending holiday in the world after Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.
9. Almost half as much is spent on Father’s Day gifts as on Mother’s Day. Does this mean that we moms are more expensive? Or is it because the most popular Father’s Day gift is a simple necktie?
10. Hallmark says that Father’s Day is the fifth-largest card-selling occasion in America.

What are your favorite Father’s Day fact or trivia item? One of mine is my dad ALWAYS burning the BBQ hot dogs to a crisp on the grill. It was a lot of years before I realized that hot dogs are better if they AREN’T crispy!