Best Dad Mug – World’s Okayest Dad

Not the best. Not the worst. Comfortably, proudly okay. This might just be the best dad mug for a father who has never wanted the pressure of being number one.

He turns up. He does the school run, burns the odd sausage and tells the same three stories on rotation. That is a solid, dependable, thoroughly okay performance, and it deserves a trophy.

Let us be honest about the competition. There are billions of fathers out there, and somebody has to sit proudly in the middle of the pack. Yours does it with real commitment.

Why the best dad mug says okayest

Mugs that shout about the world’s greatest father are lovely, but they set a very high bar. One forgotten bin night and the title is in doubt. The okayest dad has no such worries.

The humour is the affectionate kind. Aussie families show love by taking the mickey, and a dad who can laugh at himself is worth ten who cannot. Giving him this is really a roundabout way of saying he is doing great.

It is refreshingly honest, too. Nobody is the best at everything, but he is the best at being yours, and that is what the joke is quietly getting at.

He will probably take it to work. He will put it on his desk where colleagues can see it, and he will tell them his kids think he is hilarious. Let him have that.

The trophy design

The artwork shows a gold trophy cup tied with a ribbon bow. It sits in front of retro rainbow arcs in mustard, orange, brown and teal, a colour scheme that could have come straight off a seventies lounge room wall.

WORLD’S OKAYEST DAD appears in matching retro lettering. The effect is half sporting award, half vintage poster, and entirely suited to a man whose finest athletic moment was the school sack race.

Those warm retro tones give it a proper vintage feel, like a prize from a school fete long ago. It is a good-looking mug even before anyone reads the words.

The fine print on his prize

Every award comes with terms and conditions. Thankfully these ones are all good news:

• It is a ceramic mug in glossy white, so the retro colours have room to shine
• It takes 11oz of his usual, which is about 325mL
• Each one is hand-printed in Australia, and the method is sublimation printing
• It can go in the microwave and the dishwasher, because an okay dad does not hand wash

So it is a prize he can use daily, without any polishing or a spot on the mantelpiece. That is more than can be said for most trophies.

Award ceremonies worth holding

A trophy needs a presentation, even a modest one. Consider these occasions:

• Father’s Day: Read out a short speech listing his most average achievements
• Birthday: Another year older, and still consistently fine at it
• New dad: He put the nappy on backwards, but he is trying, and that counts
• Thank-you: For the lifts, the loans and the advice nobody asked for
• Just because: He remembered the school excursion note, for once, and should be rewarded

A word of advice: hand it over with a hug. The mug says okayest, the hug says the rest, and between the two of them he will get the message.

It suits stepdads and grandads who enjoy a ribbing as well. If he gives as good as he gets at family dinners, he is exactly the right recipient.

If you think he would prefer a design about his shed, his lawn or his barbecue, we have those as well. Take a look through all of our dad mugs and choose the trophy that fits.

Order 2 or more items and shipping is free within Australia. That makes it easy to recognise a second perfectly adequate man in your life.

And the winner is: him, more or less. Add the best dad mug for honest families to your cart and let the modest celebrations begin.