Gift for Mom - Decorated Flower Pot

a post by Jenni {aka Mom}

Decorated flower pot Mother's Day craft

 Our church has a tradition every Mother's Day, that on that particular Sunday men volunteer to work in the nursery and in the preschool children's church so all of the women can be in the service (typically women serve in those areas). Last year my husband was on nursery duty (he almost got through the service without having to change a diaper). This year he was Mr. Children's Church, with the help of a dutiful teenage boy.

My husband thought it would be nice to do a craft with the kids that would double as a Mother's Day gift, and after some brainstorming this is what we came up with: decorated flower pots. We did most of the prep work ahead of time so that what actually had to be done in the short time with the kids was manageable, but if you were to do this at home with your children you could include them in the whole process. Some version of these would make a cute birthday gift for grandma, teacher appreciation gift, or any number of other variations - get creative!

First we printed out flower templates from online. Google "free printable flower template" and you'll find that there are many out there. We cut out the templates and traced the flowers we needed onto construction paper and pretty scrapbook paper we had on hand, and cut those out. Three 4" flowers for each pot were reserved for the children to decorate, and five or six 2" flowers were prepared to attach to each pot ahead of time.

2" flowers ready to go

We acquired photos of the children ahead of time, edited them on the computer to fit in a circle center of the 4" flowers, printed & cut them out. Then we packaged a baggie for each child with the 4" flowers for them to decorate, and the photos for us to glue to the middle of the flower afterward. We made 2 extra baggies with simple yellow centers for the flowers in case there were visitors whose pictures we did not have.

Baggies ready to distribute to the children (my husband hung on to the photos while they decorated the flowers).

My husband picked out 8" hanging pots of impatiens, and painted the outside of the pots using paint we had at home leftover from other projects. We only needed 5 pots, because the class he was teaching is small. You could adjust the pot and flower size as needed depending on how many you plan to make and what your budget is.

We typed up Proverbs 31:28 "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also and he praiseth her" on little ovals and printed them. Those were cut out and glued to a backing of scrapbook paper. You could use any number of quotes and messages. Something about blooming under mother's care would be cute.

(Side note: please be sensitive to the particular households who will be receiving these. Thankfully we had two-parent stable homes to work with, but that is not always the case. Just be aware and make adjustments accordingly - some families find Mothers Day and other holidays to be very painful.)  

Proverbs 31:28 glue-ons

Also ahead of time, I glued on the Proverbs 31:28 pieces, drew stems with a Sharpee, and glued on the 2" flowers. I left 3 stems free on each pot for the flowers that the children would decorate. We used a hot glue gun to attach all the flowers and the Proverbs pieces to the pot.

8" pot of impatiens - painted, stems drawn, 2" flowers glued on.

Once at church, my husband distributed the 4" flowers to the children and allowed them to decorate them.

4" flowers ready to decorate

Once the 4" flowers were decorated, my husband used a small amount of white glue to attach the photo centers. I laid them out un-decorated here to give you an idea of how they'd look.

4" flowers with photo centers

Once the flowers were done, my husband and his helper washed the kids up. Then while his helper dished out snacks my husband hot glued the 4" flowers to the pots, and, TA-DA! Personalized Mother's Day gifts!

Close-up of photo flower on Mother's Day flower pot gift

Decorated 4" flower on Mother's Day flower pot craft

Proverb's 31:28 Gift for Mom

Finished Mother's Day flower pot gift - don't forget to water them!

(Side note: If you were to do these at home and had the time, it would be nice to Mod Podge the flowers on and give the whole painted area a protective coating. I imagine that even under a covered porch the paper on these won't last very long.)