Being a mildly creative person I wanted to do something fun for my mom, grandma and mother-in-law for mother's day last year. I wanted it to be personalized and unique to MLO. Several companies in our area do hand and foot prints of your baby in clay that they glaze and fire and they look beautiful but cost a bit more than I was interested in paying. Additionally, I wanted to make something so that both MLO and I had our stamps on it, so to speak. Another mom suggested going to our local 'paint-your-own-pottery' shop to stamp MLO's foot prints on something (hand prints are next to impossible, even for a 1 year old- they just clench). All of the adults in our extended families drink coffee, so I went down, picked out mugs and painted away.
There are a few keys to success:
I ended up with some really cute mugs that were totally DIY. They were not professional quality, but hey, they're going to your parents. I love the idea of making something for your folks that includes an aspect of your child so that they benefit from a double dose of personalized gift giving!
A less DIY but totally personalized gift option is the photo mug or calendar. I use Snapfish to create mine. Photo mugs are actually a bit cheaper than the paint your own options, and they are totally cheesy, but grandparents love them. Calendars are great around Christmas time since the new year is about to start. I used pictures from each month of MLO's first year and it was so cute. Already we have compared MLO this year to MLO last year using the calendars and it's fun to see.
A slightly more personalized option is the brag book. You can find classy looking ones at CR Gibson or Etsy or you can make one yourself. Giving the book already filled with pictures personalizes it and makes it more meaningful. This gift is more of a grandma gift, since they usually have purses with ample enough room to carry such an object. For a similar idea you can get a relatively inexpensive digital photo frame with a memory card already filled with pictures of your little one and/or your family through the years. This works great for dads as it's something they can have at work.
Those are my ideas, what are yours?
There are a few keys to success:
- Bring someone else to handle baby. I brought my mother-in-law which allowed her to pick out the colors she wanted on her mug.
- Don't try to reprint baby's footprint if the first one didn't quite make it. If you have to, paint in the toes.
- The imprint is a three person job- Grandma held MLO, while an employee held baby's foot still and I rolled the mug across MLOs foot.
- The older the baby, the harder it is. I took MLO just after his birthday to finally make a mug for myself and he was far more difficult to entertain at 12 months than he was at 2 and 3. He also was more engaged during the imprint, which proved more challenging as he tried to pull away.
- Use a lighter color as the base color and use a very dark color for the footprint. You don't get the advantage of multiple layers of paint for the imprint so it's important that the print be much darker in color than the base color.
I ended up with some really cute mugs that were totally DIY. They were not professional quality, but hey, they're going to your parents. I love the idea of making something for your folks that includes an aspect of your child so that they benefit from a double dose of personalized gift giving!
A less DIY but totally personalized gift option is the photo mug or calendar. I use Snapfish to create mine. Photo mugs are actually a bit cheaper than the paint your own options, and they are totally cheesy, but grandparents love them. Calendars are great around Christmas time since the new year is about to start. I used pictures from each month of MLO's first year and it was so cute. Already we have compared MLO this year to MLO last year using the calendars and it's fun to see.
A slightly more personalized option is the brag book. You can find classy looking ones at CR Gibson or Etsy or you can make one yourself. Giving the book already filled with pictures personalizes it and makes it more meaningful. This gift is more of a grandma gift, since they usually have purses with ample enough room to carry such an object. For a similar idea you can get a relatively inexpensive digital photo frame with a memory card already filled with pictures of your little one and/or your family through the years. This works great for dads as it's something they can have at work.
Those are my ideas, what are yours?
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