I wonder how many women have trouble trying to decide on what to get their boyfriends or husbands for Valentine’s Day. You can’t just go out and buy them flowers, candy, and a card because those are typically the types of gifts that the boyfriends or husbands buy for the women in their lives. I guess you could stick to the "safe" gifts such as cologne, a watch, or a keychain, but those seem so impersonal. Of course, you could give them a package of new socks or underwear, but those gifts seem tacky to be giving on a special day like Valentine’s Day. Now, one gift that the man in your life might not mind getting would be personalized boxer shorts, a gift that only the two of you would see and a gift that you both could enjoy.

The materials you will need for this project are a package of solid colored boxer shorts, various colors of fabric paint, a package of stencils with various sizes of letters and shapes, paper plates, and a simple kitchen sponge. Of course, you will also need a clean and dry work space to use for completing this project. Craft stores have various stencils for each holiday, so since you are creating this project for Valentine’s Day, try to find heart stencils of various sizes or even a stencil of cupid shooting his arrow.

To start this project you need to lay one pair of boxer shorts on your work space and smooth out any wrinkles or creases. Pour a small amount of the fabric paint onto the paper plate, a different color on each plate. Decide which Valentine’s Day stencil you are going to use on each pair of boxer shorts. Lay the stencil flat against the front of the boxer shorts so that it is even. Dip the kitchen sponge into the color of paint you want to use first. While holding the stencil firmly in place, dab the paint onto the stencil. Complete this process using the different colors of paint and different sizes of heart stencils until the front of the boxer shorts are completely decorated. Once the paint has dried on the front of the boxer shorts, turn them over to expose the back side and complete the process as above. You should allow one to two days of drying time before wrapping them and giving them to the man in your life to wear.

This project does not have to be reserved for Valentine’s Day. You can find stencils of his favorite sports or hobby to decorate boxer shorts and give them as a gift for his birthday or Father’s Day. It is a creative gift to give to him, one that he probably won’t ever forget.

Jonathan Pitts

Copyrighted material; do not reprint without permission.

 

View all articles by Jonathan Pitts