If you went over to The Mustard Ceiling yesterday then you learned that my favorite holiday tradition is doing Christmas crafts with my kids. Since they were born we’ve hand made gifts for the grandparents. We’ve made everything from ornaments stamped with a hand or footprint to painted canvas bags and aprons. These gifts have always been well received. Is there a grandparent out there that doesn’t enjoy receiving a gift that their grandchild hand made for them? I think not. I’ve always tried to choose something simple and easy for the kids to make that would also be useful to the grandparents. It’s been a great way to get the kids involved in the gift giving part of Christmas.
This year I thought we would try something we’ve never done before – glass painting. I picked up my supplies at Walmart. I bought each grandparent a glass coffee mug ($2.50). This way each set of grandparents (we have 4 – that movie Four Christmases is like a page out of our own playbook) would receive a set of 2; one painted by my boy and one painted by my girl. The only exception is my dad who will receive a glass mug and plate ($1.00) instead of 2 glass mugs because he’s a bachelor.
Walmart also sells the glass paint you need. I decided we only needed two colors – red and green ($1.50 each).
The directions are on the back of the bottle and they’re easy to follow.
I washed the glassware with soap and water. I never wiped them down with alcohol as the directions said I should (I’m a rebel I guess) and it worked out just fine. I gave the kids a quick lesson:
“You don’t need a lot of paint on your brush or round sponge applicator (we already had these and they make perfect little polka dots). A little bit of paint will go a long way. You only want to paint the outside of the mug because you don’t want the paint to touch the “stuff” that will be poured inside. “
Then they were ready!
Crafting in old pajamas is perfect because you don’t have to worry about any stains.
When they were done painting I let them dry overnight and then I popped them in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. You actually put them in the oven before you turn the oven on and you leave them in there until cool.
Then you pull them out and they can be washed. I will recommend that they only hand wash them though as I’m not sure the dishwasher can be trusted.
I also bought a set of four bowls ($1.50 each), and the kids got to paint their own Christmas cereal/soup/popcorn bowl.
I painted two – one for Mrs. Nice (that is obviously me) and one for Mr. Naughty (yeah that’s right)!
Except I should have painted the words on backwards. Oh well.
Apart from the fact that we had a good time and the kids have made something they are proud to give as gifts to their grandparents, what really makes this my favorite holiday tradition are the memories we make doing this every year. This year I looked over at my son while he was painting and I commented on how great his design looked. He replied and I quote……..
Such a proud mom moment for me! A to the men son! My hub loved what he said so much that he wrote it on our kitchen chalkboard.
Who knows what we’ll do next year or what will be said; but I’m already looking forward to it! What is your favorite holiday tradition? Have you tried glass painting? I think I may make a set of wine glasses for my mom next year or maybe for Mother’s Day!
I’ve got some really fun stuff happening this weekend, and I can’t wait to fill you in next week! Happy Weekend!
Very sweet! Your children are adorable.
I painted wine glasses.
Dee