Custom Match Style Slide Boxes
Custom match style slide boxes from 100 — the matchbox format in folding carton: a printed sleeve with a tray that slides out, made light, flat-shipped and quick to assemble, for business cards, jewelry, soap, tea, seed packets and small gifts.
The matchbox, made bigger and printed all over
- Board
- 16–20 pt SBS folding boxboard; 18 pt kraft on request
- Build
- Glued sleeve, corner-locking tray, no glue in the tray
- Size
- From business-card size to about 6 × 4 × 2 in
Get a price for Match Style Slide 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.
Sleeve and tray from flat board
- The sleeve is one strip, folded into a tube and glued along one seam.
- The tray is a die-cut blank whose walls fold up and lock at the corners, with no glue.
- The fit is set by board thickness: tight enough not to fall out, loose enough to push.
- A thumb notch or a ribbon pull on the tray end makes it easier to open.
Folding carton or rigid
This is the light version of a drawer box. A rigid drawer is wrapped chipboard, arrives made up and feels heavy in the hand; a match style box is printed board, ships flat and costs a fraction as much per unit, which suits giveaways and multi-packs. When the box is the gift itself, our sliding drawer rigid boxes in wrapped board are the heavier step up.
Sizes people actually order
| Business card | About 3.75 × 2.25 × 0.75 in; a deck of cards in a slide |
|---|---|
| Jewelry | About 3 × 3 × 1 in, with a foam or card insert in the tray |
| Soap bar | About 3.5 × 2.5 × 1.25 in, tray left plain |
| Tea or seeds | About 4 × 3 × 1.5 in, holding sachets on edge |
Printing the sleeve and the tray
The sleeve takes the brand on all four faces; the tray is what is seen when the box opens, so a contrasting color or a short printed line inside the tray is the reveal. The photographs show gold-foiled sleeves over printed trays — foil on the sleeve and a flat color in the tray is the usual pairing. Real matchboxes need a striking surface, which is a specialist coating we do not apply. For an unbleached version, see our kraft drawer boxes in brown board.
Match Style Slide 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
- Board
- 16–20 pt SBS folding boxboard; 18 pt kraft on request
- Build
- Glued sleeve, corner-locking tray, no glue in the tray
- Size
- From business-card size to about 6 × 4 × 2 in
- Full color sleeve, contrasting tray, inside print
- Extras
- Foil, emboss, thumb notch, ribbon pull, card or foam insert
- Delivery
- Flat sleeves and flat trays
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
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 match style slide 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.
280–350gsmMetalized 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: match style slide 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 Match Style Slide 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 match style slide 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.
What is a match style slide box?
A folding-carton box built like a matchbox: a printed sleeve with a tray that slides out of it.
How is a match style box different from a rigid drawer box?
It is printed board that ships flat and is light. A rigid drawer is wrapped chipboard that arrives made up.
Will the tray fall out of a match style box?
Not if the fit is right. We set the clearance to the board thickness and sample it before print.
Can a match style slide box hold business cards?
Yes, a sleeve about the size of a card deck is one of the most common orders.
Do match style boxes need gluing at packing?
Only if the sleeves are not pre-glued. Trays lock at the corners and need no glue.
Can the tray of a match style box be printed?
Yes, inside and out. A contrasting tray color is what people notice when it slides open.
Can you add a striking strip to a match style box?
No. The striking surface on real matchboxes is a specialist coating we do not apply.
Can a match style box hold jewelry?
Yes, with a slotted card or foam insert in the tray to hold a ring, earrings or a pendant.
Is there a pull on a match style slide box?
A thumb notch cut in the sleeve, or a ribbon tab glued under the tray, makes it easy to open.
What is the largest match style box you make?
About 6 × 4 × 2 inches. Above that, a tuck carton or a rigid drawer holds its shape better.
What is the minimum order for match style slide boxes?
100 per size; sleeve and tray print can differ within the order.
Same range
