Internet Christmas shopping is on the rise. and surprisingly, I did none of mine online.  This year, I switched gears on my holiday gifting; did zero online and all in-store with quite a few DIYs.

This post was a tricky one to time.  I wanted to put it up it earlier, however, in light of not spoiling the surprise, I had to wait until after I had gifted them to their recipients.  Fortunately for me, both recipients were headed to Winnipeg for Christmas and I had to get them their gifts before they left.

While trying to think up gift ideas, I came across some cocktail books that I thought would make the perfect gifts for 2 of my friends; one to go to a friend as a hostess gift and the other, to a friend who was curating her perfect bar cart.   Wanting to add a personalized touch to both gifts, I DIY’d some accompanying bar accessories with a little bit of paint.

F O R  T H E  H O S T E S S

What better accompaniment to a punch + pitcher cocktail book than a pitcher?!

After sketching out a design, with glass paint, I painted the sketched pattern directly onto the pitcher.  With a gold glass paint pen, I added some defining touches and a stylized “M” for Morgan.

F O R  T H E  B A R  C A R T  C U R A T O R

I assembled + DIY’d a collection of cocktail ready barware accessories.

• Quench | a book of hand crafted cocktail recipes from hard cider to Kombucha
• cocktail napkins
• swizzle straws
• cocktail picks
• festive sugar sprinkle rimmer
• a set of saucer glasses personalized with glass paint

Before I sealed the gift with a bow, I placed  the straws + picks in a mason jar, carefully wrapped each saucer in a ton of paper, and placed all cocktail pieces in festive gift box.

** C U R I N G  G L A S S  P A I N T * *

allow paint to completely dry
place in 350ºF oven + bake for 30mins
turn off heat + keep item in oven
remove once cooled to room temp

O R

do what I did…paranoid of baking delicate stemmed glasses in the oven, cure by allowing the painted piece to sit and dry for 21 days.

I know this post is coming a little late for Christmas gifting, but I am sharing by chance that it will serve as inspiration or spark a DIY idea for a future host gift.  I have more DIY gifting ideas to come.  However, they will have to wait until the gifts have landed in the hands of their owners.

Happy Holiday Gifting!