For those who love to plan and organize an event as much as I do, you know how fun the smaller details can be! I'm a sucker for a well thought-out celebration, and that includes making coordinating water bottle labels.
Now, there are different kinds of "details"... the kind that you can buy online as they come, the kind that you can order personalized from someone else who does it, OR, my favorite ... the kind that you can make yourself!
I know many people who like to order and purchase all of the details for whatever celebration they have approaching. For me, however, I can't justify a lot of purchases because I know how easy it is to make them myself (and I can save a ton of money that way). Does it take up a lot of time? Sure, sometimes it does. But after you do it once, you gain the experience and have the template to do it for future parties as well!
Take water bottle labels, for example. I really enjoy making personalized water bottle labels because it gives a party that extra special touch. I have a template on my computer that I use to customize the design, then I put them on the bottles.
Here are just a few of the different water bottle designs that I've done in the past ...
My son's sixth birthday party is coming up next month, and I've been slowly getting all of the details together. I'm doing a little at a time this year because this pregnancy sure does have me moving a lot slower than I normally do.
And while I don't want to give too many of the fun details away just yet, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to show you how I make the water bottle labels!
My son has decided that he wants to have a Ninjago party. (You are probably asking yourself what the heck is Ninjago? because that's what I asked him when he told me, too). It's a LEGO ninja theme, and after I learned what it was, I was very excited!
Not only are the colors very primary and easy, but we could have fun ninja-themed activities for the kids. Awesome!
So, to get started, I usually do design work in either Photoshop or PowerPoint. Water bottle labels are simple enough that I made them in PowerPoint.
I always think people underestimate the capabilities of this program, as I use it for most of my smaller projects.
After you decide which program you're using, next decide how big to make the label. I have always used the same brand of water bottles, so I had the template already.
You can cut a label off a bottle and measure it the good old-fashioned way. I use Poland Spring bottles, and my template is 8.5" wide x 1.6" high. (I took screen shots as I was making these, to hopefully give you a better visual of how I make them)
Then comes the fun design part! Because this is a party for my son, who will be turning six, I wanted to keep it simple and colorful to match the theme. I had a lot of inspiration from the invitations that I made a few weeks ago (which I can show off later in a different post, hee hee).
Pick a background, text, and images. I also made a Nutritional Facts image for fun to put on the label, to make it more "realistic."
Note: It's important to leave room on each end, as this is where they will overlap when we wrap it around the bottle. You don't want to put any important details on the end, as they will likely get covered. Also leave room in the middle to lay out your text to display your message.
Aren't the Nutrition Facts fun? I played around and personalized it for the birthday party. For my son's last birthday party, everyone got a kick out of reading the creative ingredients.
I used a simple Arial font to mimic the font that is used on the nutritional facts box I referenced. After you create this image, you can insert it into the water bottle label image and size it to be the same height.
Now we can add our message. You can be as simple or as decorative as you'd like, just make sure it stays coordinated with the theme and is large enough to read. I always use the rule that "Less is More"... you never want it to look too busy. The font that I used is called "Spider-Man-Eclipse." I use this font a lot for that rustic, DIY look.
On to the next step! Now that we have our completed image, we can copy it a couple of times on our screen so that we can have numerous images printed on one sheet. This saves paper, and if you are ordering prints, it'll cut down on costs. I was able to fit four on one sheet, and I order multiple sheets from the Staples print center.
You can purchase vivid prints on high-quality cardstock paper inexpensively, and they are usually done within the hour. To save the cost of printing, you can print from your home computer. Just make sure you print on the highest quality possible so that lines and images print sharp and crisp.
After you have your prints, it's time to cut them out! I used the old-fashioned scissor technique, but you could also use an X-Acto knife or paper cutter.
It's time to put the labels on the bottles. For most bottles, there is usually a little sticky residue left from the previous label, so that helps hold the new label in place.
Line up and overlap the two ends, and place a small drop of craft glue so that the label sticks together.
Now, you can stop there if you'd like, but you know I had to go an extra step ahead, right? I learned a lesson a few years ago when I made labels for a friend's son's birthday party.
They were all put in a cooler. The card stock paper is not waterproof, so the ink ran and smeared. This made me think about prevention.
I researched different types of paper, but they were all much too expensive. So, after doing a lot of thinking, I came up with a creative and CHEAP way to protect the paper! Clear tape!
It's extremely inexpensive, and one roll will last you a very long time. Put the clear tape over the label on the bottle and it looks fantastic.
(Helpful hint: Apply the clear tape very slowly to prevent any creases. Make sure to have some extra labels printed out in case there are mistakes!)
After completing the first couple of bottles, the process goes by very quickly. (Especially if you can convince your hubby to help out, too!)
They make such a great and impactful impression at your party without a huge expense, and they are homemade! If you use this tutorial to make your own labels, send me some pictures as I would love to see your creativity!
xoxo, Heather