Hand Prints on Canvas Best Friends Gift Idea

I am blessed to have life long friends. It’s a trait I copied from my mom. She attended the Oklahoma School for the Deaf and stayed in contact with many of her friends throughout her lifetime. While growing up, I watched her write and receive mail from her friends from all across America.

I moved to Oklahoma from Texas on my 12th birthday. Mother enrolled us in school and instructed us to “go and make lots of best friends.” We did and she encouraged us to stay in contact with our old friends in Texas. I am forever grateful for her wisdom in keeping and making new friends. You can never have too many!

Nancy is my Oldest BFF (Best Friend Forever)! We met in second grade and have known each other for 54 years. WOW! That’s a long time. We have been exchanging birthday gifts for most of those years.

This year, I came up with the idea to have our hand prints together on a canvas. One problem – I live in Oklahoma and she lives in Texas.

Well… I remedied that by making my hand print and mailing her the canvas with paint, brush and instructions so she could place her hand print next to mine. Nancy loved it! She is making a duplicate and sending it to me with paint and brush for my very own hand painted canvas.

With our hand prints, my best friend, Sharon, and I created a piece of art as unique as our 43 year friendship!

Another long time BFF, Sharon, and I met working our way through college. We have been friends for 43 years and we’ve never missed a Christmas gift exchange.

I also made a hand print canvas for her. We met at a restaurant with canvas, paint and brush in tow. Before we ordered our food, we opened our gifts and I explained she would have to finish up her side of the canvas. So I literally hand painted her hand purple right then and there!

For my husband’s mother’s 90th birthday, we did a series of hand print canvases. So family members could have their own painting, we started with several canvases with my mother-in-law’s hand print in the middle and then family members placed their hand prints around it. We even included a family dog’s paw print on one of the canvases!

For a retirement gift at my job, our more than 100 employees placed their hand prints on four large canvases and signed their name next to their hand print. We called it, “Waving Goodbye.”

You do not have to be a kid in grade school to give hand print pictures. It’s a memorable gift idea and a wonderful experience to do with family or friends.

Make new friends but keep the old – one is silver and the other is gold.  – Girl Scout and Camp Fire Song