How to Put Photos on Water Bottles

Store-bought water bottles can be easily personalized with photographs. A trip to your local stationary store will get you all of the supplies you need to complete this task. Depending on the age of the photographs you want to adhere to your water bottle, different processes might need to be used to prepare the pictures.

Select the photograph you wish to put on your water bottle. Older photos or those not taken with a digital camera will require scanning once you’ve made your selection. Otherwise, select the photo and open the file that contains it.

Edit the photograph. The size of your photograph might be smaller or bigger than you prefer so adjust the size of it to better fit the water bottle. Computers and laptops generally come with basic imaging software that allows you to resize and crop your photographs (Microsoft Paint and Preview on Macs).

Print out a test copy of the photograph. Cut the image out and fold it around the water bottle to see if you’re happy with its size and the amount of surface it covers. You can also experiment with an outline of your photograph and possibly cut it into a shape other than a rectangle. If you do that, this test copy then acts as a template for the final picture.

Insert adhesive sticker paper into your printer then print out the photograph. Once the ink is fully dry (some bubble jet printers leave the image slightly damp at first), cut out the photo.

Clean the surface of your water bottle. The photograph will adhere better if the surface is free from particles and dirt. If the surface of the water bottle isn’t completely flat (it contains indents meant to act as grips), fill in the empty portions with craft glue. Once it dries you’ll have a smooth surface on which to work.

Peel off the back of the sticker paper and carefully place the photograph onto the water bottle. Adhere the center of the photo first and then slowly apply pressure to the outlying areas in order to ensure that there aren’t any bubbles or creases.

Measure and cut a piece of self-adhering laminating paper to size. This helps to waterproof the photo so that it can be easily cleaned off. The laminating paper can either be sized to the photograph or to the water bottle itself. Attach the laminating paper the same way you did the photo.