Great Gifts, Artful Teachers’ Mugs

 

I may be late in posting this to help you out this year, unless you have school into next week.  When I taught school in Utah, we never got out until a couple of days before Christmas.  Is that still the case, Utah peeps?My kids are out for break after today, so today was the day to give the teachers their Christmas gifts.

 I borrowed this idea directly from Design Mom, although her version is a bit neater.  I wound up letting my kids pretty much have free reign, which they loved.  Design Mom bought her white mugs at Goodwill.  I found mine at the Dollar Store.  We both got our Porcelaine pens at Michaels.  I got the four pack with red, yellow, green, and blue pens.  I really wish I had remembered a Michaels coupon, because the set ran about $16 for the four pens.  But the thing that is great about this product is that after you bake the decorated mugs for 35mins., they are dishwasher resistant, and hopefully can be used like any other mug.  I saw a lot of kits with mugs to decorate at Michaels, but they aren’t intended to be used or washed, and I like giving gifts that are functional.

My daughter added her teacher’s monogram and drew a lovely Christmas tree on the reverse side.

My three-year old wanted every square inch of the mug covered with her pretty designs.  I put a holly border on the bottom, but probably shouldn’t have since she was so thorough in covering the mug.

My son drew a self-portrait, as well as a picture of his teacher on one side and his friend on the other.

I was going to go with a homemade hot cocoa mix inside, but was running out of steam and time, so I just put a couple of packages of Swiss Miss in the mug as well as some candy sticks and mini flavored creamers so they could make their cocoa more exciting, if they choose.

We finished them off with scraps of fabric and ribbon.  Trenton used one of Amy’s cute printables found here for his gift tag.  And the girls each picked one of these fun printables by another Amy @ Creature Comforts to use as their gift tags.

They just got home and said that their teachers loved their gifts!  If you like this idea you might like the scrabble tile necklaces they made a couple of years ago.  That way their teachers can remember your kids forever…in a good way…hopefully!  🙂

If you are too late for teachers, you might adapt this idea for girlfriends, neighbors, or co-workers.  I’d love to see what you do!  For more gift giving ideas, see all of my posts in this series.