Gifts for Plumber Dads Who Fix Everything Except Their Own Sink

Buy a plumber dad the Dad Est. Hat with the kids' names on the back, $39. It is the one thing in his truck he did not buy himself. Add the Hard to Kill. Easy to Hug. tee at $32 and you are done. Order by Dec 10 for Christmas.

Skip the tools

He owns three pipe wrenches, two of which he lent out in 2019. He will not tell you which tool he is missing, because he is not missing one. He is missing a Saturday.

What he does not own is something that says what he is to the people who live in his house. He is the guy who gets the 11 p.m. call, crawls under somebody's house, and comes home smelling like a wet basement. The kids think he is a superhero. He thinks he is a guy who found a leak. The gift is for the kids' version.

If he...	Buy this	Cost
Says he wants nothing	Dad Est. Hat with the kids' names	$39
Lives in a shirt	Hard to Kill. Easy to Hug. tee	$32
Crawls under houses in January	Sheepdog Hoodie	$59
Takes the on-call phone to bed	0300 Club Trucker	$34
Drinks cold coffee in the van	Hard to Kill Tumbler	$36
Has a bare garage wall	Dad Code Poster, from $29	$29
Needs a bigger gift	Hat + hoodie (free shipping)	$98

8 picks for the plumber dad

1. Dad Est. Hat, with the kids' names, $39. Top pick. Dad Est. and the year he became a dad on the front, up to four kids' names embroidered on the back. Three fonts, three colors (black, navy, khaki). It is a soft, unstructured cap with an adjustable strap, so there is no size to guess. He wears a hat on every job anyway, and now the kids ride along into every crawl space. It is made to order, so type the names carefully and tick the spelling box. Each name takes up to 10 letters, so "Bartholomew" is a conversation with your wife, not a design problem.

2. Hard to Kill. Easy to Hug. Tee, $32. Six words on the front. He spends the day with things that leak and stink. He spends the evening on the floor with the kids. The shirt covers both.

3. Protect. Provide. Lead. Tee, $32. Three rules stacked on the front. He already runs the van, the schedule and the house that way. The tee just puts it where people can read it.

4. Sheepdog Hoodie, $59. SHEEPDOG in stencil across the back. Plumbers work in unheated basements, garages, crawl spaces and the back of a van from November to March, and frozen-pipe season does not care that it is 4 a.m. This is for the walk to the truck. It runs small, so order one size up.

5. 0300 Club Trucker, $34. Embroidered 0300 on a mesh-back trucker with a snap. Any plumber who has taken an on-call text at that hour knows what it means. Everyone else just sees a good hat.

6. Names and Years Tee, $34. His kids' names and birth years across the chest, up to four. It is personalized and made to order, so check the spelling and place it early. Good if he is not a hat guy, which is rare for a plumber.

7. Hard to Kill Tumbler, $36. A 20 oz stainless tumbler with a lid and metal straw. It fits the van cup holder and survives the commute. Hand wash only. He will want to put it in the dishwasher. Do not let him.

8. The Dad Code Poster, from $29. Five rules on heavy matte paper, unframed. It comes in 12 x 16, 18 x 24 and 24 x 32 inches. Hang it in the garage where the shutoff valve is. Nobody has ever labeled that valve, so the poster is the first useful thing on that wall.

Browse the rest in men's tees, drinkware and personalized gifts.

Why the hat leads

A plumber is on call. The water heater always dies on a holiday. The pipe always freezes on the coldest night of the year. He answers the phone at 2 a.m. and goes, because somebody's kitchen is flooding and he is the one who can fix it.

He does that for strangers. The hat is for the people who wait up. Their names go where he can see them in the mirror when he is parked in a driveway at 3 a.m., tired and a long way from home.

These are off-duty clothes

Say it on the card. They are not work PPE, not protective gear and not flame-resistant. He wears them at home, at the game and at the kitchen table. Under a sink he wears the shirt that is already ruined. Tell him that before he gets ideas.

How to pick his size and fit

• Dad Est. Hat. One size fits most, adjustable strap. No size to pick, only the names, the year, a font and a color.
• Tees. Unisex fit, true to size. Between sizes, go up. Check the tag on a tee he already wears.
• Hoodie. It runs small. Order one size larger than his usual.
• Poster. Three sizes. If you are not sure, 18 x 24 fills a garage wall without taking it over.
• No idea. Buy the hat or the tumbler. Neither one has a size to get wrong.

Get to free shipping without padding

Shipping is free over $75. Flat rate is $5.95 under that. Hat plus tee is $71, which is $4 short. Add the $36 tumbler and the three come to $107. Or buy the $39 hat and the $59 hoodie for $98. The cart has the final numbers. If he will not use a third item, pay the $5.95 and move on.

Personalized items are made to order, so order the hat first. It ships in about 6 to 10 business days. Order by Dec 10 for Christmas.

What to write on the card

• "You fix everyone else's pipes. This one is just for you."
• "Hard to kill. Easy to hug. Come home dry. Or don't, we'll hug you anyway."
• "From the four who count the minutes until your van pulls in."

If the kids sign it, leave their handwriting alone. It will end up in the glove box.

Four mistakes

1. Buying more tools. He has opinions about tools, and you are not a plumber.
2. Misspelling a name on the hat. We print exactly what you enter. Read it twice.
3. Guessing a hoodie size. It runs small.
4. Ordering late. Order by Dec 10 for Christmas.

Related reading

• Gifts for mechanic dads
• Gifts for electrician dads
• Gifts for welders

Third Shift Dad is made by a former law enforcement officer and dad of 3, for dads who protect and provide. Pick the hat, add the tee, and order by Dec 10 for Christmas. Shop the line