I regift them to people who actually need them like Bridge Housing at the YWCA, the Womens Shelter and Halfway Houses. They are always grateful.Plus I keep six freebies that I use around the house because the kids end up chipping them and I have no qualms about chucking the chipped ones.They are well received if you fill them with soup mix and cocoa mix.
What to Do With All Those Coffee Mugs
Photo: Tracy Hunter
A while back, Julie wrote a great piece on affordable gifts for five dollars and under. Afterwards, there was some discussion between those who enjoyed gifts packaged in coffee mugs and those who did not. Regardless of the debate, one thing was clear. There are more than enough of these things floating around out there. What to do with them if you happen to have a large batch kicking around?
1. Cosmetics holder.
Vertically stored lip and eye liners, make up brushes, cotton swabs, lip gloss, mascara . . . Loads of daily use personal items can be stored in these.
2. Men’s shaving items.
The lather bar, safety razor and brush will need to be purchased separately of course, but this is one way to go green and not toss another disposable razor into the landfill.
3. A thrifty re-gifting option.
Obviously, you’ll want to use an undamaged, non tacky one. But if you’re looking for a way to cut back on the number of purchased ones floating around, this option might be for you.
4. Seedling starter.
A great house warming idea for someone just starting out would be to bring some herb plants in coordinating coffee mugs. This would also work if you were changing your color scheme or dish set and wanted to help the recent college grad in your life get a head start on setting up a home.
5. Package a gift in it.
This is basically the area where most of the discussion took place in Julie's post. If you’re seriously OK with suggestion number three, or are comfortable with yard sale purchases of good condition mugs, here are some great gift ideas you can package in, or give with, a mug: candy, chocolate covered spoons, cake-in-a-mug, old fashioned shaving kit, coffee and Irish cream, soup mix, etc. Particularly a good idea if the mug is a sentimental one, handed down within a family.
6. Pay it forward.
If you are looking to get rid of a bunch of extras around the house, consider donating them to a prison release program, homeless shelter or women’s transition program. Usually, these folks are trying desperately to reintegrate into society and fit in well at a new job. When you are starting from scratch, not having to dish out even a few extra thrift store pennies can be a huge help, and something as simple as being able to bring their own coffee cup to work on the first day can be a huge initial step towards feeling normal again.
7. Office hospitality.
Clients, college student tours, the new intern, or drop by investors. These are all people that could show up at your office needing some sort of vessel to drink from. Sure, a few of these go a long way. But isn’t this a better idea than storing and tossing all that styrofoam?
8. Impromptu scoop.
You need something to refill the smaller containers with, so why not use what's on hand? Keep one in that food storage bucket of grain or macaroni, or in the salt bag you might have next to your door to keep down the slippery factor on your front steps.
This may not be the sexiest list of ideas on the web, but if it helps a few other items stay out of a landfill and find a second use, I’m happy. Let me know if you have any other great ideas for reusing old mugs. I’m sure the rest of our readers could benefit from the information.
Best of Wise Bread
It's amazing how many people give mugs at work. My girlfriend affectionately refers to her co-workers around Christmas time as the "Mug Club." She gets a few new mugs every year from these people. They all give each other mugs. I think it is some sort of cult phenomenon or maybe they're just trying to save the earth one mug at a time. It's a great idea but after a few years of mug receiving, they really add up. I like the seedling idea the most. We grow our own fresh herbs sometimes and this is a great idea. I'll have to let her know!
I loved the shelter idea. I once moved my stuff out of storage, and it was a life transition that involved moving in with my now-spouse, so many of the things I thought I would need for later, I simply did not. One call to a battered women's shelter, and two older women and one of theri grandson's showed up at a minivan at the shelter, at my convenience. They hauled away everything I did not want, including the partly used roll of paper towels and bottle of Fantastik I had not used up, and my padlock! I have been in desperate circumstances, and even took a dish drainer out of an Upper East Side dumpster. If someone is in dire straits, you probably are not saving them a few thrift store pennies, you are making the difference between having and doing without.
A lot of preschools and daycares could use them for projects for the children. When I was in early childhood education, we used them for:
-Planting seedlings in to give as Mother's Day gifts.
-Sorting and counting coins or other math manipulative's.
-Decorating for coffee mugs for Father's Day gifts.
-Toothbrush and toothpaste holder's for each of the children.
-Drinking cups for snack time.
-etc...
Myscha, thanks for all the great ideas!
I have a friend who loves to grow her own herbs in the kitchen window, and I've thought about giving her seeds as a gift. As it is, I have 4 great ceramic mugs from a pottery that would be great for putting seeds in and giving to her as a house gift. I never would have thought about that until today!
You always have really great suggestions, ideas, etc. Thanks!
I like to make Cake in a coffee cup as a gift for a birthday or as a snack. Taken from www.budget101.com recipies.
Cake in a Coffee Cup
1 cake mix any flavor
1 ( 4 serving size) instant pudding mix , any flavor
Blend ingredients well until completely mixed. Measure ½ cup dry mix into sandwich bags, Makes 8-9) & tie it closed using ribbon.
Flavors:
Lemon cake mix- lemon pudding
Yellow cake mix- vanilla pudding
Devils food cake mix- chocolate pudding
Pineapple cake mix- coconut pudding
Butterscotch cake mix- butterscotch pudding
Glaze mix : In a separate bag combine the following ingredients:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp dry flavoring
( ex. powdered lemonade mix, powdered orange breakfast drink mix, cocoa powder)
In a large coffee mug place a Cake Mix & a glaze mix and attach a tag with the instructions for cooking. (You can also attach a small wire whisk using raffia or a ribbon, etc).
To Use:
Grease or spray coffee mug with cooking spray. Empty Cake Mix into mug and add 1 egg white, 1 T. Oil & 1 T water. Blend with fork until smooth. Place in microwave and cook on high for 2 minutes.
While cake is cooking add 1 ½ tsp water to glaze mix in baggie. Close and gently rub baggie until glaze is smooth. When cake is done, remove from microwave, cut a small hole in the corner of glaze packet and apply glaze to your mug cake.
Eat while warm!
Other Help Items:
If you want to make the packets easier for the recipient add a couple teaspoons of Just Whites egg replacement powder to each individual packet or Cake "mix". & On directions tag add an additional 1 T water to recipe & omit egg white from recipe
I use older coffee mugs for paint pots, but I prefer them to have white interiors so I can clearly see the colors as I mix them.
Since I live in Alaska I often give Alaskan themed ones that I receive as gifts on to out of state relatives when they visit. They like having a bit of Alaskana that's useful too!
BTW, I like the herb pot idea, but I'd drill a drainge hole in the bottom of the cupe with a ceramic drill first to avoid drowning the herbs. It's easy to do with a cordless drill, the right bit and a piece of masking tape (to keep the mug from cracking while drilling). Of course, you won't be able to use the mug for drinking again :)
Thanks, Myshca, for this! I love the idea of using the mugs for seedlings and starts--and I think my mom and grandmother will too! They have particularly green thumbs and we're descendants from a long line of Frugal Folks.
Side note: I received one of those massive cappuccino cups (you could use it as a headwear if you were so inclined) as a mug gift years back. I always keep it at my desk at the office as a makeshift bowl. I'm never 100% comfortable with the dishwashing practices of my 100+ officemates, so I just keep my own set of dishes at my desk.
Thanks, guys! These are some smashing ideas! I hadn't tuned in for a day or so to check comments on this post. I'm so thrilled you all enjoyed the piece, and it's nice to get all the feedback.
As for the giant coffee cup . . . sounds like a great candy dish opportunity to me.
Keep the ideas coming, everybody!
Coffee mugs make great pencil holders. I've got at least one in each room with pens and pencils stuffing them. They also hold knitting needles and knitting machine tools just fine. And an empty one is good as a small trash can when I finish off the ends of a sweater and have lots of little bits of yarn to corral.
I do use the mugs for food as well. Sometimes I use a mug for soup when I don't want to wash a bowl. I "drink" my popcorn from a mug. The handle makes it easy to scoop the popcorn from the big bowl and not get my fingers greasy from the butter. And I'll even drink wine from a coffee mug because my hands are small and some of the wine glasses we have are difficult for me to hold.
I own over 50 mugs. Yes, I'm serious. Exept for my whole sets of 12 (I own nice coffee cups as well as everyday mugs) people always like to give me mugs for presents as I enjoy tea. Well, it's nice to get gifts, but when you have that kind of amount from the beginning... I try to use them as other stuff, mugs without ears are great for pencils or makeup (even if they're useless when filled with hot beverages). Though my mother doesn't want me to give away a pair of ugly WWF mugs for charity, so I might try something of this to them.
I especially like the ideas that are not using the mugs for food or drink. I have several mugs of unknown origin (possibly dollar stores), and I am leery that they might contain lead.
Just curious if you would run into problems using mugs for plants as there is no drainage. The only things I can think of is using large gravel or broken crockery (yay more recycling) in the bottom, but I'd still worry about root rot. Is there a way to drill holes in the bottom?
It just requires a special glass / ceramic drill bit. Lately, I've been using those leftover packing peanuts to save on weight instead of gravel and such. But you could certainly use those as well, as you mentioned.
My favorite local coffeehouse has an inventory of about thirty mugs in various sizes and designs, including from local businesses. I had accumulated way too many promotional mugs, and gave them eight of them. Now, when I go there for coffee, I grab one of the ones I gave. There are more mugs at home, but at least they aren't crowding out everything else on the kitchen counter.
