Leave it 2 the Imagination: So here's what I made for the kids in my class this year...

So I decided to make a little something for all the kids in my class this year. I decided to make snowmen mugs and filled them with "Snowman Soup."

However, I decided to follow something on Pinterest that I had wanted to do for a few months…but it's definitely something that I DON'T recommend doing. I wasted so much time!!!!

I decided to make the Sharpie mugs that you bake in the oven that are apparently "permanent." Folks, don't waste your time! I did a bunch of research on them and followed the tips provided by others who had similar problems that I did, and it still didn't work properly! Parts of the snowmen faces continued to chip off. Instead, I had to re-do all of them 3 times…and I ended up using ceramic paint instead (this can also be used on glass). So don't go the Sharpie route (I even tried the oil paint Sharpie pens….still didn't work).

What you need:

White ceramic mugs (Dollarama - $1 each)
Black & orange ceramic paint (I used Folkart Enamel Acrylic paint)
Thin tips that you can place on the top of the paint bottles so you don't need to use a paint brush (I bought a pack of 6 and used my 40% off coupon at Michaels)
Oven
Hot chocolate
Marshmallows (optional - a lot of my kids can't have gelatin)
Small candy canes
Black construction paper
Clear baggies
Snowman soup label (I used this one: http://christmas.organizedhome.com/sites/christmas.organizedhome.com/files/image/pdf/gift_tags_snowman_soup_swirl.pdf)

What to do:

Take any stickers off of the mugs. Ensure that they are clean. Use some rubbing alcohol to clean the surface you will be painting.
Take the lids off the black and orange paints and replace the lids with the thin painting tips.
Draw the eyes and mouth onto the surface of the mug.
Draw the carrot nose onto the surface of the mug.
After drawing the snowmen faces on all of the mugs, let it dry. I believe they need to dry for an hour before cooking.
Place all of the mugs on a cooking sheet (or two in my case).
Place the cooking sheets holding the mugs into the oven. Turn the oven on and up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 30 minutes. Once the 30 minutes is up, turn the oven off and leave the mugs in the oven. If you take the mugs out of the oven right away, they can actually break from the drastic change in temperature.
Once the oven is cooled down, take the baking sheets with your mugs out, and place on top of the oven. I let my mugs stay out overnight (it was late when I cooked them).
Now, put together the little baggies of Snowman Soup. I took a little baggie, put in a pouch of hot chocolate, small candy cane, marshmallows (for my kids who can have gelatin), and a little tag with the snowman soup verse. I then topped each baggie off with a little snowman hat (I cut them out of black construction paper). I also have a couple of kids who are lactose intolerant, so instead of putting hot chocolate pouches in the clear baggies, I put hot apple cider baggies in theirs, along with 2 candy canes.
Place the baggies inside of the mugs.