Custom Ornament Boxes
A glass bauble is bought once and unpacked eleven times. That makes the ornament box the one piece of packaging on this site whose real job starts after the sale, and it changes almost every decision about how it is built.
- Builds
- Two-piece lid and base, rigid hinged, folding carton with cradle
- Cradles
- Die-cut card, molded pulp, foam, tissue
- Board
- 18–24pt folding, or 1.5–2 mm grayboard wrapped for rigid
Get a price for Ornament 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.
It has to open without being destroyed
Glued flaps, tear strips and anything adhesive are wrong here. The customer will open this box carefully, put the ornament back into it in January, and expect to do the same for years. A lid-and-base or a hinged build survives that; a seal-end carton does not.
The same logic rules out a tight friction fit. A lid that has to be forced will eventually be pulled off at an angle, and that is when a fingertip goes through the ornament.
Cradling a sphere is not like cradling a box
A sphere touches its container at a single point unless something spreads the load. Whatever cradle you choose, the ornament should not be able to reach the corner of the box — the corner is where an impact concentrates.
- Die-cut card cradle. Two crossed pieces with a circular cut-out. Cheap, flat-packs, and holds the ornament off every wall.
- Molded pulp. Best protection per gram, recyclable, needs volume to justify tooling.
- Foam. Holds anything, in any shape, and is the least appealing to open in 2026.
- Tissue only. Honest for a low-value ornament, and genuinely inadequate for glass.
Hook and cap up, always. A metal cap resting against board will mark it; a cap facing the lid has clearance.
Storage does things to board that shipping does not
This is the case for a rigid build even on a mid-priced ornament. It is not about luxury; a wrapped rigid box simply comes back out of a loft looking like a box, and a folding carton often does not.
| Attic heat | Warps thin lids; step the board up on anything over 100 mm wide |
|---|---|
| Loft damp | Lifts lamination at the edges — matte film survives better than gloss |
| Stacking | Eleven months under other boxes; a rigid base holds, a tuck base creases |
A window sells it and costs it
Ornaments are bought on sight, and a window is the most effective thing you can do to a shelf-facing ornament pack. It also removes a wall of protection, lets light onto anything painted, and gives dust a way in during storage.
The compromise most brands land on is a small window on the front face with a full card wall behind the cradle, which is the same balance we describe for gift boxes that have to be seen into.
Print that is not only for December
An ornament box printed with a year on it is thrown away in January. One printed with the brand and the ornament name is kept, and it advertises to the household every time it is opened. If you make a collection, printing the piece name on the end panel makes a stack of stored boxes browsable.
Foil and emboss work exceptionally well in this category, because unlike most retail packaging, this box is handled in a living room under warm light rather than a shop under fluorescent.
Ornament 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
- Builds
- Two-piece lid and base, rigid hinged, folding carton with cradle
- Cradles
- Die-cut card, molded pulp, foam, tissue
- Board
- 18–24pt folding, or 1.5–2 mm grayboard wrapped for rigid
- Windows
- Filmed or open, front face, cradle wall kept solid
- Finishes
- Foil, emboss, matte film — matte survives storage best
- 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 ornament 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: ornament 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 Ornament 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 ornament 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 the minimum order for ornament boxes?
100 boxes, cut to your ornament and printed with your artwork.
How do you stop a bauble breaking in transit?
A cradle that holds it off every wall, and clearance so it never reaches a corner. A corner is where an impact concentrates.
Can the box be stored and reused each year?
That is what it is built for. A lid-and-base or hinged build survives repeated opening; a glued seal-end carton does not.
Which insert suits a round ornament?
A die-cut card cradle with a circular cut-out is cheapest and flat-packs. Molded pulp protects best per gram and needs volume for tooling.
Will a window fade the ornament?
Painted and natural colourants do fade in light over a season on a shelf. A window on the front with a solid wall behind the cradle is the usual compromise.
Should I print the year on it?
Only on a collectible. On anything else it makes unsold stock worthless the following season — put the year on a sticker instead.
Rigid or folding for a glass bauble?
Rigid if it is being kept and stored, which most ornaments are. Folding is fine for a light or unbreakable ornament sold to be hung immediately.
Can you make one box fit several ornament sizes?
Yes, with a cradle that changes and a box that does not. That is usually the cheapest way to run a collection, because the tooling is shared.
Will a printed year date on the box hurt sales?
It helps a collectible and hurts everything else, because it makes unsold stock unsellable the following season.
Do you supply the foam or pulp insert?
Yes, as part of the same job, quoted as a line of its own so you can see what it costs.
Same range
