How to Dress Up Soda Bottles for Your Party

If you look at your parties and feel like they don’t look quite pulled together, it may be that little details got overlooked. Which leads us to: how to dress up soda bottles for your party.

Are these touches ultimately important in terms of how much fun your guests have? Nope. But, they can add to the delight factor and the impression that someone cared about even the smaller elements of the party. So definitely put ideas like dressing up soda bottles or water bottles in the “nice to have” category, not the “need to have” category. …And then go for it, because this is an easy, fun, and inexpensive project that looks great at your party.

The first thing you need is a bottle with a straight up and down design. A Coca-Cola bottle with the hourglass shape or a water bottle with a bowed-out middle is not going to be wrap-able.

Supplies to Dress up Soda Bottles

The Party Teacher is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

• Soda or water bottles
• Your bottle wrap – this could be 12-inch x 12-inch scrapbook paper, printables, duct tape or fabric
• Baker’s twine (this is the best brand I’ve found) or thin ribbon
• Paper straws
• Mini glue dots
• Scotch tape
• Regular-size glue dots or Aleene’s Tacky Glue
• Scissors and/or paper trimmer
• And for my project, googly eyes

How to Dress up Soda Bottles

I usually choose Jones, Izze, or Boylan soda bottles because they are the right shape and they come in fun colors that I can match to my party theme. (We don’t normally drink soda, so I don’t worry about the sugar or food dye for a couple of parties a year.)

The next step (normally) is to peel off the bottle label. Sometimes your bottle wrap is not as tall as the label, so you need to get the label out of the way. For my googly eye Halloween dessert table, I kept the colors to black and white, so I decided on a simple paper wrap that could cover the label and so I didn’t bother to remove the label.

I used 12-inch x 12-inch scrapbooking paper and just held it up to the label so I could eyeball the height needed.

Pinch the spot where you want to cut, then use the paper trimmer to cut it to size. I cut two sheets of paper at a time (holding them back to back). I was able to get two bottle wraps out of each sheet of paper.

Now, wrap that 12-inch strip of paper around the bottle to see what length you need to trim it to (about 8 inches, allowing for a slight overlap). Mark the cut spot with a fold, then cut that amount off each strip of paper.

Now that your paper strips are the correct height and length, tape one side on the back of your bottle. (I usually decide the back of the bottle is wherever the code is printed, so I can turn that to the back of my dessert table.)

Wrap the rest of the strip around the bottle, making sure it is taut, aligned with the beginning of the wrap, and overlaps the first piece of tape. Secure it in place with a longer piece of tape.

If you want to cover up the bottle cap, use a 1-inch circle punch to create a paper circle, or add something related to your party theme (like a googly eye or a button or a silk flower) with Aleene’s Tacky Glue or a glue dot.

I like to tie straws onto the bottles, so I do that with either thin ribbon or baker’s twine. The trick here is to get the twine tight around the bottle so it doesn’t slip out of place and the key to success is anchoring the twine with a mini glue dot.

Cut twine to 36 inches long so you can wrap the bottle three times.

The third time around the bottle, tie the ends of the twine together in a single knot, up against the bottle.

Lay a straw on that knot, then tie one knot around the straw and bow to keep it in place.

And here’s your finished bottle.

This is one of those projects that probably takes longer for me to explain than for you to complete. You may feel a little butterfingers-y with the first bottle, but you’ll quickly get the hang of it.