Fancy dress father

It's the perfect story to hear on Father's Day. Dale Price dressed up in 170 funky costumes to wave his son and a school bus full of his pals, goodbye everyday

Fancy dress father

It's the perfect story to hear on Father's Day. Dale Price dressed up in 170 funky costumes to wave his son and a school bus full of his pals, goodbye everyday

It can be embarrassing when your parents wave you off to school, but when you are a 15 year-old teenager and your dad insists on dressing in a different comical outfit everyday, you have to feel for Rain Price.

His father Dale has adopted 170 wacky costumes to see off the school bus as it passes the family home in American Fork, Utah.

Dale Price as a mermaid, a secret service agent and wonder woman

It started when Rain was waved off on the first day of the school year by his normally-dressed pop. But it changed the next morning when the teenager was horrified to see his dad wearing a San Diego Chargers helmet. Since then, Rain and his school friends have witnessed a mermaid, a Mariachi, a bride and a scary clown giving them a cheery send-off. Mr Price even setup a toilet outside his front door and sat on it with his pants down and a newspaper.

"It's a way of letting him know that we really care about him, but do something a little different... It's a father's way of (saying I love you)," Mr Price told KSL.

But his mortified son took some time to get the joke.

Rain, now 16, explains, "When he did it the first day I was in shock. It's my first day of sophomore year.

You don't want to see your dad dressing up in a wedding dress, waving at you on the bus."

But to his amazement, his classmates supported the wacky daddy and looked forward to seeing what he would come up with next. "Most of them like it and we roll down our windows and wave. It's fun," he says.

Not that Rain is going to encourage his father. "I'm not going to reward him for this. His reward is seeing my embarrassment," he said.

Mr Price, who refused to wear the same costume twice, admitted it took a big effort to keep up the daily ritual.
"We have spent less than fifty US dollars on costumes and props for this. Most of these costumes were borrowed from neighbours and friends (you'd be surprised what your neighbors have in their closets!), or found in our costume boxes from years past."

Luckily for Rain, the last day of school came on June 2. Mr Price waved him off in a pirate costume he had stored from a previous Halloween.

"I hope this lives with him for the rest of his life," Mr Price said. "He can use it against his kids and tell them, 'If you think you are embarrassed by me, you should have seen your grandfather'."

Dale used to own a chain of paintball stores, aptly named Pegleg Paintball. He is now a stay-at-home dad.