I love making gifts for Mother’s and Father’s Days. You can mark the year, reuse them, and remember how tiny those babies were and how small their hand prints were. So when it comes to which crafty gifts will mean the most year after year, it’s important to make something that will be used and plays to the activities and hobbies that the receiver has.
So I started to think about hobbies that my husband has. I’m going to be completely honest. He doesn’t have a whole ton of hobbies. He works and then he spends the majority of his free time with us as a family. Needless to say, this made thinking up something incredibly difficult.
Then I realized one of the things he really loves to do in the summer is grill. I’m talking every night when it isn’t raining grill. We plan our entire summer activities around meals on the grill.
The man can grill.
Pretty much the only thing on the grill he hasn’t mastered are kabobs. Poor man, for the life of him, that chicken is still raw if it’s on the kabob. Make it a chicken breast, and the meat is tender, cuts with a fork, and is juicy. Put the piece of chicken on a stick, and it becomes impossible to grill. I don’t know. But then again, I’m not volunteering at the grill.
So with the grill theme in mind, I started trying to brainstorm what my husband doesn’t have for his grill. He has a nice spatula. He has a nice cover and tools. Thanks to last year’s Father’s Day gift, he has an awesome apron that he wears when he cooks, bakes, or grills. He could, however, use a nice plate to put the meat and veggies on after they’ve cooked.
The idea of the saying on the plate came to me kind of like a joke. We call our children’s hands patties (like patty cake) and our children’s feet tootsies. They are little nicknames carried over from what my mom called them when I was little. How clever is it, then, to do handprints for a grilling plate where you might put hamburger patties!? Ok, I thought it was clever. We like puns in our family, so it made sense for us.
Supplies Needed:
- Large White Plate
- Acrylic
- Paint Pen or Oil-Based Sharpie
- Foam Brush
- Plate or Pie Tin (to hold paint)
Directions:
1. Prep the plate by wiping it and ensuring that the plate is completely dry prior to starting. You want to make sure that the plate doesn’t have any dust that can get caught in the paint.
2. I did one hand print per child based on the size of the plate so that there would be enough room for the handprints as well as the words. Test positioning prior to applying paint to their hands to ensure proper spacing.
3. Paint one hand, applying more paint than you think there should be and ensuring that all fingertips and sides of fingers have paint, and then press firmly into the plate. Make sure that their fingers are spread slightly and press gently on the middle of their hand to ensure their palm comes in contact with the plate. This may seem obvious, but neither of my little ones’ hands originally showed their palms on the plate after the first print, so we had to try again.
4. Do the same for the second hand. If there is a little smudging or area that you need to clean up, you can use a damp corner of a paper towel to clean up edges.
5. Once the handprints are dry, use the paint marker to write the saying on the side. I like practicing whatever writing I plan to use and to measure out how the words will fit.
6. Let the plate dry or “cure” for at least 21 days prior to use. One of the best things to do is to place it in the sun when you can, but ensure that it does not get wet as the paint can run prior to curing.
7. Once the paint has cured, the plate will be hand-washable.
8. Use the plate for all of your grilled dinners!
I’m so excited for my husband to be able to use the plate for future dinners. It is the perfect size to hold burgers, brats, steaks, kabobs (if he ever masters that), or delicious grilled veggies!