A bottle necker is the small printed card hanging around a bottle neck carrying a recipe, a promotion, a competition or a tasting note. It is one of the cheapest pieces of packaging you can produce and one of the easiest to get wrong, because its whole function depends on a single die cut hole. To order, go to bottle neckers. This guide covers the specification.
Two diameters decide everything
Take a bottle you will actually use and measure both of these with calipers:
- The widest point the necker has to pass over. Usually the cap, the crown, the cork capsule or the shrink sleeve. The hole must clear this or the necker cannot be fitted.
- The neck diameter below the flange. This is where the necker rests. The hole must be larger than this but smaller than the flange, or the necker slides down the bottle.
The gap between those two numbers is your working window, and on some closures it is narrow. If the closure is wider than the flange, a plain round hole will not work at all and you need a keyhole or a slit design that opens to fit and closes back.
The three hole styles
| Style | How it fits | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Plain round hole | Dropped over the closure from above | Bottles where the closure is narrower than the flange |
| Keyhole or slit | Slid on from the side, closes back on the neck | Wide caps, crowns and capsules |
| Two part with a tab lock | Wraps the neck and locks to itself | Collar style neckers and awkward closures |
Say which one you want in your spec, and send a sample bottle or the two diameters. A necker designed against the wrong closure is a full reprint, because the hole is cut into every piece.
Stock and finish
Card weight is a balance. Too light and the necker flops, twists round the bottle and hides the message. Too heavy and it will not bend around the neck on a keyhole design. Most neckers sit in the middle of the card range, and the right answer depends on the shape.
The environment matters more than the weight. Bottles in a chilled cabinet pick up condensation. Bottles in an ice bucket get soaked. An uncoated card necker in either case will curl, the ink can bleed and the piece looks worse than no necker at all. Laminate both sides, or use a synthetic stock, if the product is served cold.
Application
Ask how the neckers go on before you finalise the shape. Hand application at a co packer tolerates almost any design. Machine application is far less forgiving: the necker has to be stackable, consistently die cut and shaped to whatever the applicator expects. Tell your supplier which route you are using, because it changes the die.
Artwork notes specific to neckers
- Both sides print. The back of a necker is visible as the bottle turns, so use it.
- Keep copy away from the hole. Allow a clear margin around the die cut so nothing is clipped by the cutting tolerance.
- Check the QR at final size. Neckers are small, and a QR code that is too small or too low contrast will not scan.
- Bleed the full 1/8 in. Neckers are usually cut to an irregular shape, so the bleed matters more than on a rectangular piece. The file rules are on what resolution does packaging artwork need.
Cost, minimum and timing
Neckers start at 100 units, from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes, confirmed on your written quote. The cutting die, the printing plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof are included, which matters here because the shape is bespoke to your bottle and would otherwise carry a tooling charge. Turnaround is stated per product in three lanes, rush (expedited production plus air freight), standard (air) and cost saver (sea), from about 7 business days of production plus 2 to 5 days for delivery.
Send the two neck diameters, the closure type and whether the bottle is served chilled. Order at bottle neckers, or price your spec at request a quote.
