Painted wine glasses have been around since the 17th century but have seen a surge in popularity recently. But why are people buying them? To start with they can make great gifts for the following sorts of events:
Birthdays
Hens nights
Christmas
Weddings
Dinner parties
Halloween
Kris Cringle parties
Personalized Painted Wine Glasses
And why will people like to receive painted wine glasses? Well for many people it is an extension of their personality (so choose carefully when you buy otherwise the glasses may be relegated to the back of the cupboard).
If you're the kind of person who loves having friends over for dinner then painted wine glasses can be a real asset. From a functional viewpoint they stop you mixing up your glasses amongst friends (and surveying whose lipstick matches the smudge on the edge of your glass). This assumes you have bought a variety of designs, which is what I recommend so that there is always something personalized to suit the mood you're in, and to allow guests to choose something that reflects their mood and personality.
They can also be used to act as a constant reminder of a happy event (a birthday, wedding etc). Just make sure it's a happy time that you're experiencing because the science behind this theory (known as anchoring) shows that it is just as easy to wind up with a bad feeling attached to that beautiful glass as a good one!
From a form viewpoint painted wine glasses act to brighten up your event. This even includes dinner with tea totalling friends (who I must confess to associating with at times) where your glasses can become holders on tea candles.
I would also argue that wine can taste better when consumed in a beautiful glass. Don't ask me for the science behind this one. Maybe I'm slowly ingesting some wonderful chemical from the paint? Only kidding - all good glasses use non-toxic paint that is very stable. If you're still worried, buy a glass where the design is well below the rim so that your lips aren't likely to contact the paint.
From a price perspective, a mid range painted wine glass is likely to cost about . There's a large range available online and many are shipped with a customised box.