miniblinds are still the easiest - if you don't have any yourself, the usual drill is to scrounge them out of your neighbor's trash (cheapest) or buy one from the thrift store or local discount store when they're on special.

Cat litter jugs provide great tags, because you've got 4 more or less flat sides, but the plastic is pretty hard to cut. I use kitchen shears (the kind that cut through small bones & stuff, not just big scissors) and a utility knife, and I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone with arthritis or carpal tunnel or just plain not-strong hands.

BTW, these shears make easy work of cutting up aluminum cans - "pinch" the can near the top and make a small cut, then insert one blade and you can just cut around below the top. Then cut your strips, and cut them off the bottom of the can by cutting across each one. The main use for cans anyhow is for permanent markers for things like shrubs, since you can indent the marking.

If you just want tags to use in seed-starter packs - cutting white plastic pottles that you might get yoghurt, margarine, or semi-soft butter in, into strips then marking up with a permanent marker. (They're not that permanent under sunlight yet they last well enough for seedling ID purposes.) You can even use the round bottom portion if you haven't quite enough pottles for the job.

Kitchen snips such as you might use for dissecting chicken, grape picker scissors, or even heavy dressmaking shears would do the cutting. Not secateurs.

These labels are also useful for putting on plants going to a stall at a fair.

I use popsicle/craft sticks I bought for $1.00 for about 100 of them. I write the name of the plant with a sharpie & stick them into the ground. I also keep the complete seed packet with the planting date on it in a recipe box.
--Nancy

I use broken clay pot pieces. Free! They look good and if you use permanent marker, last a long time.

I advertised on Freecycle and got 2 miniblinds, enough for a long, long time.

Carol

I cut up aluminum cans into strips and just indent with a pen. They last forever.
Duane

Aluminum tape works too and use plastic knives from the dollar store for labels with a grease pencil.