Gifts from Kids: Handpainted Mugs

  It’s the time of year when you need great gift ideas from kids. Between mother’s day and then end of school, you can never have too many presents that have been made by your sweet babies laying around. So tonight let me give you another great idea…. Handpainted Coffee Mugs. I didn’t really have my kids make these as a present to myself. Simply I ran out of coffee mugs that weren’t chipped or too small for the amount of coffee that I drink. So the other night when I was at a discount store, I found four huge plain white coffee mugs. Their blandness was calling to me so I bought them all for ten dollars and then headed to the craft store. These are great simple gifts for your kids to make. Have them handpaint a coffee mug and then simply fill it with items that the person you’re giving them too has an interest in.  Starbucks gift cards, specialty hot tea bags, tons of new pens and pencils, or even just filled full of chocolate candies, it’s a great gift to give that has been made with love. The best news is that it’s simple and the kids will love it. All you need is plain white coffee mugs, enamel paints and paint brushes. You can buy cheap pots of enamel paint made for painting on glass that will work great or spend more for special porcelain paint that will last longer and be a higher quality. Since this is my house and things get chipped, cracked, dropped, and drop kicked on a regular basis, I went with the cheaper paints, it’s up to you. I just gave each kid a coffee mug, the paints, paint brushes, water to wash their brushes and paper towels to dry them and let them go to town.  In the interest of learning, we did spend a few minutes studying mexican pottery shapes before we started working but I think the actual designs were a little over their heads for their age group (6 and under). So they just did modern, abstract art…. or that is what I’ll call it. Even Princess Goofy at age 21 months loved it and painted the whole cup by herself and then wanted to paint more. This was my favorite craft project to do with my kids so far. It was so relaxing and they worked so hard and so long that I got to make one too…. To finish, let the paint dry for 24 hours and then bake in a 350 degree oven for ten minutes to heat set the paint and make them dishwasher safe. Nothing is allowed in this house that isn’t dishwasher safe. I would probably bathe the dogs in the dishwasher if they would fit… Drink up! I linked up: