Family Photo Mug

I love mugs and when my husband and I got married, I started collecting them on vacations. They are an easy, useful souvenir. And every morning when I open my cabinet, it is full of great memories.

My aunt gifts all the cousins a photo coffee mug for Christmas each year. At Thanksgiving, we all guess which photo will end up being “the mug shot” :)

Hi Joanna, as a fellow tea drinker who has also turned to coffee (cold brew, oh gosh so wonderful) during the pandemic, I just want to add a cautionary note in case no one else has – coffee can be a problem for some people. Please take care of yourself and tread cautiously! Like so many others, I love your little corner of the internet and treasure my daily visits! http://www.health.com/condition/anxiety/how-coffee-increases-anxiety

I buy a mug every year with the kids santa picture. So far all of them involve at least one child screaming in the photo. They are so fun to use during the holiday season – my husband and I look forward to pulling them out, and adding to the collection every year.

Also excellent friend gifts when you move! I gave a couple of my close friends mugs with a silly picture of me on them before I moved this spring as a gag gift and now it makes my day when they randomly send me selfies “having coffee with me.” Plus I get to stay a familiar face to their young kids who are now my pen-pals :)

I’m also a recent semi-convert to coffee (out of a combination of boredom and a hope that the caffeine will help fuel the long days at home with 2 kids and a full time job)….but I’m not totally sold. I like the dalgona craze and sweeter coffee which makes me think I’m more in it for the sugar. And I’ve always said i’d much rather eat my calories than drink them so I should probably just stick with tea. Plus, it’s honestly easier to not drink coffee than to try and figure out all the MANY types of coffee roasting.making/drinking techniques. No space in my overcrowded brain for that!

This photo is so sweet… I have no affection for posed, professional, or studio portraits where kids are concerned. I love this kind of pic because you really get the true-to-life big kids trying/wee kids distracted vibe… I have so many similar pictures of our extended bunch, and they just make me smile :)

Love photo gifts! I recently sent a 1000-piece photo puzzle to my grandmother with a snap from our last family trip together, which she loved. Something sweet to keep her busy while she stays safely inside these days!!

Over the years, hubby and I have collected a mug from each of the five (!) colleges and universities one or both of us have attended. Eventually we got superstitious about it- when he flew back to defend his dissertation, he waited until after his (successful) defense to go to the campus bookstore for a mug!

My husband and I buy some sort of mug or cup as souvenirs from our best vacations – its so so wonderful to open the cupboard and think “hmm, what delightful location do I want to ‘travel’ to this morning?!” (today was a gorgeously clunky handmade mug from Greece – its the color of the water from the Agean and I love it!)

Its a nice way to make a mundane routine feel special and to begin the day in a place of gratitude for all the things we’ve been lucky enough to see!

You started drinking COFFEE!!! Wow! I’m amazed. I have been in the adult-non-coffee-drinkers club with you for all of the years, so I feel like this is substantial news! LOL! I need more details. Are you drinking it occasionally? Becoming a connoisseur? Roasting your own beans now? ;)

A UK reader here on holiday just round the corner from Polruan. We are having a gorgeous September weather . We’ve come here for the last 3 years and when I want to feel a bit of ‘holiday’ I look up your Cornish holiday photos and blogs and get that feeling xx

I made my husband a mug with black & white “daddy & me” pictures that our kids 4 and 6 year old kids drew. The drawings are incredibly sweet and he’s used it every single day since!

Pic:?dl=0

I order myself a mug with photos of my children every year for Mother’s Day. I keep it at work (I don’t have pictures or anything else personal at work). The old one gets a place at home. So I already have 3 mugs at home on which I see my first and later second child grow up, and one at work. I am going to continue this as long as I can photograph them :-)

I love love love photo mugs. My bf’s son’s school has a cool thing where you can get the kids artwork they made in class printed on a mug which is also super fun and adorable, plus some of the proceeds go to the school.

You just started drinking coffee?!? Welcome to this glorious world. I’m on my probably 12th coffee phase of my life – the one where regular coffee, chemex coffee, cold press, perfect temp regulated plus fresh ground beans every morning coffee has now moved to purchasing a $1000 Espresso machine (#covidpurchase) coffee phase. Welcome, it’s good here.

A personalized mug is my *favorite* gift. I go HAM collaging pictures in Powerpoint for mugs, and then always order from Walgreens when they’re half off. My partner and I are eloping in October, and I just ordered all of the guests (only 7) personalized mugs that say “Amanda and Jeremy got married and I got a mug” with pictures of us imposed on the cabin we’re getting married at. Super kitschy, but that’s the point!

Actually more interested in your bookshelf:) Any chance you’ll do some book recs soon? Maybe a COJ staff bookshelf tour?

Recently I’ve been discovering the joy of having everyday objects that remind me of loved ones. I have two favourite mugs. One of them is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-themed gag mug that my best friend got me on my birthday because we were bingeing the show together at the time. (Over text message, because we live in different cities, and the mug arrived in the mail, which made it even more special.) The other one is a nondescript grey mug that I saw in another friend’s kitchen cupboard, commented that I liked it, and she insisted I take it home with me. Neither mug is particularly special in itself. But now every time I have a hot drink I think of one of those dear friends! Their imaginary presence is stitched into my daily routine.

P.S. I’m also team “coffee as ritual”….doesn’t seem to impact my sleep or anxiety levels, and I can just as easily drink zero cups in a day as three. But I love making a coffee last thing before I leave the house in the morning and carrying it the short distance to my office. A little piece of home to bring with me, and an alert to my brain that it’s time to start working. And on the weekends…nothing beats lounging with a coffee in bed!

Love this!!

I love a fun coffee mug – always makes me smile.
I am separated from most of my family right now so had the idea to send a cardboard cutout of myself and my dog to my nephews. So funny and it’s been hilarious seeing them holding my face in front of theirs and pretending to be Aunty Sarah : ) Plus, they can give us both hugs!
We’re very lucky where I live in Australia – life is pretty much normal except for the ever present reminders to wash your hands and keep your distance – but State borders remain quite closed. At least if I can’t get home at Christmas, I can still be in the photos!
If anyone wants to see what they look like, check out my Instagram – @sartreadie. It’s a laugh and I highly recommend it as a mood booster.

This photo is so adorable, it reminds me so much of summer holidays at my grandparents in the south of France; my grandmother would take us to the market and after her shopping she would buy us these plastic cheap toys that we were never allowed during the year and I thought they were the best thing. One of my favourite childhood memory, isn’t it weird…

Love your mug. Coffee goes with mugs, cups and then: how do you make your coffee? (for me , the classic old moka pot, in different size).

A close friend of mine in a different city just got in touch about some bad health news. We both wish so much we were together. I just ordered a mug of one of our favorite photos together. Thank you so much for the sweet idea!

I’m a potter so all the mugs in my house are handmade either by myself or collected from other potters. . I have a pot rack over my kitchen island hanging with probably 40-50 different pottery mugs. When friends come over for coffee I love to see the mugs they choose. Everyone has a different “favourite” mug. Handmade mugs are a great souvenir to collect when travelling as well as they’re easy to tuck into luggage and usually easy to seek out. I’d love to send you one of my handmade mugs as a thank you as I get so much enjoyment from this blog❤️. Just contact me via email so I have an address to mail it to you.

Haha I just read the last line as “…especially as we are all falling apart,” and instantly felt better (and already mentally picked a photo for my future “pick-me-up-“mug :)
I am in San Francisco and with the pandemic AND wildfires, (plus two little toddlers) I am literally almost falling apart. Solidarity helps so much :) Love this blog.