Inside: Looking for a creative DIY gift for Christmas, a Thank You or a Birthday? Combine beautiful old coffee mugs with propagated plants, and you’ve got a cheap (or free) earth-friendly gift! FREE printable gift tags and plant care instructions included.
Ever since I discovered plants as home decor seven years ago, I’ve been a slightly obsessed with plants person. Ok, for a while there, I was more than slightly obsessed.
…But only particular plants that I like.
I have a particular plant aesthetic, as I’m sure every “Plantie” does (Swiftie is to Taylor Swift lovers as Plantie is to Plant lovers) and when I inevitably give away a plant that doesn’t fit said aesthetic, my kids act like I’ve disowned a sibling.
I suppose it’s in every plant-obsessed person’s journey to get curious about propagating plants. As I’ve started propagating more and more, I started to wonder: what on earth am I’m going to do with all of these new plants?
There is, it seems, a plant threshold. It’s a home by home thing, I’ve decided, so as it turns out, you CAN have too many plants.
The “what do I do with all these plants” problem happened to coincide with the “what do I do with old coffee mugs that I love but no longer use” problem, and BOOM:
This DIY Plant in a Mug gift idea was born.
DIY Plant in a Mug (to Keep or Give as a Gift)
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Putting together a plant in a mug would be a great way to save coffee mugs from the landfill, propagate plants to keep (or to share with friends or family), OR to give as a thank you/Christmas/birthday gift.
You could give it with a plant fertilizer, too, or a bigger pot for when they outgrow their lil’ mug.
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1. Select a good plant to propagate (a.k.a. easy plants).
When you’re thinking about what kind of plant to give as a gift, I’d suggest choosing…
- green or light green pothos,
- spider plants, or
- aloe vera.
These are pretty easy to take care of and harder to kill if the recipient doesn’t have a green thumb (or at least it will die slower).
You can include care instructions with your gift. You can download the care instructions for these three plants HERE or at the end of this section. I would print those on white printer paper!
Select the plant you’d like to propagate and search for how to videos online.
Personally, with spider plant babies and pothos clippings, I’ve had success with both clippings in water and waiting for them to grow roots and putting the clippings directly in soil and watering liberally. Aloe plant babies tend to spring up in the same pot as the “mama” plant, given they have enough room.
If you go with aloe vera, they technically suggest a succulent specific soil, although I’ve never had problems with basic potting soil.
2. Prepare to drill a drainage hole through the bottom of the mug.
Without a drainage hole, you’ll quickly kill any little plants you put in a mug.
I read THIS tutorial to get the basics of drilling a hole in a mug. It didn’t go as smoothly as I expected, but you can learn from my trial and error. Yay for you!
You will need the following supplies…
- The coffee mug (duh)
- A drill
- Diamond drill bits (I have THESE)
- Pyrex measuring cup
- Water
Ready? Let’s do this!
Place the mug upside down and pour some water onto the bottom of the mug. You’ll be drilling through the water, similar to using wet saw to cut tiles.
Keep a pyrex with water close by to refresh the water.
3. Slowly drill the hole using diamond drill bits.
Again, you’ll need THESE drill bits (or similar).
Do NOT drill perpendicular to the mug. Place the drill at a slight incline above the mug, start the drill, and then gently put the drill bit against the ceramic.
If you apply too much pressure, the drill bit will stop spinning (at least, it did for me and my cheap drill). Let the rotation and the drill bit do the work, not downward pressure.
It’s a slow process. It probably took me 3-5 minutes of drilling to get through the mug.
I took breaks, dumping the water back into the pyrex measuring cup to check my progress. Then, I would add the water back to the mug and keep on drilling.
After a minute, it looked like this….
And eventually, you’ll have a beautifully perfect drainage hole in your mug, and it’s well on it’s way to becoming a planter that doesn’t kill your plant. Yay!
4. Put a coffee filter inside so that soil doesn’t spill out onto the counter when watered.
I have other plants where the soil sometimes leaks out if I overwater, and I wish I’d thought to put a coffee filter in the bottom!
Keep those surfaces clean, especially since you (or whoever you give this to) are likely not putting a plate under the mug.
5. Fill the mug halfway with soil. Then add the plant and top off with soil to cover the roots and stabilize the plant. Water if recommended for your plant.
Make sure to fully stabilize the plant, but not pack the soil too tightly. Leave at least an inch from the top of the mug to the soil/plant.
If you’re giving aloe, don’t water for at least a week after planting. For pothos and spider plants, you can water after putting in the mug.
Find free printable gift tags below! Tie on the handle with ribbon or raffia (THIS colorful roll is shown below).
FREE Printable Gift Tags for Christmas, Birthday and Thank You Gifts
I honestly don’t even understand why we’re still doing cards with gifts. Keeping Hallmark in business, I guess?
Unless it’s an absolutely hilarious, keep it forever or frame it kind of card, can we all just agree to slap a tag on a gift, write “from Susie” on the back and call it a day? Cool.
If you click on the image below, you’ll get three pages of tags, four per page, with one page for Christmas, one page for birthdays, and one for thank you’s.
Print it on brown card stock (I got THIS pack) – just my personal preference. Cut them out as you please – around the heart with room for a hole punch, or in a gift tag shape.
Hole punch it and tie it with ribbon to the gift (this plant mug or another gift). Happy gifting!
Do you have a thing for plants? Share your favorite plants in the comments!
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