Crafty Fridays: How to Make Custom Water Bottle Labels

in Cat in The Hat, Crafts, DIY, Parties & Entertaining

How to Make Custom Water Bottle Labels

Those are the water bottles for our daughter’s 2nd birthday party. Cute, huh? And we made them ourselves. Oh, how I do love Pinterest!

We designed the labels in Inkscape, a free open source vector graphics program that’s similar to Illustrator, and printed them on 80lb white cardstock. Then I used a paper cutter to cut the labels apart and clear packing tape to stick them onto the bottle.

And that was it. (Note: If you’re interested in the files for these exact water labels, they are available with the other Cat in the Hat Party printables – you can find more information here.)

The upside: Besides being totally cute and completely customizable to match any party’s theme? They weren’t really labor- or time-intensive. By the time I decided to do water bottle labels, the decorations for the rest of the party were done so I easily converted one of the other pieces into a water bottle label.

The downside: If you use your home printer, the ink on the labels will not stand up to condensation. If you’re going to ice down your fancy-labeled water bottles, you’ll either want to have your files printed professionally (or, um, maybe pay a visit to that lonely printer up on the 4th floor that no one ever uses) or use already-designed paper (like scrapbooking stock).

How to Make Custom Water Bottle Labels

Materials needed
Clear packing tape, 2 inches wide
Custom labels or decorative paper, cut to 8.5 inches x 1.75 inches wide (double-check the circumference of your water bottle to make sure 8.5 inches will suffice)
Scissors
Water bottles, labels removed (I used store-brand 16.9 oz bottles)

Instructions
Unroll a long strip of tape on your work surface. (I left the tape connected to the roll at this point but you could go ahead and cut it to 9.5 inches if you have a ruler handy.)

How to Make Custom Water Bottle Labels

Leaving ~1/2-inch of tape at the end, carefully center your label across the 2-inch width of the packing tape and press into place. Lightly rub the back of the label to remove any air bubbles.

How to Make Custom Water Bottle Labels

Leave ~1/2-inch of tape on each side of the label and then cut the tape.

How to Make Custom Water Bottle Labels

Place the label onto the bottle – I lined up the top of the label with the first groove on the water bottle – and smooth. The ends of the label will slightly overlap.

How to Make Custom Water Bottle Labels

That’s it!

Inspired by: Glorious Treats via Pinterest.

17 comments… add one
  • Great idea! Simple and easy =)

  • Thanks for the tutorital! I might use this for my wedding! 🙂

  • Thanks for posting this! I’m thinking of having a Tangled party for my daughter’s 9th birthday and these would be perfect in pink and purple! Maybe with little lanterns… And I’m glad to see someone actually USES the things found on Pinterest! Mine is more of a collection that I still haven’t gotten around to trying…

  • What a fun idea for any party! I’ll definitely remember this next time I have a party that goes late… Everyone enjoys plenty of cocktails but at the end of the night water bottles would be so appreciated I’m sure! Thanks Shawnda.

  • So cute and simple! I’ll have to remember this come summer time.

  • These look so great! I never would have guessed that you used clear tape. When I made custom water bottle lables for a friend’s shower, I bought sticker paper, which worked really well, but I like your idea too!

  • This is such a cute idea! Who knew it would be so easy?!

  • Katwoman

    Such a super idea!! Created Hello Kitty labels for daughter’s birthday party this past Saturday and they were loved by all. Thank you 🙂

  • Lorrie

    Are you able to place the water bottles in cooler with ice without damaging the labels?

  • Rachelle

    Awesome! I love this, I’ve been trying to get custom one’s from Ebay and looking for quotes, but this is a fantastic idea! and soo much cheaper! Thanks!

  • kylie

    how do you use the inkscape website?

  • Kat

    Just a thought…using the tape on both sides will seal in the paper protecting it.

  • Milly

    How do you create this document in inkscape?

  • Brittany

    Yes, how do you make them using inkscape?

    • I didn’t get any screenshots while doing it, but the quick & dirty version: you create a rectangle the size that you want your water bottle label, fill it with the color you want, and then you build the individual components (circles, smaller rectangles for stripes, etc) and place them in the rectangle (after you make the first circle/stripe and get it where you want, View Grid, copy and paste-in-place, and then move it with the arrow keys. And you just build from there. Helps if you have some time to mess with Inkscape to learn where things are. It has TONS of features but I only use a very small fraction of them for the projects I do.

  • Kathy

    Hi, I ran across a few pins on custom water bottle labels on pinterest. I followed your tutorial to make some of my own for a small workshop I’m putting together for my 4H Photography kids. This was just the touch to make the event special and at very little cost. thank you for your great idea.

  • Marni

    Couldn’t you put clear duct tape on the back as well as the front to keep the ink from running?

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