Custom Blister Boxes
On a blister pack the plastic gets all the attention and the card does the work: it holds the product, carries every word on the pack, and hangs the whole thing on a hook. Almost every improvement available here is a change to the card.
- Formats
- Printed backing cards, face-seal and full-face blister cards, skin pack board
- Card
- 300–450gsm, heat-seal coated in the seal area
- Hanging
- Euro slot as standard; bonded reinforcing patch above 300gsm
Get a price for Blister Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Most of the card is hidden behind the product
A blister sits in the middle of the card, so what a shopper sees is a border a few centimeters wide and the header above the hang hole. Designing the card as a full-bleed artwork wastes most of it.
Treat it as a frame and a header. Put the product name and brand in the header, the reason to buy in the border beside the blister, and the detail on the reverse where someone who has picked it up will look.
On a hook strip, packs overlap. Only the top 40 mm or so of yours is reliably visible — design that band first.
The hole carries everything
A pack on the shop floor is not being sold, and torn hang holes are the commonest reason packs end up there. The slot and the patch together cost very little.
| Round hole | Concentrates load on a small arc; tears first |
|---|---|
| Euro slot | Bears on two shoulders; roughly twice the load for the same card |
| Reinforced slot | A bonded patch behind the hole; needed above 300gsm |
| Adhesive hang tab | Retro-fits any pack, and peels off in a warm shop |
Board weight against the product weight
- Under 200 g, 300gsm card is comfortable with a euro slot.
- 200–400 g, go to 350–400gsm and reinforce the hole.
- Above about 500 g, a hanging pack is the wrong format — the retailer will shelve it anyway.
- A heavy blister also levers on the card when the pack is knocked, which tears the seal.
Sealing, and what it commits you to
A blister is heat-sealed to a coated face on the card, so the card has to carry that coating in the seal area — a plain uncoated stock will not bond. That coating is also what makes the card harder to recycle.
A face-seal blister bonds only where the flange meets the card; a full-face seal bonds across the whole area and is stronger and harder to open. Choose deliberately rather than letting the packer decide.
The paper alternatives, honestly
A board clamshell with a window shows most of the product, opens without scissors and goes into a paper stream whole. A skin pack uses far less plastic than a blister. Neither resists theft the way a sealed blister does.
That is the trade, and it is usually the retailer's requirement rather than yours — the comparison is set out in our clamshell and blister notes.
Blister Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Formats
- Printed backing cards, face-seal and full-face blister cards, skin pack board
- Card
- 300–450gsm, heat-seal coated in the seal area
- Hanging
- Euro slot as standard; bonded reinforcing patch above 300gsm
- Face, header band and reverse
- Alternatives
- Board clamshells and window boxes quoted alongside
- Minimum
- 100 cards
On every job
- Print process
- Digital below about a thousand, offset above it. One side or both, with spot colors where a match has to hold.
- Color
- CMYK as standard. Uncoated and kraft stocks print lighter and warmer; a spot color is the only exact match.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1 mm, creasing plus or minus 0.5 mm, confirmed on a plain sample before the run.
- Tooling
- A cutting die per size, made once and kept. Foil and emboss dies per artwork, also kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade board and inks where the carton touches food, with the interior left plain.
- Sustainability
- Mono-material board wherever the product allows; recycled-content and FSC stocks; no claim printed the pack does not earn.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build blister boxes on
A folding carton is one sheet of board, so the board is the product. These are the stocks we run for cartons, what each is good at, and where it lets you down.
Natural kraft
Unbleached folding board. Warm, hides marks, costs least. Mutes color — one or two flat colors print well, photographs do not.
250–350gsm sleeves; 14–24pt cartonsWhite SBS
Solid bleached sulfate: bright, coated, the retail carton standard. Takes accurate color and every finish. Shows scuffs sooner than kraft.
14–24ptWhite lined chipboard
A recycled gray core under a white printing face. Cheaper than SBS and slightly duller; the back of the sheet stays gray.
16–24ptKraft-look coated
A kraft face over a coated inner. The natural look with a barrier behind it — the answer where oil, grease or moisture would mark plain kraft.
14–20ptRecycled-content board
Post-consumer fiber with a gray-brown cast. Right for outers and inner components; poor for bright whites and photography.
16–22ptMicro-flute E and F
A fine corrugated layer where a carton needs structure it cannot get from board — a large panel, a heavy product, a box that ships alone.
E 1.5 mm; F 0.8 mmUncoated and textured
No clay coat, or a linen or laid grain. Print reads softer and warmer; a deboss goes deeper. Photographs do not sit well on it.
280–350gsmMetallised and pearlescent
A metallic or pearl face for a shelf that needs to catch light. Costly, and it fights a photograph — a mark or a pattern suits it better.
16–20ptNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Every finish here is a decision about light on a shelf, not about luxury.
Matte lamination
Reads considered, hides marks, takes a ballpoint.
Gloss lamination
Lifts color; glares under shop lighting.
Soft-touch
Velvet in the hand; shows fingerprints in a bag.
Hot foil
Real metal leaf — the most reliable premium signal.
Emboss / deboss
Shape with no ink; works in the dark.
Spot UV
Gloss shapes on a matte field.
Uncoated kraft
Warm, natural, mutes color.
Textured stock
Texture in the paper; cannot scuff off.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a folding carton so the die comes out right: blister boxes
Measure the product, not the box it is in now. A carton is built around what has to fit inside it, assembled — cap on, lid fitted, folded if it folds — at its widest point in each direction. Send those three numbers and say which is which.
- Length x width x height
- Internal, always. External dimensions include the board and are what the carrier measures, not what the product needs.
- Clearance
- 2–3 mm a side for a snug fit; more where an insert or void fill goes in. A carton cut exactly to the product is slow to pack and transmits every knock.
- Board thickness
- Heavier board takes internal space from the product. It matters most on small boxes, where four walls of 24pt is a real share of the cavity.
- Varies between batches?
- Glass, textiles, molded parts and cured soap all do. Measure several and build to the largest.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1 mm on folding board. Confirmed on a plain sample before the run.
- Units
- Metric or imperial, as long as you say which. Mixing them in one spec is where mistakes happen.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Blister Boxes in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about blister boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
Which part of the card should carry the branding?
The header above the hang hole — on a hook strip the packs overlap and only the top band is reliably visible.
Why do my packs end up on the floor?
Torn hang holes. Use a euro slot and bond a reinforcing patch behind it above 300gsm.
Can I use uncoated card?
Not in the seal area — a blister will not bond to it, and the coating is also what makes the card harder to recycle.
Is there a version without the plastic?
A board clamshell with a window, or a window box. You give up theft resistance, usually the retailer's requirement.
Face-seal or full-face seal?
Face-seal bonds only at the flange and opens more easily. Full-face is stronger and harder to open — choose deliberately.
Can the card be printed on both sides?
Yes, and the reverse is where the mandatory information usually goes since the front is mostly the header and border.
Which part of the card should carry the branding?
The header above the hang hole. On a hook strip the packs overlap and only the top band is reliably visible.
Why do my packs end up on the floor?
Torn hang holes. Use a euro slot and bond a reinforcing patch behind it above 300gsm.
Can I use uncoated card?
Not in the seal area — a blister will not bond to it. The coating is also what makes the card harder to recycle.
Is there a version without the plastic?
A board clamshell with a window, or a window box. You give up theft resistance, which is usually the retailer's requirement.
Same range
