Gotta Paint for Christmas!

by Alicia An advantage to having a child is avoiding the expensive Christmas gifts and presenting family and friends something handmade from your little ones.  These are the gifts that will be truly treasured.

For my son’s first Christmas last year, we went to Gotta Paint to create some unique gifts.  Gotta Paint is a ceramic, mosaic and glass fusing studio.  They have various ceramic pieces that are easy for children to handle like mugs, plates, tea pots, bowls, piggy banks and wine goblets. Currently for Christmas, they also have a huge selection of Christmas shaped plates, ornaments, and knick knacks.

We decided to paint a couple of ceramic plates for Grandparents last year using handprint and footprint art. The wonderful staff helped us through the whole process (especially the hold-press-release of the very wiggly hands and feet). They had all kinds of ideas for us and we also found inspiration from samples of other children’s art displayed on the shelves and walls.  We were very happy with how they turned out!

Once we finished painting, the plates were sent off to be glazed and fired in the oven and we were able to pick them up at a later date. We purchased a plate stand for each and now our son’s Grandparents can display their plates every Christmas and remind all of us just how small those fingers and toes once were!

This Christmas season our son was able to do some of the painting himself and proudly painted some ornaments and a mug. We made an appointment and sneaked in just in time before the Christmas deadline.

Check out Gotta Paint’s online calendar to view daily promotions.  We especially like their Food Bank days; with a donation to the Food Bank they wave your studio fees!  You are encouraged to call ahead to book an appointment (appointments are needed during this busy season) and although Christmas deadlines have past, they have a number of great promotions during the winter holidays.

Will your children be giving handmade gifts to family and friends this year? Don’t forget to put your child’s name and age on the back or bottom of the keepsake!

Alicia is mom to 19 month old, little E, and is new to blogging. You can read her blog at, I Found My Feet.