Computers are a wonderful tool for adding your own holiday flair to gift giving. You can design Christmas gift labels with your own personal touch. Think how much fun it will be to see the surprised look on the faces of your family members when you tell them, "I made them myself." Creating your own gift labels is really easy when you know how.

• Select the size label you prefer. I recommend Avery 5162 (1.33 x 4.0 Address Labels) or Avery 5163 (2.0 x 4.0 Shipping). Most generic label makers will put the Avery standard numbers somewhere on the packaging. These will usually be a little less expensive.
• Find one or two clipart or holiday pictures you like. Think wisely about the density of the picture and color saturation. Simple pictures or clipart really work best. Here are some ideas for clipart:

? Winnie the Pooh Characters dressed for the holidays
? Tweety Bird dressed for the holiday
? Disney Characters dressed for the holidays
? Christmas Trees
? Christmas Stockings
? Christmas Angels
? Holiday Bears
? Candy Canes


Here are some Holiday Clip Art Sites to get you going:
Kids Domain
Awsome Clip Art for Kids
Christmas Clip Art Collections

• Choose a Christmas greeting or quote that is special to you, if desired. You could use word art on your greeting to add impact and interest. Some suggestions are:

? Peace on Earth
? Joy to the World
? Happy Holidays
? May your Holiday Season be as Special As You Are
? Merry Christmas
? For unto us a child is born
? "God Bless Us, Every One!
? "From Home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another…
The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other…"
--Emily Matthews

Search the web for other ideas. I look at the Greeting Card and Quotation sites to get ideas.

• Decide on a font type to use. Choose one that is festive, yet easy to read. Here are some of the fonts I like:

? Chaucer
? Bradley Hand
? Christi
? Curlz MT
? Tempas Sans
? Script MS Sans

Your system may or may not have these font types, you will have to look through the types you have and decide what works best.

• Pick a font color to match the graphic you use.

Some programs will allow a mail merge from your address book to insert the gift receiver name. I personally prefer to write the manes on the labels because I feel it's more personal.

Below are links to the instructions you need to create you labels for three popular Desk Top Publishing software packages.

MS Word XP (you can also do the same technique using previous versions of Word but the mail merge feature works differently then these instructions.)

MS Publisher

Print Shop Pro Deluxe

Have fun with your Christmas Label project, adding your own personal touch make your gift wrapping special.

Merry Christmas everyone!


Microsoft Publisher 2002