With all the doom and gloom out there in the economic world, it’s hard to get fired up about the upcoming holiday season.  Financial woes, employment insecurity, and rampant foreclosures have the ability to overshadow even the most joyful holiday plans.

Or do they?

Just because our nation is going through an economic rough patch doesn’t mean your holiday season should have to suffer.  The key this year will be to find a way to celebrate with friends and family in a fun, festive, and frugal way.  There are many ways to celebrate the holidays without breaking your bank account.  Here are some ideas for gifts:

• Apply personalized beer labels to bottles of beer and use them for stocking stuffers for the beer lovers in your life.
• Hand out personalized water bottles at your next holiday party.  This takes care of two party essentials all at once: refreshments and favors!  We offer water bottles with the labels already applied or a labels-only option.
• Give your favorite couple a personalized bottle of wine for a holiday gift.  You can take care of two people with the same gift, and they’re sure to look forward to enjoying the wine together.

Thanks to our wide variety of holiday labels, now you have the freedom to give personalized holiday gifts to friends and loved ones without spending a fortune.  Our labels are top-quality and cost $1 or less/apiece.  Everyone is sure to appreciate your thoughtful, customized gift.

Here at Bottle Your Brand, we have the pleasure of helping many brides, grooms, and families design personalized wedding favors.  We’ve helped couples design labels to commemorate their engagements, weddings, and even first children, and it’s always a joy to help make these special events memorable.

For your enjoyment, here are some fun trivia facts that we’ve collected over the years:

•  One of the earliest examples we have of an engagement ring was given to Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII.  She was two years old at the time.
• Ancient Spartan soldiers are credited with starting the tradition of throwing “stag parties” (AKA bachelor parties) in order to send their friends off into matrimony with rowdy parties.
• Around 70% of brides wear a traditional diamond ring on the fourth finger of their left hands.
• A sapphire wedding ring is said to mean marital happiness in the symbolic language of jewels.  A pearl is said to be bad luck because its shape looks like a tear.
• 80% of brides plan formal weddings.
• The average number of bridesmaids in a wedding party is four.
• The number of guests at the average American wedding is 189.
• The most popular month to get married is August (10.2% of weddings) with June coming in close behind (9.9% of weddings.)
• The “something blue” portion of the wedding ensemble is said to symbolize purity, fidelity, and love.
• In Christian ceremonies, the bride stands to the left of the groom because, during the time in which the tradition started, the groom needed to keep his right arm free in order to fend off other suitors.

Do you know of other wedding traditions?  Feel free to share in the comments section!

Image courtesy of More 4 Kids

Depending on who you ask, kids’ birthday parties are either a blast or an expensive and tiring ordeal.  Thanks to the Internet, though, it’s never been easier to arrange for all the kids birthday party supplies you need to arrive on your doorstep.

Gone are the days of driving from store to store looking for the perfect party favors to match your child’s themed party.  Now you can find the best price on everything from tablecloths to entertainment online, and you don’t even have to change out of your pajamas to do it!

If we may, let us suggest to you that you take the stress out of planning your child’s birthday party by using personalized water bottles to cross two necessities off your list: refreshments and party favors.

With the number of obese children growing every day, your fellow parents will enjoy the healthy alternative to soda or juice, and it’s easy to clean up should there be any spills.  There’s also the added convenience of using the personalized water bottles as customized party favors.  The kids will go home with a personalized souvenir that won’t break your piggy bank.

We offer a great selection of customizable label templates that make it easy to create custom label bottled water.  You have two options in ordering: you can either order our bottled water (this comes with the labels already applied) or the labels alone.  Our bottled water takes 5 business days to produce and arrives on your doorstep fully assembled and ready to go.  Our labels only option takes 3 business days and each label comes with a completely self-adhesive backing that makes it easy to apply quickly.  If you choose this option, simply buy some water bottles locally, remove the existing labels, apply the new labels, and voila!  Problem solved!

Our labels are made from a durable, completely synthetic material that will stay on and look beautiful even when stored in ice.  Our water bottles are also 100% recyclable, which makes them easy to dispose of.

If you have any questions or would like a sample of our products, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

There are many ways that wedding water bottles can add to your special day.  Here are our top ten ways to use custom label bottled water in your wedding:

 1.  Turn your water bottle labels into adorable personalized wedding favors by sending each guest home with a bottle that thanks them for coming to your wedding.

2.  Use a few bottles in guest baskets to help out-of-town guests feel welcome and right at home.

3.  Arrange some water bottles artfully in a tub of ice to keep the wedding party refreshed during pictures.

4.  Make sure the bride and groom’s dressing rooms are stocked with snacks and bottles of water.

5.  Bring water bottles to the bachelor and bachelorette parties to make sure everyone stays hydrated while they’re partying.

6.  Provide the bottles of water to the kids at your wedding, so they’ll have something special to drink as well.  Our 8 oz. size is perfect for little hands, and their parents will appreciate the caps on the bottles for preventing spills!

7.  Provide a bottle of water next to each place setting at your wedding rehearsal or reception dinner and keep extras on hand next to the dance floor to keep the dancers going strong.

8.  Offer personalized water bottles at the bridal shower.

9.  Use personalized water labels to create custom centerpieces.  Apply labels to flower vases and give your floral centerpieces a custom flair.

10.  Stock the getaway car with bottled water so that the bride and groom can get refreshed on their way to happily ever after.

If you’ve used any of these ideas or have any others, feel free to share in the comments section!

Quality: it’s a small word with a big meaning.  When you’re looking for quality, you’re looking for a combination of value and excellence.  The value comes from a reasonable price and the excellence is a direct result of intelligent manufacturing.

The ability to find quality relies on knowing what to look for.  If you’re in the market for custom label bottled water, personalized water bottle labels, personalized wine labels, or personalized beer labels, here are some things to keep in mind when shopping:

• Label material: The best label material is synthetic.  This material is strong, water-proof, and capable of being printed with photo-quality images.  Beware of paper-based labels.  Paper-based labels don’t hold up under ice, tear easily, and don’t tend to display high-resolution printing as well.
• Bottled water: Not all water bottlers are responsible to the earth or to their consumers.  Research where the water you’re interested in purchasing is bottled and make sure it is federally tested at least once per year and privately tested on a regular basis.
• Print quality: Not all printers are created equal.  The best printers in the industry are digital and capable of reproducing photo-like quality on labels.  Some custom label companies use cheap inkjet printers that produce very blurry and unprofessional-looking labels.
• Turn-around time: Labels take time to produce, so make sure whatever company you order with can accomodate your order on time.  Look for a company with a next-day turnaround if you’re in a rush to get your labels.

We here at Bottle Your Brand have spent years learning about this industry and have perfected our labelling techniques and practices.  We use only the finest quality label material, bottled water, and digital print presses to create stunning, high-quality customized labels that our customers love.

We offer fast turn-around times for our products and a next-day turnaround for a reasonable fee.  If you have any questions about our products and services, feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.

The holidays are coming up.  Shocking but true, the evidence is everywhere.  Starbucks has just started offering the pumpkin spice latte again, stores are putting up Halloween displays, and as the weather chills and the leaves turn colors, people everywhere are starting to prepare for the cold, the parties, the holidays.

Along with pumpkins, turkey, and tinsel, the holidays bring with them gifts.  Gifts for friends, gifts for family, gifts for colleagues, gifts for business associates.  If you’ve already started thinking over your gifts shopping this year, it might be worth your while to start thinking about giving personalized bottles of wine.

Personalized bottles of wine are a great way to give a thoughtful, personalized gift that won’t break your bank account.  All you have to do is order your personalized wine labels, buy some bottles of wine, remove the old wine labels, and apply ours.  Tie a bow around the neck of the bottle and call it a night!

All our wine label templates have completely customizable wording, so you can express any sentiment you like.  Whether you’re saying “Thanks for making this a great year for our company!” or “Happy holidays from our family to yours!” personalized wine labels will help you get your message across.

Creating a personalized water bottle label can seem like a daunting task.  Not only do you have to worry about creating the artwork for the label, you also have to keep the wording and layout in mind as well!

Do not despair, though.  We are experts at building customized water bottle labels and have created a few options for you:

• You can use our water bottle label templates.  Our templates are beautiful and come in a wide variety of themes and colors that are sure to tie in with any event or promotion you’re planning.  The text on our labels is completely customizable and can be changed to reflect any sentiment or slogan you need.  All you have to do is select the label you like, type in the text you’d like to see on the label, and voila!  Your personalized label is ready to go!
• You can design your own label from scratch.  If you visit this page, you’ll find all our artwork file requirements as well as downloadable blank label templates that will get you started.  If you have an eye for graphics and the necessary software, you have everything you need to create a custom label.  If you run into any roadblocks along the way, feel free to give us a call.  Our graphic team is always happy to help out and answer questions.
• You can have us do the custom artwork heavy lifting.  Our talented team of graphic designers has worked with hundreds of companies and individuals to create customized labels for everything from business retreats to weddings to horse races - and everything in between.  If you have an idea of what you want your custom label to look like, but don’t have the time or expertise to design it yourself, let us do all the work.  We’ll work with you until you’re completely satisfied with the result.  Bear in mind, we charge a $50 artwork set up fee if you choose this option, which is extremely reasonable when you consider how much time it takes to produce professional-quality artwork.

Personalized labels are an incredible way to market your company or make any occasion special.  We’re committed to making the process of creating them as easy and painless as possible.  If you have any questions about creating personalized labels, feel free to give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.

Before applying your new custom water bottle label from Bottle Your Brand, it’s important to remove the existing labels from your water bottles.  We don’t generally recommend applying the new labels over the old ones as it increases the chances of unsightly bubbling and creases in the new label.

Here is a method that has worked well for us in removing existing water bottle labels:

1. Soak the full water bottle in warm water (the water should be warmer than lukewarm but not so hot that it will scald your hand).  Most water bottles manufactured in the United States have heavy-duty adhesive that glues the label to the bottle.  Soaking the bottle in warm water will loosen the adhesive.  Do not soak for longer than five minutes as this could cause the bottle to shrink or buckle (Some people find it helpful to use a bathtub for this step!)
2. Remove the old label by peeling it off the bottle.  Water bottle labels generally only have adhesive in a strip at the back of the bottle.  Peel off as much of the existing label as you can and you will be left with the adhesive strip.  If there’s a large amount of adhesive left, you can try re-applying the old label and then removing it again in order to remove more of the adhesive.
3. You can either use mineral oil or rubbing alcohol on a soft cloth to dissolve the remaining adhesive.  We recommend doing a trial run using a spare bottle to see which solvent works best with your particular kind of bottle.  Some bottles will go cloudy if you use rubbing alcohol so it’s best to check first.  Once you are satisfied with how much adhesive has been dissolved, wipe off the remaining solvent.  If you are using mineral oil, it’s important to remove all of it before applying your new label or the new label won’t stick!