There are many options out there when it comes to promotional products for either your employees, event attendees, or clients.
However, one that’s stuck over the years is the personalized mug.
It’s a useful, yet customizable product that can be used for a wide variety of occasions and appeals to almost every audience.
Here are just some of the personalized mugs we’re going to share with you today:
- Photo mugs
- Ceramic coffee mugs
- Wine cups
- Tea infuser mugs
Plus, we’re going to take you through the process of choosing and creating the right custom mugs for you.
Keep in mind that we’ve got lots to cover, so let’s get started.
Table of Contents
How to Make Your Own Custom Mugs
3 Inspiring Custom Coffee Mugs
9 Types of Custom Drinkware
As we said, when it comes to drinkware items, there’s a wide variety of choices for a wide variety of occasions.
In case you feel confused as to which to go for, the following list is going to help you out.
These are the types of custom drinkware we’ll be discussing:
- Ceramic coffee mugs
- Tumblers
- Water bottles
- Tea infuser mugs
- Bistro mugs
- Wine cups
- Champagne flutes
- Ceramic pour-over sets
- Photo mugs
Let’s get going.
Type #1: Ceramic Coffee Mugs
We absolutely love ceramic coffee mugs and there are a few reasons why.
What ceramic mugs do best is keep both hot and cold beverages at the right temperature and they’re also microwave-safe.
What’s more, they’re perfect for outdoor use; they’re lightweight and durable.
Making them ideal campfire mugs for your loved ones.
When looking to create promotional products, these mugs make an excellent choice since they’re high-quality, stylish, useful, and fully customizable!
Simply customize them based on your brand and you have yourself a great personalized gift.
Let’s move on to the second drinkware item.
Type #2: Tumblers
It’s no secret that we all love to carry a stylish tumbler around.
After all, what’s not to like about it?
Tumblers make excellent travel mugs and are ideal as summer promotional items when the weather’s hot and you want to keep your drink cool.
Usually made of stainless steel, they’re easily customizable for you to add your brand’s logo and name on.
Thinking about sending a gift to your employees working remotely?
A custom travel tumbler can be an excellent choice for them to enjoy their drink while working.
In case you haven’t noticed already, we’re big fans of tumblers!
Let’s move on.
Type #3: Water Bottles
Talking about personalized drinkware, custom water bottles couldn’t be missing from this list.
Let’s face it, coffee is great but it doesn’t appeal to everyone; just like tea and any other type of drink.
However, what’s bound to be appreciated by everyone are personalized bottles to keep water cool.
It’s the perfect way to say “thank you” to your conference attendees and can be customized easily.
What’s more, water bottles can be taken to many places; the beach, the gym, the office, and basically anywhere.
Imagine having your logo on them for people to see at all those places.
The brand exposure is difficult to measure but it’s definitely big!
Let’s continue with our next item.
Type #4: Tea Infuser Mug
A cup of coffee is always a good idea, but you can’t go wrong with a nice warm cup of tea with an infuser mug.
Ideal for home or the office when there’s no teapot or tea bag, this item is a must-have for every tea lover.
Tea infuser mugs make brewing tea a piece of cake; so it’s ideal for everyone.
It can work as a great promotional gift as well since it’s fully customizable and can look very stylish with a nicely printed logo on it.
Author’s Tip: Combine the tea infuser mug with other branded products such as a T-shirt, a cool custom hoodie, a mouse pad, and a latte mug.
Moving on to the next mug example.
Type #5: Bistro Mugs
We all know someone who drinks too much coffee.
Sometimes it’s even ourselves, but what makes a perfect gift for those kinds of people is a customized bistro mug.
Ideal for coffee, as well as tea, hot chocolate, and any other hot or cold beverage, the bistro mug is one of the best choices when it comes to personalized mugs.
Moreover, it’s a flexible item since you can go for full color – like white mugs – or colorful ones, for a plain mug design or something more stylish, and anything else you like.
The bottom line is that the bistro mug is a unique gift when it comes to branded products and appeals to almost everyone.
Moving on to our next mug type.
Type #6: Wine Cup
While mugs and cups mainly refer to drinks like coffee and tea, we believe that a branded wine cup is an excellent idea.
Wine cups make a great gift for employees and clients, as well as are great for high-end corporate gifting.
Being stylish, durable, and dishwasher safe, these cups can definitely make the difference if you decide to include them in your swag bag.
What’s more, they’re an ideal promotional Christmas gift for your employees to enjoy over the holidays!
Sounds good, right?
Let’s move on to the next item.
Type #7: Champagne Flute
Looking for luxury promotional products?
The champagne flute might be exactly what you’re looking for.
Easy to hold and difficult to spill, these types of drinkware items are the go-to for champagne and other drinks.
It’s a must-have for celebrations and parties at the office, giving you the chance to also customize it based on your brand guidelines.
That way, your employees and clients will enjoy their drink in a fully customized stylish cup!
Another detail we’re particularly fond of is the matte color which absorbs the light instead of reflecting it, giving it a very nice look.
Author’s Tip: Champagne flutes are also ideal as corporate gifts for business partners and suppliers.
Let’s continue with our next item on this list.
Type #8: Ceramic Pour-Over Set
Do you prefer to make your morning coffee in your own mug?
So do many people, which is why a ceramic pour-over set is a very nice and unique gift.
What sets this apart from other coffee cups is the fact that the pour-over fits perfectly on top of the mug and includes a handle for removal after brewing.
Ideal for the home or office, it makes a great promotional gift that everyone will love, including your new hires in their welcome kit!
Of course, don’t forget about customization; you can add your logo, brand name, or tagline on the cup in order to have a stylish promotional item.
Author’s Tip: Keep the branding light and minimalistic. Avoid big corporate logos and too many designs.
Moving on to the last item on our list.
Type #9: Photo Mugs
What’s more classic than a beautiful photo mug?
Have a look at this cute Bob Ross photo mug to get an idea:
Such a high-quality personalized photo mug makes a great gift idea that can be used for so many different reasons.
It works perfectly as a personalized coffee mug or keepsake for Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, as an office gift, and for any other occasion you like.
Custom photo mugs also work as a great way to capture memories; how about taking a team photo at the office and adding it to your mugs?
You can then hand one out to each of your employees for them to enjoy their coffee while working.
Sounds good, right?
Author’s Note: Photo mugs are not as common in the swag industry; they’re usually made in ones and twos and they can’t generally get ordered in bulk. However, we think they can still make a thoughtful personalized gift for an employee’s special occasion.
Keep reading if you want to know more about creating your own personalized mugs.
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How to Make Your Own Custom Mugs
Mugs are typically a simple yet great type of product that everyone uses.
That’s why you need to know which factors to keep in mind when making your own swag, in order to be sure that you’ve made the right choices.
Let’s have a look at the process step-by-step.
Step #1: Define your swag needs
Deciding on your swag needs isn’t always a simple process.
You need to consider several parameters like:
- Your target audience
- The number of products you’re going to need
- The quality of your merch
- Your marketing budget
First things first, you need to think about what your target audience will be.
Are you planning on creating personalized mugs to show your appreciation to your employees?
Or maybe you want to give a thank you gift to your conference speakers?
This is something that also affects the right quantity of your product; you don’t want to order too many, but you certainly want to have enough when handing out your personalized mugs.
Another important aspect to consider is your marketing budget. Obviously, the larger the quantity, as well as the quality of your swag items, the higher the pricing will be.
Make sure to have all those factors in mind before ordering your awesome personalized mugs!
Let’s move on to the second step.
Step #2: Find the type of custom mugs you want to create
One of the trickiest parts when it comes to mugs is deciding which type you’ll go for.
There are simply so many of them, it’s sometimes impossible to choose from!
No need to worry, however; our extensive list of personalized mugs will have you covered.
Simply decide which mug you believe is the most suitable for your occasion – whether that’s an event or a trade show – and whether it’ll appeal to your audience.
To be more specific, what you can do to find the type of custom mugs and other drinkware you might want to customize and share with your audience, is to go to our Swag Pack Builder, upload your logo…
… and have a look at mockups of products with your company logo on them:
From there, you can scroll down to see all the different types of custom mugs offered and pick the ones that best fit your brand’s style and aesthetics.
Here are a few more types for you to consider:
Plus, as you can see above, if you want to place a request for a type of product you can’t find in our Swag Pack Builder, make sure to make a custom request and explore additional types.
Moving on to the last step.
Step #3: Place your order with a reliable swag vendor
By now, you should have decided on everything when it comes to your perfect customized mug.
What’s missing, however, is placing your order with a reliable branded merchandise company.
A reliable vendor will guide you in terms of:
- Identifying your swag needs
- Finding the right types of products that cover them
- Aligning your brand with the products to create an impact
- Advising you on anything you might need along the way
This is exactly what a boutique vendor like us can do for you, compared to larger ones who won’t be able to provide you with the right amount of attention.
This means that you need to find a vendor who will provide targeted advice and solutions tailored to your needs, in order to get the most out of your promotional items.
On a more practical level, what you need to do to finalize and place your order is to review and approve the product mockups, decide on the quantities and simply add the products you’ve chosen to your cart, exactly as shown below:
As simple as any online shopping activity!
Let’s now have a look at a few great examples of cool personalized mugs.
3 Inspiring Custom Coffee Mugs to Get Started
Now that you know about the so many options out there when it comes to selecting a mug, you might still feel indecisive about how you’ll customize and design your own mugs.
We’ve got you covered for this as well.
We’ve gathered a few examples of custom coffee mugs for you to get some ideas about how exactly you can brand your own ones.
Let’s get started with the first example.
Example #1: Beyoncé Heat Changing Mug
The first inspiring item is one from Beyoncé’s official merchandise and is a “Black is King” heat-changing mug.
In case you don’t know, a heat-changing mug – also known as a magic mug – changes color once it is filled up with a warm liquid such as coffee.
Pretty cool, right?
It means that you can add your logo, a photograph, and anything else you like.
The color-changing mug is bound to impress whoever you give it to.
Whether that’s your employees, your colleagues, your clients, your event attendees, your guest speakers, and so on and so forth.
Moving on to the next inspiring item.
Example #2: Tampa Bay Lightning Ceramic Mug
Are you or your employees big sports fans?
If yes, then something like this Tampa Bay Lightning ceramic mug might be an excellent promotional gift choice.
Major teams from various sports and organizations, such as the NHL, NBA, and NFL, offer their own merchandise to fans, which ranges from coffee cups to t-shirts.
We believe that this Tampa Bay Lightning mug can give you a great idea of what a good promotional mug might look like.
Let’s continue to the last one.
Example #3: Google Ceramic Mug
Some love extravagant designs, others prefer minimalistic ones.
It all comes down to how you want your brand to be seen.
This is the case with this minimalistic Google ceramic mug.
Google likes to keep things simple and this mug proves it.
It’s so simple, yet so elegant and stylish, it makes an excellent mug for your drink at the office.
It also shows that sometimes less is more; keeping a light design is often more attractive.
This can be applied to all kinds of mugs, from acrylic and ceramic ones to glass and matte color ones.
It all comes down to you and your brand!
Now Over to You
There you have it!
This is our complete list of customized mugs and a guide on how to choose the right ones for you.
Obviously, there are many things to take into consideration; quality, quantity, and budget are simply some of the many.
Moreover, we went through a few inspirational examples of custom coffee mugs to get you started.
After all, everyone needs a little help in the beginning.
That’s exactly what we do here at PRG.
With over 30 years of experience in helping brands create the best promotional items, we can guide you step-by-step along the way.
Drop us a line and we’ll be more than happy to help you create the most awesome branded mugs out there and many more!
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Featured image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.