15+ Ways To Use Your Teacher Mug Collection

There’s a good chance that you have a pretty good collection of teacher mugs. You may even have enough to open your own coffee shop by now. Some people love receiving fun mugs and others don’t even drink coffee or tea and have no clue what to do with them. I’m sharing a bunch of different ways to use your teacher mug collection.

Before I do though I wanted to share a little story with you. A few years ago, my son had a gifted teacher he went to twice a day for reading and math. He had her for a couple of years and was really close to her as there was only a handful of kids in his class with her. He knew her well and asked to get her a coffee mug one year for Christmas, she drank coffee in her classroom throughout the day. (had a coffee maker in her classroom) She loved the mug he gave her and used it every day in the classroom.

The next school year, he had her again for the same classes, but sadly passed away in September just after school started. When her room was being cleaned out his homeroom teacher knew the mug had been special to both his teacher and him and she gave it back to my son to keep as a special memory of her. It now sits on our hutch in our home with some fake succulents in as a special memory of her for him. So you just never know how special a mug can be as a gift.

The students absolutely love seeing you use the mugs they have give you, wether you use it for your morning coffee, or put pencils in it on your desk. It’s very special for them to see you using it.

15+ Ways To Use Your Teacher Mug Collection

• Use the mugs to hold water for watercolor painting. The mugs are nice and heavy so they won’t tip over and spill.
• Use them to hold writing utensils, pencils, pens, markers, scissors, etc.
• Collect the Christmas mugs and create a gift for your students. Fill them with popcorn and a candy cane or with a package of hot chocolate and a candy cane for them to take home.
• Add some soil and succulents or fake ones to a few mugs and place them throughout your classroom.
• Have a mug exchange in your classroom. Wrap the mugs, play a game, have the students open the mugs and enjoy some hot cocoa.

• Save the mugs for when you retire. Use them as centerpieces for your tables and then raffle them off.
• Keep the Christmas ones to set out at your home during the holidays for guests to use. Relatives and friends love getting to choose a fun mug to drink from.
• Save them for when you teach the letter T. Have a tea party, dress fancy and serve tea in them.
• Save Christmas mugs until you have a class set to serve your class hot cocoa during the winter months or a Polar Express day. Keep them for the next year after washing or send them home as a gift to your students.

• Use the mugs to plant flowers in during your plant unit.
• Break them into pieces and make stepping stone mosaics with your class.
• Use them to hold paintbrushes near your sink.
• Donate them to a high school or local flower design class.
• Suggest to your school’s student council or NJHS to collect mugs in November. Add a hot cocoa packet and candy cane and wrap them up in a decorated bag and deliver them to a senior living center.

• Donate them to a local diner or coffee shop that uses fun random mugs for their customers.
• Pass them onto your parents, sibling or friends that can use them at their vacation home/cabin.
• Use them as a gift idea for college students you may know. Print off some fun recipes that can be made in a mug like cakes, mac, and cheese, etc. and tie them to the mug.

Do you have any other fun ways that you like to use your coffee mug collection? Or maybe have a special story to share? Share with us in the comments below!

See you next time!

Jenette