G'day Jonesy
It depends mainly on how sophisticated you want them. I've done a lot of labels for myself using something like Pagemaker (my favourite) and other software programs as well. It's much much cheaper, and gives you full control over design. With colour laser printers costing so little these days (often less than $200) and being able to do 12 labels per A4 size page, it's pretty much a slam dunk, and you end up with a really nice printer at the end of it.
If you wanted, you could use Avery labels or similar that would stay attached pretty well and they come in all sorts of sizes. Admittedly, I like to use A4 photocopy paper with the blue bostick glue stick, but that dissolves in water and the label will probably only last about a minute in water/ice.
There's likely to be someone in the family or a friend with a graphic mind to make the design if you feel uncomfortable about it. I suspect it will cost a lot less that way than if you use someone like Kwik Kopy etc. Or you could ask your local art/craft store to recommend a glue that may be more permanent, of course. Truth be known, they'll probably know a poor starving uni student with talent that would be more than happy designing and printing the labels for $50 or a touch more.
Cheers mate