How2Day: Flower Pot Gifts

Transform flower pots into gifts for gardeners and non-gardeners alike. Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Getty Images
Clay flower pots make practical gifts for avid gardeners, but they can do more than just hold flowers. Generally inexpensive, flower pots can also function as decorative gifts for those without a green thumb. Turn them into shelf decorations or distinctive yard ornaments. You can find flower pots in the garden department of many super-centers, or in the floral sections of craft and hobby stores.

Decorate a flower pot using simple mosaic or painting techniques to create a customized gift for a teacher or co-worker. The Disney FamilyFun website suggests covering a clay flower pot with tile grout, then pressing on small pieces of tile, glass, beads or shells to make a mosaic pot (Reference 1). To make a chalkboard flower pot, spray a pot with terra cotta sealant and let it dry (Reference 2). Purchase black chalkboard paint from the paint section of a hardware store or super-center. Brush several coats of the chalkboard paint onto the main portion of the pot, then paint the rim and saucer with acrylic paint in any color. Use chalk to write a message on the side of the pot.

Create little flower-pot people that fit perfectly on a shelf, as suggested by the Crafters Love Crafts website (Reference 3). Turn a small flower pot upside-down to make the figure's body. Hot-glue a round, wooden ball to what is now the top of the pot for the head. Paint clothes on the flower pot using acrylic paints, and glue on foam or wooden shapes for hands. Paint the wooden head and facial features, then glue on yarn hair. Vary the project by using felt scraps and paint to make snowmen or animals out of the flower pots.

The Crafters Love Crafts website also suggests using clay flower pots to make a decorative bird bath (Reference 4). Paint a base color on an 8-inch pot, a 14-inch pot and a 16-inch pot. Paint the same base color onto a 10-inch saucer and an 18-inch saucer. Turn the 16-inch pot upside-down and place the 14-inch pot on top of it in an upright position. Use a construction-grade adhesive product, such as Liquid Nails, to hold the pots together. Adhere the 18-inch saucer to the top of the 14-inch pot to make the bowl of the birdbath. Turn the 8-inch pot upside-down and adhere it to the center of the birdbath bowl. Adhere the 10-inch saucer to what is now the top of the 8-inch pot to create a second, smaller bowl for the birdbath. Paint decorations on the birdbath if desired, then spray on several coats of polyurethane to seal the paint.

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