Make Your Own Harry Potter Butterbeer Mug. Personalize It With Your Own Name and Patronus. See how to etch glass to make a customized gift.

This year's Family Christmas Party is going to be Harry Potter themed.  I am getting ready early for the big day.  I decided to make a Butterbeer Mug for every member of the family.  The cute mugs I got at the Dollar Tree store.  They were called Irish Coffee Mugs.  I think that they must be seasonal (maybe for St. Patrick's Day?) because I could not find them online.

On one side of the mug I put their name with a lightning bolt attached to one of the letters.  The lightning bolt gave the mug a connection to Harry Potter.

On the other side of the mug is their patronus.  Each person got their patronus on Pottermore. The young children got to chose their favorite animal.

I measured the cup to see what size to make the names and the patronuses.  I think it took a couple of tries before I got a size that felt right.

First of all I printed off everyone's name in Harry Potter font.  Font Space has some great fonts.  The only letter with a lightning bolt was a capital P so I added a lightning bolt to every name and printed it off.  

I had everyone tell me their patronus.  I found the images for those on google images.  I put the pictures on one sheet of paper so that I could use it for games at the party.  Then I printed that off.

I taped the name on the inside of the cup.  Then I wrapped the cup with clear contact paper.  I also taped the patronus on the other side of the cup.

Then I cut out the image using an exacto knife.  If you make any mistakes you can use fingernail polish to fill it in.  I found that the center of letters often came loose.  The polish was also great for small dots or eyes.  Lucky for me I was sick and had to stay in bed.  That gave me a chance to cut out all 17 cups.

A Good friend couldn't understand why I didn't use a cricut to cut out the designs.  I didn't have one at the time, but I have since gotten one and to be honest, I think the exacto knife was easier.  I think it would have been more work trying to weed it all out and getting the transfers in the right spot, etc.  But you certainly could use a vinyl cutter for this project.

Once all the images were cut out on both sides I lined up all of my mugs to put on the etching cream.  

Using a cheap paint brush I dabbed a thick layer of Armour Etch that I got with a 50% off coupon at JoAnn's.  It cost about $10.   I let that side dry for a couple of hours.  Then I turned the mugs over and did the same thing to the other side.

After letting the etching cream sit overnight I rinsed the etching cream off with water.  The etching cream had gotten so dry that it was difficult to remove.  I ended up filling the sink with water to let the mugs soak for a minute or two and then scrubbed them off.  It didn't seem to affect the mug.  I did change water after every few cups so that the etching cream would not ruin the mugs.

After I rinsed them off I held the mugs up to the light to see if I missed any spots.  Once they were all rinsed I put them in the dishwasher.  The etching on the cups is permanent and cannot rinse off so putting them in the dishwasher will not ruin them.

We used these mugs at our Harry Potter dinner.

Later we used them to serve some delicious Hot Butterbeer.  

You need to check out my recipe. 

It's really delicious.

Here are my other Harry Potter ideas.  

All ideas are FREE and easy to do.

Just click on the picture to see the project.

Thank you for visiting Holly's Home!