How To: Personalized Water Bottles

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Self, you know what would be great? Water bottles that had my wedding logo/motif/monogram on them!"

Then let me tell ya...this is the post for you!

This was probably one of the easiest things I DIYed for my wedding that really gave the event that special-one-of-a-kind-made-just-for-me feel. It only took me and a friend one good movie to knock out over two hundred of these babies (that's right...I'm looking at YOU, Kelly, for being my water-bottle-awesomeness-making friend!).

And on to the shopping list! You will need:

   * Water Bottles
   * Clear Packing Tape
   * Plain Printing/Copy Paper
   * 1 good friend

Water Bottles
I bought mine at Sam's Club in packs of 48 and tried not to destroy the shrink wrapped packages they came in so that I could put the completed bottles back in their original packs for easier transport to the wedding. I think mine were Nestle water bottles originally - I chose them for their label size and I'll tell you why below.


Packing Tape
Now the water bottles you select to use are key to figuring out the proper packing tape you need to buy. My Nestle water bottles had labels on them that were just under two inches tall which left a two inch 'label space' on the bottle when they were torn off and discarded. This meant that I needed packing tape that was as close to two inches as I could get it. I think my tape was technically 1.88" in width and it fit perfectly on the 'label space' on the bottle. This is key when selecting your bottles AND your packing tape - you want your packing tape to fit that 'label space' on your bottles. I bought my generic packing tape at Walmart in a three pack and didn't even use one whole roll for my 200+ bottles - but hey...everyone can use more packing tape so no harm done in buying extra!


Plain Printing/Copy Paper
I found that this was the cheapest and easiest option for this project. You could print your monogram on the paper before cutting and you can get at least five bottles out of every sheet of paper...if you are an expert cutting enthusiast...you can get SIX out of every sheet. I usually messed at least one up on each page but you are probably more awesome than me sooo...I have very high expectations for you.

First things first...you've got to rip the original labels off of your water bottle. Don't worry about getting every last bit of paper off...mine usually had a little bit of glue and paper bits still left on the bottle after removing the original label. Your personalized label will cover that right up.

At this point you can either print out your monogram on your printer paper and get ready to start slicing OR if you are like me and you have a ton of little punch out trees from your very own pocketfold invitations that you made earlier - which JUST so happen to fit PERFECTLY on your bottle labels...well then..that's just one less step. However, if you are going the printer route, you want your monograms to be no taller than 1 7/8ths of an inch - just a hair smaller in width than your packing tape. Like this:

Once you've got your monograms printed start cutting your paper into 1 7/8th" strips:

Then place your paper strips monogram-side DOWN onto your packing tape:

If you are using a paper cutout instead of printing your monograms, place the cutout on the tape first and then cover your cutout with your paper strip like so:

All that's left is to cut your packing tape off the roll and start wrapping your new label around your bottle:

And now you can say, "Self, you did it!"

Maybe yours would look a little something like this:

oh man.
You ROCK!