Painted flowerpots make great gifts from kids

When family birthdays and holidays roll around, we like to have our daughter Ally, 4, make something special for her grandparents, aunts or uncle.

Usually that has meant taking Ally to the local pottery place to paint a plate, bowl or mug. And while these gifts are always enjoyed and cherished, I think Ally’s relatives are coming to expect them. Also, with a big family, all that pottery studio time can get expensive.

So I started looking for easier and more inexpensive ways for Ally to create one-of-a-kind gifts for her loved ones. And one great idea was to have Ally paint and decorate flower pots. 

First Ally and I went to the store and picked out an inexpensive brown clay flower pot, a plant to go in it and some potting soil. The total was about $10. When we got home we gathered some paint, paintbrushes and an old t-shirt of my husband’s for Ally to paint in and Ally painted the pot all over. After it dried, we found odds and ends from her art supplies box to glue on the sides.

Depending on whether the flower pot will be inside or outside, you can decide whether to glue on foam pieces, buttons, shells or ribbons, etc. or leave it plain. 

Ally has created a few of these flowerpots now and they have all been received with excitement and are proudly displayed on relatives’ porches, decks and patio tables. Ally loves giving her one-of-a-kind gifts and seeing the plants grow when she goes to visit her grandparents and relatives.

So the next time you’re stumped for a gift idea from your kids, the answer may be as simple as a quick trip to a garden center or a quick walk out to your garden shed.