What to Write in a Father’s Day Card from a Daughter
The card he keeps in a drawer for thirty years. Say the thing you would say out loud if the two of you were the sort of family that says things out loud.
Short, and complete on their own
- 1
Happy Father’s Day, Dad. Lucky to be yours.
- 2
Happy Father’s Day. Thank you for everything, always.
- 3
Happy Father’s Day. Still your girl, and still asking you to check my car.
- 4
Happy Father’s Day. Owed to you many times over.
Naming what he actually did
- 5
Thank you for every drive to and from university, both directions, every term.
- 6
Happy Father’s Day. You taught me to change a tyre and to ask for what I am worth. Both have been used.
- 7
Thank you for never suggesting there was anything I could not do.
- 8
Happy Father’s Day. You were at every single one, in the rain, on the touchline, saying nothing embarrassing.
From a grown-up daughter
- 9
Happy Father’s Day. I ring you when something has gone wrong, and that is the highest compliment I have.
- 10
I have started giving your advice to other people and passing it off as mine.
- 11
Happy Father’s Day. Whatever calm I have came from you.
From a young daughter
- 12
Happy Father’s Day, Daddy. I love you lots.
- 13
Happy Father’s Day. You are the best at bedtime stories.
- 14
Happy Father’s Day. Thank you for taking me swimming.
When you live far apart
- 15
Happy Father’s Day. Different time zone, same phone calls.
- 16
Happy Father’s Day. Home in September, and I will bring the good coffee.
Funny, from a daughter
- 17
Happy Father’s Day. Thank you for the anxiety and the good hair.
- 18
Happy Father’s Day. You still send me photographs of the sky. Never stop.
- 19
Happy Father’s Day. I am now the age you were when I thought you knew everything. You did not. Impressive work.
On the first Father’s Day after becoming a mother yourself
- 20
Happy Father’s Day. I understand about four hundred things now that I did not last year.
- 21
Happy Father’s Day. I am doing your bedtime routine, word for word.
Questions people actually ask
What do you write in a Father’s Day card from a daughter?
One thing he taught you or did for you, and what you use it for now. Specific and slightly unglamorous is what lands — the university drives, the tyre, the touchline.
What do you write if you are not close?
"Happy Father’s Day. Thinking of you today." A short honest card is a real card, and it does not commit you to more than you mean.