Jar Label Maker

How to make labels for jars and homemade gifts

1. Type the product (“Spiced Plum Chutney”, “Lavender Bath Salts”), up to three lines for the ingredients, the date or a “best before”, and who it is from. The text shrinks and wraps by itself so it always stays inside the label.
2. Pick a design. Five are for Christmas, five for the rest of the year. Black & white holly and Black & white classic print with black ink only, on any printer, and look good on kraft or coloured paper too.
3. Pick a shape and size. Measure the flat part of the lid or the side of the jar first: a 63 mm label fits the lid of the common 63 mm twist-off jam jar, 2 in and 2½ in fit regular canning-jar lids, and 3 in suits wide lids and cookie tins. For bottles choose Bottle wrap and type how wide the bottle is: the label is made π × that width plus 10 mm to overlap.
4. Pick the paper. If you bought 2 in round sticker sheets with 12 on a page, choose that sheet. Everything else prints on plain paper or full-sheet sticker paper with a thin cut line round each label.
5. Download the PDF and print it at 100% (“Actual size”, never “Fit to page”), so a 2 in label really comes out 2 in across.

Questions

Is this jar label maker really free, and is the PDF free?

Yes. There is no account, no watermark and nothing to pay. The PDF and the PNG are made in your browser from what you typed, so nothing is uploaded either. One sheet carries one product, every label the same; for a second flavour change the name and download again.

What paper should I print jar labels on?

For a sticker you have three choices. Round die-cut sticker sheets are the neatest: the page lays labels out for the 2 in round, 12-per-sheet Letter sheet (the layout sold as 22807), using exactly the sheet geometry of our address label maker. Full-sheet sticker paper (one big sticker per page, matte or glossy, A4 or Letter) works for every shape here: print, then cut round the grey line with scissors or a circle punch; a 2 in or 50 mm punch matches those sizes exactly. Plain paper or thin card (around 120–200 g/m², 65–110 lb) is cheapest and looks good on tags and cookie bags; stick it on with a glue stick or double-sided tape, or tie it on with twine. Kraft card plus the black-and-white designs gives the brown-paper look with no colour ink at all.

Will the labels survive the fridge or the dishwasher?

Honestly: not a home-printed paper label in the dishwasher. Ink-jet ink runs when it gets wet, so a jam jar that goes back into a damp fridge will smudge. What helps: print on a laser printer if you have one (toner does not run), let ink-jet prints dry for an hour, then cover the label with clear packing tape or self-adhesive laminating sheet cut a little larger than the label. Waterproof vinyl sticker sheets for ink-jet printers exist and work well for bath salts and bottles that stay in a bathroom, but they still need to dry before handling. For candles, keep the label on the glass below the rim and away from the heat.

How do I size a wrap-around bottle label?

Measure across the bottle where the label goes (a 250 ml / 8 oz sauce bottle is about 60 mm, a 330 ml swing-top about 66 mm, a 500 ml spirits bottle about 75 mm). The tool makes the label π × width plus 10 mm, so it goes all the way round and overlaps; the dotted line marks where the other end covers it. The words sit on a front panel, the pattern runs round the back. A label wider than the paper turns the page sideways; on Letter the widest bottle is 79 mm across, on A4 84 mm.

What are lid + side pairs?

Tick Lid + side pairs with a round shape and every jar gets two labels: a round one for the lid with the name and who it is from, and a rectangle about 1½ lids wide for the side with the ingredients and date. A 2 in or 50 mm set gives six pairs on a page.

Can I print Christmas labels in black and white?

Yes, and they come out crisp on any printer: Black & white holly draws the holly as outlines, Black & white classic uses a double rule and a small diamond. Children can colour the holly leaves in before you stick them on.