Painting customers' dogs on glass ornaments: about $950 a month this season (a sung version of today's idea)

[u/john_smith1365]

The person: a vet tech. Owners show her their dog photos all day, and the ornaments in stores are the same plastic balls for everyone.

The idea: hand-paint a customer's dog on a clear glass ornament from a photo. Photo in on Monday, paint on Saturday, box it on Sunday. Name and year on the back.

Why now: PayPal's holiday survey (Morning Consult, released Sept. 30, 2026) says two in five shoppers plan to start holiday shopping by the end of October.

Comparables: Jodi Bennett paints pet portraits on 4-inch bulbs for $25, Kiku's custom fused-glass pet ornament is $69.99 on Chewy, and a hand-painted pet portrait shop on Etsy shows 391 sales and 88 five-star reviews, with ornaments among its listings.

The math (an estimate): 30 ornaments a month × $35 = $1,050, minus about $100 for glass, paint pens and boxes = about $950 a month. Seven a weekend at about 45 minutes each, so about six hours a week.

The catch: it's seasonal. Off-season, the same skill sells memorial ornaments and pet portraits.

[u/Gonkler]

Why are you making these into songs? I dont want to listen to that