Unique Homemade Father’s Day Gift – Metal Stamped Key Ring
If you are looking for a unique homemade Father’s Day gift, you are going to love these metal stamped key rings. But instead of paying for somebody else to make them or making them myself, I let my kids have at it.
My son believes that anything to do with using a large hammer is awesome and couldn’t get enough of it. And metal stamping is actually not that hard if you don’t care about everything being lined up and the stamping being even. And to me, it is the little quirky things that make kid-made gifts so wonderful.
I especially like that the key chain is so small and easy to store. After a few years those homemade gifts really add up and I always feel guilty if I don’t keep them forever. So when I can, I like to pick something small like a key ring instead of something big like a photo frame.
I like to stamp on the cement because it gives me a hard and firm surface. So I took the kids outside and gave them a quick training on how to metal stamp. Only hit the stamp once and try not to get my fingers. Surprisingly, they didn’t hit my fingers once, which is pretty impressive for my kids. If you are really nervous, you can always hold the stamp in place with pliers – chicken.
I used my cheap, alphabet set I bought from Amazon and some inexpensive, dog tag blanks I bought at Hobby Lobby for 40% off. I figured there would be more than a few mistakes, so I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on wasted blanks. But surprisingly, we didn’t have any mistakes! The kids did a great job!
After the stamping, I had the kids fill in the letters with a sharpie and then wipe off the excess with a jewelry polishing pad.
For Dad, I had the kids stamp their name and the year they were born. For the grandpas, I had them stamp their name and “I [heart] U.” I then added some X and O charms for hugs and kisses. I had each of the kids make one, so there are two dog tags on each key ring. Or for families with more kids, you can have the kids each stamp their own name on one dog tag.
