Knitting: Mittens for Maine

How do you like my little girl mittens? I made these from the leftovers of a superwash wool I had previously used for a sweater. When they were done, they looked awfully plain, so I learned how to do duplicate stitch by adding these little hearts.

These mittens are going to an organization in Maine that gives hats and mittens to very poor children at Christmastime, and I wanted them to be as pretty/cute as possible. (They get loads of hats, so the request was specifically for mittens.)

With that in mind, here are the boy mittens I made:

They are also very plain, and I want to add a design to them, too. Do you have any ideas for a basic boyish design that doesn't use a lot of different colors? I'd like this to be as painless as possible while still looking nice. :)

In case you're interested, I used the Basic Pattern for Children's Mittens by Elizabeth Durand.