Looking for a great Christmas gift during COVID that isn’t food? Download and print our free Hand Santa-tizer labels for fab DIY gifts!
I was pretty excited because this is the first year in practically a decade I can bake Christmas cookies for friends, family, and neighbors. I had purchased SO MANY adorable metal tins, harvesting them at different stores so no two neighbors would get the same one. And then my sister came in as the voice of reason. She didn’t want to accept baked goods from anybody and she thought it was a terrible idea for me to put in so much time and effort for something most people would discretely toss in the garbage when I was out of sight.
My mother was sad and thought it wasn’t a terrible idea but then my dad chimed in saying it was a terrible idea. Add a little bit more horrible-ness and then some and then we’re at how bad of an idea it would be to give everybody fresh baked cookies.
I decided that I had to agree. Would I want to eat something a neighbor I barely know brings over? In the time of COVID, maybe not…
Hand Santa-Tizer – a COVID Conscious Neighbor Gift
I was actually scrolling through Pinterest on my phone trying to think of a better plan. And then I scrolled upon my VERY OWN Hand Santa-Tizers project from 2013. Who knew that seven years later, modern day me would be so pleased with 2013 me?!? These bottles of hand sanitizer would be the PERFECT Christmas gift! With adorable Santa themed free printable labels I was set. But when I opened the file I wasn’t as happy with the design as I was way back when.
And so I drew out an adorable Santa Claus and also drew up a new Santa’s belt design, whipped them up in Illustrator and presto change-o! We’ve got some freshly updated Hand Santa-Tizers! In all honesty, I LOVE THEM. And hopefully my new people in my life will love them, too!
Want to make some for your friends, family, and neighbors?
Download Your Free Hand Santa-Tizers Printable
Supplies Needed to Make These Hand Santa-Tizers:
- Bottle of Hand Sanitizer (see notes below)
- Goo Gone
- Grease Cutting Cleaner (I used Sprayway Glass Cleaner)
- Paper Towels
- Printable Vinyl (Amazon ⋆ Expressions Vinyl)
- Mod Podge Spray Sealer
- White Cardstock
- Baker’s Twine or Ribbon
Hand Sanitizer Brands/Sizes We Used
With the pandemic there are so many brands of hand sanitizer I’m seeing on the shelves that I’ve never heard of. To keep things simple I purchased my bottles from Walmart and got 3 different sizes including a 3 ounce by Equate, 8 ounce by Germ-X, and 12 ounce bottle by Equate. It’s hardly scientific but I selected the bottles that there were the most of on the shelves that would work with my Hand Santa-TIzer designs. If you can grab these bottles/sizes your printable Hand Santa-Tizer files will work as is. You might be able to play around with other bottles/sizes and have them work. If you use any others give us a shout in the comments to let us know if the files with a particular brand/size of hand sanitizer.
Tools Needed:
- Printer
- Single Hole Punch
- Craft Knife (Amazon ⋆ Cricut)
- Ruler
- Cut Resistant Gloves (optional but cheaper than most co-pays)
- Self-Healing Cutting Mat (Amazon ⋆ Cricut)
Preparing to Make Your Hand Santa-Tizers:
Peel off the labels that came on your hand sanitizers. Clean the goo away with a product like Goo Gone.
Once all traces of the original label are gone, use a degreasing cleaner to remove all traces of the goo remover. This step is SUPER important. Without proper prep your Santa-tizers labels may not adhere or might get oil spots. I used Sprayway Glass Cleaner with impressive results.
Allow your bottles to dry completely.
Printing Your Hand Santa-Tizers:
In order to not go out in public I used my home printer. If I had taken my supplies up to the library and printed there, they’d be much better quality than what my little inkjet is capable of. But I feel like for the times I’m totally happy with home printing this year.
Print the swing tag page of your hand Santa-tizers onto a piece of white cardstock and cut along the faint grey lines. Punch a hole in the corner to hang.
Print the front only (not wrap around) labels onto printable vinyl. You’ll notice on the designs that there are 4 corners made out of faint lines… These are your crop marks and will help you get nice, even cuts without having any white space around any label.
Place your ruler along the crop mark lines of the corners. Using a sharp craft knife with a new, sharp blade (and cut-resistant gloves if you’re clumsy like me) make slow and deliberate cuts along the ruler. Pull trimmed piece away before picking the ruler up to ensure that cuts go all of the way through. Repeat for the remaining 3 sides.
Wrap-Around Labels
The wrap around labels can more difficult to apply neatly to the bottles. If you’re great with placement I’d suggest continuing to use the printable vinyl. However, if, like me, you can’t seem to get things on right the first time, print on regular printer paper and plan on adhering using a permanent glue stick.
Quick Tip – Make Your Labels Water Safe:
By nature these labels will get wet. To make them water safe spray several very thin layers of sealer over the the labels after the ink has dried, but before the paper has been cut.
How to Apply Hand Santa-Tizers Labels:
Give your bottles a quick once over to ensure that the surface isn’t oily. If they are clean again and allow to fully dry.
Peel the backing sheet from your printable vinyl labels. Carefully place the label on the front of the bottle centered as well as possible. Lightly apply pressure to the center of the label and work your way to the sides applying pressure to adhere a small section at a time. This will keep the label smooth without air bubbles.
Tie a swing tag onto the bottle’s neck and this Hand Santa-Tizer is complete!
For the wrap around Santa Belt Hand Santa-Tizers, apply a generous coat of glue stick to the entire back of the label. Make sure to pay special attention to the edges of the design.
Center the buckle of the design on the front of the bottle. Apply gentle pressure along the center to begin sticking the label to the bottle. Work your way to the right sticking the shorter side of the label around to the back of the bottle. Apply more glue if necessary.
Quick Tip – At this point your glue should still be moveable. If your label is on wonky, carefully peel it up and reapply.
Bring the longer side of the label around the bottle applying pressure a small amount at a time to prevent air bubbles.
The end of the label will overlap the side already on the bottle.
Gifting Your Hand Santa-Tizers:
Given the current state of things if you still want to give gifts to neighbors and acquaintances, I really think these DIY hand Santa-Tizers is a fabulous little gift. It’s thoughtful, useful, and will likely be more welcome than baked goods or similar gifts.
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