My FamilyFun magazine subscription is one of my favorites. I’m constantly marking pages for new crafts to try with kids or recipes to cook for dinner. I especially love all the real advice from other parents like me. That’s why I was surprised to be disappointed by a story mentioned on the cover of the magazine’s May 2011 issue.

The story, “Easy Gifts for Teachers,” caught my attention because we’re just a few weeks away from the end of the school year. “Oh good,” I thought to myself. “Maybe they’ll have some fun idea I can try.” I flipped to the pages that referenced the article in the table of contents, and that’s where the confusion started.

The first two pages recommended said absolutely nothing about teacher gifts. One page mentioned some 3-D sidewalk chalk, so I’m assuming editors meant you could give that to teachers? The other page was the same guessing game. On it, there was a tip about a reader making Rice Krispy treats into the shape of numbers to send to school for her child’s birthday. Maybe magazine editors were suggesting shaping the treats into something special for teachers? If so, it was a reach.

The last page cited was the only one that made sense. It was an article about how to make card “gifts,” as the magazine called them, for Mother’s Day, teacher appreciation or birthdays. Of the seven examples, a few could work for teachers with some modification. But sweet as the gesture may be, a homemade card for a teacher hardly counts as a “gift” to say thanks for a year of doing a great job.

This mix-up isn’t going to take FamilyFun magazine off my “favorites” list, but I am sad that the magazine committed the most egregious error a magazine can make in my opinion–promising something on its cover and then failing to deliver.

What about you? Does it bug you when your favorite titles make similar mistakes?