Custom Ice Cream Cups
An ice cream cup is filled below freezing, carried in a warm hand, and starts collecting condensation the moment it leaves the cabinet. Nothing else we make goes through that temperature swing in the first two minutes of its life.
- Sizes
- 4oz, 6oz, 8oz, 12oz, 16oz and larger
- Board
- Food-grade lining inside, moisture-resistant coating outside
- Lids
- Flat and dome, matched to rim diameter
Get a price for Ice Cream Cups
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.
Condensation, and what it does to board
The outside of a cold cup collects water from the air almost immediately. Uncoated board absorbs it, goes soft where the customer is holding it, and lets the print lift at the seam.
A moisture-resistant coating on the outer face solves it, and it is not the same thing as the food-contact lining on the inside. Both are needed, and a quote that mentions only one is not quoting a cup for frozen product.
A cup that feels fine in a warm shop can go soft in a humid one. Specify for your worst conditions, not your average.
Sizes, and what a scoop actually is
Scoop size varies between shops far more than cup size does, so match the cup to your scoop rather than to a menu name. A "double" that overflows a 6oz cup is a mess at the counter every time.
| 4oz | Kids and tasting portions; single small scoop |
|---|---|
| 6oz | One generous scoop; the common single |
| 8oz | Two scoops; the standard adult serve |
| 12oz | Three scoops or a sundae base |
| 16oz+ | Sharing and takeaway; needs a rigid lid |
Lids do different jobs at different sizes
- A flat lid seals for takeaway and stacks; useless for anything piled above the rim.
- A dome lid takes a tall serve, toppings and a wafer, and does not stack well.
- No lid at all is correct for eat-in and saves real money.
- Rim diameter is what a lid fits — confirm it before ordering the cup.
Toppings and sauces change the specification
Hot sauce on cold ice cream is the worst case for a paper cup: it softens the lining locally and it happens right where the customer is holding it. A heavier lining or a double wall handles it.
Acidic toppings and citrus sorbets are also harder on the inner lining than plain dairy. If they are on your menu, say so — the freezer and coating reasoning is set out in our ice cream packaging notes.
Printing on a cup handed over a counter
This cup is seen at very close range by the person holding it, and by everyone they walk past for the next ten minutes. It is a better advertisement than the shop's own signage and it costs a fraction of it.
Like every paper cup it is printed on a fan-shaped blank and rolled, so horizontal lines curve and level type tilts. We supply the template before artwork starts.
Ice Cream Cups — 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
- Sizes
- 4oz, 6oz, 8oz, 12oz, 16oz and larger
- Board
- Food-grade lining inside, moisture-resistant coating outside
- Lids
- Flat and dome, matched to rim diameter
- Construction
- Single or double wall; double wall for hot toppings
- Fan template supplied; seam, rim and base crimp kept clear
- Minimum
- 100 cups
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to six colors, printed on the outer face only and before any lining goes on.
- Color
- Food-safe inks throughout. Kraft mutes color; a white board or liner is needed for anything photographic.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1 mm, and fit confirmed by filling a plain sample from your own kitchen or line.
- Tooling
- A cutting die per size, kept. Molded pulp needs a tool per shape, which is a longer lead and a larger one-off.
- Food contact
- Every board food-contact grade, with grease resistance built into the sheet and never a PFAS treatment.
- Sustainability
- Aqueous linings and unlined boards repulp with ordinary paper. PE-lined cups need cup collection, and we say which you have.
- 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 ice cream cups on
Food packaging is chosen for what the food does to it: grease, steam, heat and time. Every board here is food-contact grade, and none of them uses a PFAS treatment for grease resistance.
Food-grade virgin board
Bleached board made for direct food contact. Clean, bright, no recycled fiber and no mineral-oil risk from recovered paper.
14–24ptGrease-resistant board
Resistance built into the sheet rather than sprayed on. Holds fries, pastry and butter without darkening. PFAS-free.
16–24ptPE-lined cupstock
Board with a polyethylene film for hot and cold liquid. Microwave-safe for reheating; recycled only where cup collection exists.
260–350gsmAqueous-lined cupstock
A water-based lining instead of PE. Repulpable in ordinary paper recycling in more places, and compostable; a slightly shorter hold time.
260–320gsmGreaseproof and glassine
Dense, calendered paper that resists fat through the fiber. Wraps, liners and interleaves; breathable, so pastry stays crisp.
30–55gsmFood-grade corrugated
E and B flute with a food-contact liner, vented where steam has to leave. Pizza, catering and anything hot and heavy.
E and B fluteMolded pulp and bagasse
Fiber pressed into a shape. Holds heat, resists grease with no lining, composts, and takes only an embossed or one-color mark.
Molded to shapeRecycled board
Post-consumer fiber. Used for outers, sleeves and anything that does not touch food directly — not for direct contact.
Non-contact onlyNot 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.
Food finishes are limited by what may touch food, and that is the point.
Food-safe inks
Printed on the outer face only. Every food pack we make uses them, laminated or not.
Uncoated kraft
No coating at all. Breathable, so pastry stays crisp, and it takes one or two colors.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance without a plastic film, so the pack still repulps.
Molded emboss
A logo pressed into pulp or bagasse. No ink, nothing to rub off, and it survives grease.
Grease-resistant face
Not a finish you can see. It is in the sheet, it is PFAS-free, and it is why the print stays clean.
Matte lamination
Available on outers and sleeves that never touch food — a cake box lid, a carrier, a gift sleeve.
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 food packaging around a portion, hot: ice cream cups
Food is sized by serving, not by dimensions, and it is served hot, heaped and in a hurry. Send us the portion — or better, the box you use now with the food in it — and we size to how it is actually filled.
- Portion, heaped
- Fries, popcorn and salad are served above the rim. A box sized to a level fill looks mean and spills in a bag.
- Lid clearance
- Enough that a loaded burger or a topped cake does not touch the lid. This is the single most common complaint about a food box.
- Venting
- Hot food steams. Vents in the lid keep pastry and fries crisp; a sealed box is right only for cold food.
- Grease path
- Where the fat sits decides the board. Say if the food is fried, buttered or sauced, and whether it is held for minutes or an hour.
- Stacking in a bag
- Delivery boxes are stacked five high on a bike. The lid has to hold the box above it off the food below.
- Sample fill
- A plain box filled from your kitchen settles the size in one try, and we send one before the run.
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 Ice Cream Cups 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 ice cream cups? 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.
What is the minimum order?
100 cups, matched with a lid.
Why do my cups go soft in the hand?
Condensation into uncoated board. The outer face needs a moisture-resistant coating, separate from the food-contact lining.
What size for a double scoop?
8oz for most shops, though scoop sizes vary. Match the cup to your scoop, not the menu name.
Flat lid or dome?
Dome for anything piled above the rim or with toppings. Flat for takeaway that has to stack.
Do hot sauces damage the cup?
They soften the lining locally. A heavier lining or a double wall handles it — tell us if sauces are on the menu.
Single or double wall for ice cream?
Single is fine for eat-in. Double wall helps if the cup is handed over cold and held for a while.
Why do my cups go soft in the hand?
Condensation into uncoated board. The outer face needs a moisture-resistant coating, which is separate from the food-contact lining.
What size for a double scoop?
8oz for most shops, but scoop sizes vary a lot. Match the cup to your scoop, not to the menu name.
Flat lid or dome?
Dome for anything piled above the rim or with toppings. Flat for takeaway that has to stack.
Do hot sauces damage the cup?
They soften the lining locally. A heavier lining or a double wall handles it — tell us if sauces are on the menu.
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