Baby Handprint & Footprint Pottery 

While we love spontaneity, please book a baby print session in advance. This makes sure we have a dedicated team member free to take the prints.

There's a £4.50 studio fee per session (not per piece), which covers the underglaze paints, glazing and firing.

On top of that is the cost of the pottery you choose, plus any personalisation you'd like us to add.

You can see prices in our online shop, including items with personalisation. Please note these can't be bought online if you're coming to the studio for a session.

You can create keepsakes with your baby's handprints and footprints at any age. However, for newborns to around 5 months we recommend footprints, as newborn handprints can be a little trickier to achieve due to their strong reflex.

Tiny newborn footprints create beautifully delicate keepsakes and are a lovely way to remember those precious early days.

We can also accommodate older children if you'd like to capture prints at different stages as they grow.

Family handprints on a large plate with mum and dads prints too are another popular choice, creating a unique keepsake that can be transformed into a beautiful family tree design.

You can choose from a wide range of pottery items, including plates, mugs, tiles, vases, plant pots and much more.

We also offer seasonal pieces, such as Christmas baubles, perfect for creating festive keepsakes. These are especially popular for handprints and footprints, which can be transformed into Rudolph, Christmas trees, snowmen and many other fun Christmas-themed designs.

Looking for inspiration? Visit our hand and footprint design ideas page.

At Crafty Monkey, we use safe, non-toxic ceramic paint and gently press your baby's hand or foot onto the pottery piece of your choice.

Our skilled team will take the print for you. They're experienced with wriggly babies and toddlers and can usually get a great print. For very small babies we advise not using a very dark colour, in case the print doesn't come out well and we need to sand it off and redo it. Very dark colours can leave a stain, so it's best to pick colours that are easier to remove.

Once the prints are done, you or we can add any personalised details, and then we glaze and fire the pottery for a long-lasting keepsake.

It's not necessary to bring someone with you, as we'll take the prints for you. However, if you want to decorate your piece and think your baby or toddler may need occupying, it's helpful to bring someone to look after them while you decorate.

Taking the hand and footprints only takes a few minutes, however we allocate a 30 minutes to allow time for you to choose your pottery pieces and designs and there's buffer time in case baby needs extra time.

After that, we need to glaze and fire the pottery, which usually takes about two weeks. If you'd like us to decorate the piece, it can take longer in busy periods, particularly in the lead-up to Christmas and Father's Day.

Once it's ready, we'll email you with a link to book a slot to collect your finished keepsake.

Once the prints are done, your piece needs to be glazed and fired in our kiln to 1000°C. This usually takes about 14 days, and can be sooner if you've decorated the piece yourself.

If we're decorating it for you, it can take longer in busy periods like the lead-up to Christmas, depending on how much pottery we have to decorate, so please allow around 3 weeks.

Once it's ready, we'll email you with a link to book a pick-up slot.

Crafty Monkey, St Neots, specialises in capturing baby handprints, footprints and even bumprints to create beautiful, personalised keepsakes. They make meaningful mementos for parents, grandparents and loved ones, and are perfect as gifts or treasured displays.  

Our keepsake options:

Handprints and footprints on pottery - prints on plates, mugs, tiles, baubles & more

Clay imprints - prints pressed into soft clay for a timeless, tactile keepsake

Plaster outprints - raised prints capturing every tiny detail

3D baby casts - three-dimensional casts of hands or feet for a stunning sculptural memory

Or see an overview of the services we offer for Baby Keepsakes

We're afraid we don't offer discounts for multiple keepsakes. However, there's just one studio fee per session, so it's always better to do them all at the same session, as further sessions will incur another studio fee.

To get the best possible baby prints, these sessions need a little extra time, a calm environment and a specially trained member of our team. Because our studio is often bustling with painters during weekends and school holidays, we schedule print sessions during quieter mid-week times. This allows us to give you and your baby our full, undivided attention without the rush.  

We do however offer a couple of sessions on a weekend as we understand sometimes you would like to add other children's prints too who are at school mid-week. Please be aware these sessions may not be as relaxed as during the week.

At Crafty Monkey, we have a standard studio fee of £4.50 per painter plus the cost of the pottery item you choose.  This covers the use of underglaze paints, clear glazing and firing.

For baby print sessions, if you have more than one baby or child doing prints we just charge one studio fee for the print session.  This includes you decorating the piece.

If combining the print session with a pottery painting session, each painter will be charged a studio fee.  Prints are included in the studio fee. 

Yes, you can! We have a variety of larger pottery items that are perfect for capturing the hand and footprints of several children, making a beautiful family keepsake. We can also add mum and dad's handprints if the piece allows!

Unfortunately, we can't work with pottery that hasn't come from our studio. This makes sure all materials are compatible with our glazes and firing process, for a high-quality finish.

Don't worry! Our experienced team are "baby-wrangling" experts and we have a proven method. Depending on the colour chosen, if a print doesn't come out too well, we can usually sand it off the pottery and try again - it's all part of the process.

Please keep in mind that because we're working with live 'little artists', it's not always possible to get the 'perfect' print each time, and prints may vary slightly. That said, we have a very high success rate and will always work with your baby to get the best result possible.

Top tip: footprints are much easier than handprints for babies under 6 months, due to their clench reflex!

It's up to you! You're welcome to decorate your piece yourself and use our writer pens to add names, dates or a special message, and we'll guide you on what to do.

If you're not feeling artsy, our in-house artists can personalise it for you for an additional fee: adding names and dates, or turning the prints into cute characters like penguins, elephants or reindeer. You choose the colours and we'll add the Crafty Monkey touch. The price depends on how much customisation you'd like, and we'll confirm it with you at your session.

For ideas, have a look at our pre-order prints shop before you come. The pre-order shop is for our print sessions at baby groups and nurseries, so it can't be used to pre-order for a studio session.

Absolutely. For prints on pottery we use professional, water-based, non-toxic underglazes designed for pottery. They're lead-free, food-safe once fired and gentle on delicate skin. The print only takes a moment and we clean off any paint straight away with a baby wipe or water.

For clay imprints we use high-quality, non-toxic natural clay, and then use the imprint as a mould to make outprints. For 3D casts we use alginate, a soft, hypoallergenic moulding material made from seaweed.

Your baby's safety is always our top priority.

Yes! We offer baby hand and footprint sessions for groups of mums and babies at our St Neots studio:

• 2 mums and babies

• 3 to 5 mums and babies

• 6 or more mums and babies - everyone gets free studio fees

Our group sessions are especially popular with NCT groups of new mums.

Yes, we can do all of these in the same session. Check the notes on each session when booking to see which one suits you best.

Yes, we offer e-gift cards and gift vouchers that make perfect presents for baby showers, christenings or birthdays. They can be used towards any of our pottery keepsake services, including baby hand and footprints.

Buy a gift voucher