Father’s Day gifts: How to maximize your points and miles on purchases

Father’s Day may be alarmingly soon if you haven’t recently glanced at a calendar. Father’s Day is June 16 this year, so there’s not much time left to order gifts and secure restaurant reservations.

If you’ve already made all the necessary arrangements, kudos for being better-organized offspring than most of us. But if you’re still at square one, there are some great ways to earn points and miles while purchasing gifts or meals for your dad.

Here are a few strategies to help you get the biggest bang for your bighearted buck.

Earn rewards shopping for gifts

FRESHSPLASH/GETTY IMAGES Online shopping portals are one of the most powerful tools in the world of travel rewards and cash back. When you begin your shopping trip with a portal, you will be redirected to the merchant’s website, so your shopping experience will be the same as if you’d started at the merchant’s site — except you’ll earn extra rewards. Best of all, the rewards you earn via a shopping portal are in addition to the rewards you earn for spending on your credit card.

Here are a handful of good shopping portal deals for potential Father’s Day gifts that are available at the time of publishing.

Bass Pro Shops

Cabela’s

Uncommon Goods

Macy’s

Saks Fifth Avenue

2 Membership Rewards points (or 2% cash back) per dollar via Rakuten
2% cash back with TopCashback
Remember to use the up-to-$50 bi-annual statement credit from your The Platinum Card® from American Express. Enrollment is required for select benefits.

Hugo Boss

Ace Hardware

Since shopping portal offers change frequently, I recommend using a shopping portal aggregator site like Cashback Monitor to compare returns and help determine which portal to use once you decide to purchase your gift from a particular retailer.

Earn rewards for sporting events and concerts

ROLFO/GETTY IMAGES

You can purchase tickets to sporting events and concerts from various sites, and they all provide dramatically different return rates. The returns listed below were available at the time of publication.

Vivid Seats

StubHub

Ticketmaster

Again, I recommend using a shopping portal aggregator to compare current offers for your desired merchant.

Earn rewards for eating out

FERTNIG/GETTY IMAGES

Whether you intend to brave the crowds for a Father’s Day meal or stay home and order takeout or delivery, make sure you’re using the right credit card to make your purchase. Many rewards cards offer bonus points on dining purchases, such as:

American Express® Gold Card: 4 points per dollar spent at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 3 points per dollar spent on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®: 10 points per dollar spent on Chase Dining purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards when you make prepaid restaurant reservations, order takeout or join virtual cooking events; 3 points per dollar spent on other dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: 6 points per dollar spent on dining at U.S. restaurants, including takeout and delivery.

If you have the Chase Freedom Flex℠, don’t forget that restaurants are one of the bonus categories this quarter. Instead of the usual 3% cash back earned on dining, you’ll earn 7% cash back (or 7 points per dollar) through the end of June on up to $1,500 in combined purchases (activation required).

And if your chosen restaurant participates in one of the many airline and hotel dining rewards programs, you can earn even more points or miles by paying with a card linked to your account.

Save with promo codes and credit card offers

Some rewards cards offer targeted statement credits and bonus rewards on everything from retail stores and restaurants to travel and tickets. It’s worth checking them out to see if there are any helpful offers for your upcoming Father’s Day purchases.

You can often use these offers in tandem with a shopping portal, which is a great way to receive an extra layer of savings or bonus rewards.

For example, here are some of my current Chase offers that could come in handy for Father’s Day.

I also have a string of Amex Offers that could help me save money or earn extra points on Father’s Day gifts.

list of Amex offers: Lowes, Best Buy, Microsoft — AMERICANEXPRESS.COM

Eligibility for these offers is limited. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming.

You can also check other apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats, which now deliver many nonfood items. For example, the Office Depot page on DoorDash has items ranging from office chairs to desk lights. Click on the “Deals” page to see what’s on sale.

DOORDASH.COM One thing to note is that you may not always be able to use promotional codes and earn bonus rewards through shopping portals. Sometimes a promotional code will cancel the bonus rewards a shopping portal would otherwise provide. Be sure to read the fine print on the shopping portal before you make your purchase.

Bottom line

There are lots of ways to turn your Father’s Day gift-giving into a springboard for your next vacation. Thanks to online shopping portals, targeted deals like Amex Offers and credit card bonus categories, shopping for gifts and experiences can be more rewarding than you might expect.

Alternatively, if money is tight this year, check out our guide to using points and miles to give gifts with zero out-of-pocket cost.