Quick Tips For Last Minute Address Labels & Gift Tags

If you’re running a bit late for getting creative for Christmas, try our Quick Tips for Last Minute Christmas Labels!

Whether you’re making your own Christmas address labels, Christmas card labels, or Christmas gift tags, it’s really easy to create a set of seasonal address labels and gift tags with that extra special personal touch.

• Personalise Christmas address labels with photographs, images, a Christmas-themed background, or a festive font!
• Choose self-adhesive labels with a festive feel to give yourself a ready made seasonal background for your Christmas wishes or addresses.
• Coloured labels are ideal Christmas labels and we offer pastel coloured labels (for a subtle touch of Christmas colour), fluorescent labels (for adhesive labels that are merry and bright), gold labels and silver labels (for a touch of seasonal shimmer), and mirrored labels (for a fun party feel) and brown Kraft labels (for a truly homemade feel).
• Download label templates from our website; we have Word templates (for Word, Pages etc) and PDF templates (for Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator etc).
• Add your seasonal design to the first label in your label template and then use copy and paste to quickly AND accurately fill in the rest of the blank labels.
  Top tip: in Word, move your cursor to the bottom left corner of the first label and triple click your mouse (left button) to select the content AND the formatting options you have used.
• Be careful with coloured backgrounds and borders; if your printer and/or label template aren’t quite accurate enough, you may end up with “white edging” where your label template is slightly misaligned with your labels. You can avoid this either by not using a coloured background or border OR by oversizing your background or border so that it overlaps the edges of each label – if possible.
  Top Tip: centralise so your design so it always starts from the middle of each blank label and extends outwards, which helps to prevent your design getting cut off at the edges of your sheet labels.
• In Word, use text boxes to control the positioning of text in your Christmas design (and add a festive border) and use the “Wrap Text” option in the “Picture Tools Format” tab to control the positioning of any images (use “Tight” or “In Front Of Text”).
• Use Word’s built in Mail Merge tool to create personalised address labels. The Mail Merge Wizard (click on the “Mailings” tab, then click on the “Start Mail Merge” button, and select “Step-by-Step Mail Merge Wizard”) will guide you through the SIX steps:
  • Select Document Type: create a set of address labels.
  • Select Starting Document: select your label template; Mail Merge works best with a built in template (click “Change document layout” then “Label options”) but you can use a label template you have downloaded (e.g. from the Label Planet website) and saved to your computer (“Start from existing document”) OR use the “New Label” option in the “Label options” box to create your own label template.
    Label templates AND measurements for all of our label sizes can be found on the template information page for each of our products; use the “Templates & Printing Information” link on the product page or navigate from our Template Home Page to find the templates and information you need.
  • Select Recipients: connect your label template to your list of addresses using the “Use existing list” option. Once you have confirmed that you are happy with the information in your list, a Next Record rule is added to each blank label in your label template (except the first one).
    If you have downloaded a label template, you need to add this rule manually; click on the “Rules” button in the “Mailings” tab at the top of the page and select “Next Record” from the drop down list.
  • Arrange Your Labels: add your Christmas label design; if you are using a built in template (or one you have made) you can add your design to the top left label and use the “Update All Labels” button to fill in the rest of your label template.
    Use placeholders to indicate where the information from your list should sit; add individual fields using the “More Items” option or use the “Address Block” to insert your addresses in a single placeholder.
  • Preview Your Labels: check that your information fits into your design properly (and go back to make amends if it does not).
  • Complete The Merge: merge your label template with your list of addresses to create one unique address label for each of the recipients on your Christmas list.
    View our How To video for a step by step guide to using Mail Merge to make labels.
• ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS test print your Christmas label template onto paper BEFORE loading your sheet labels proper; this allows you to check that your label template and printer are set up correctly to produce the print quality and alignment that you need to produce perfect Christmas labels.
• Use the media bypass tray (if your printer has one) and go through your printer’s properties to make sure you are using a Page Size of A4, a Media Type/Weight of Labels (or Heavy Paper), and that no scaling options (e.g. less than 100% or “Fit to Page/Sheet”) are selected.

Remember, you can find label templates for ALL of our label sizes in our Template Section OR by clicking on the “Templates & Printing Information” link on the product page of the self adhesive labels you have bought from Label Planet.

View all of our material options on our Product List, visit our Address Labels range page, or take a look through our Help Pages for even more tips and advice (including our “Label Template How Tos”).

If you need any further assistance ordering, designing, or printing your own Christmas address labels or gift tags, you can always get in touch with our Customer Service Team who will be happy to help!