Custom Rigid Setup Boxes
Custom rigid setup boxes from 100 — thick grayboard cut, wrapped in printed paper and assembled before it ships, as a lid and base, a hinged lid or a shoulder box, with a fitted insert if the product needs one.
A box that is built once, at the factory, and never folded
- Board
- Wrapped grayboard rigid build, 1.5–3 mm, corners stayed and set up before shipping
- Styles
- Lid and base, shoulder, hinged lid, drawer, book style
- Wrap
- Printed coated paper or specialty paper; soft-touch, gloss, foil, emboss
Order online
Order rigid setup boxes
Starting from $7.00 per unit
Printed to your artwork or plain, sold in runs of 100 up to 5,000 units per product online. Freight to the US, UK, Canada and Australia is inside the price.
How an online order runs
- Add the units you needThen check out with your delivery address. Add other products to the same order on the way.
- A digital proof comes backLaid on the dieline, before anything prints. Change it as often as you need.
- Pay once you approve itPay by PayPal invoice or bank transfer after you approve your digital proof, or cash on delivery in the US and Canada.
- We make it and ship it deliveredYour delivery date is confirmed with the proof, against the spec and your fill date. Freight and customs are handled on the way to you.
Another size, board or finish, or more than 5,000 units? Send the spec for a price instead. Freight by market and our terms cover delivery and remakes.
Get a price for Rigid Setup 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.
How a setup box is made, step by step
- Grayboard, usually 1.5–3 mm thick, is cut to a blank for the base and another for the lid.
- The sides are scored and folded up, and the four corners are stayed with tape so they stay square.
- A printed wrap, glued on its back, is laid over the outside and turned in over the top edge.
- A liner paper is set into the inside to cover the turned-in edge and the raw board.
- Inserts, ribbons or magnets go in last, and the finished box is packed in a carton.
Styles that start from the same build
The two-piece version has its own page on telescoping lid and base boxes, which covers lid depth and the gap between the two pieces.
| Lid and base | Two separate wrapped trays; the classic setup gift box |
|---|---|
| Shoulder box | A raised inner neck shows between lid and base as a band of color |
| Hinged lid | One wrap joins lid and base along the back edge |
| Drawer | A wrapped tray slides out of a wrapped sleeve |
| Book style | A hinged cover wraps around the tray and closes at the front |
Why the wrap decides the look
The board is never seen; everything visible is the wrap. A printed coated paper takes full color and a soft-touch or gloss lamination. A specialty paper, such as linen texture, uncoated colored stock or a paper with a metallic sheen, is often left unprinted and finished only with a foil stamp on the lid. The wrap also sets how corners look: a thin paper folds tight and crisp, while a thick textured stock leaves a softer edge.
Send a physical swatch or a paper name if you have one in mind. Specialty wraps vary by mill and are matched to a sample.
Assembled boxes take more space to ship
Because a setup box cannot be flattened, a carton holds fewer of them than flat cartons. Lids and bases are nested where the style allows, which cuts the volume, and the freight is already in our quote. If storage space at your end matters more than the feel of a fixed box, a collapsible rigid build is the alternative.
What usually goes inside
A setup box is often chosen for a product that sits in a shaped cavity: a watch, a bottle, a phone accessory, a set of jars. The cavity can be cut in foam, built in wrapped card, or molded in pulp, and is designed with the box so the product sits level with the top of the base. Our full range of rigid boxes shows the other closures.
Rigid Setup 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
- Wrapped grayboard rigid build, 1.5–3 mm, corners stayed and set up before shipping
- Styles
- Lid and base, shoulder, hinged lid, drawer, book style
- Wrap
- Printed coated paper or specialty paper; soft-touch, gloss, foil, emboss
- Inside
- Liner paper; foam, card or pulp cavity insert
- Packing
- Shipped assembled, nested where possible
- Minimum
- 100 boxes per size
On every job
- Print process
- The wrap is printed offset as a flat sheet and applied to the board, so the print quality is that of a sheet rather than a box.
- Color
- CMYK on the wrap with spot colors for a brand match. A textured or soft-touch wrap mutes a solid color slightly.
- Tolerance
- Board cut plus or minus 0.5 mm. Lid fit is set on a sample and held on the run, with an allowance for the delivery climate.
- Tooling
- No cutting die on the box itself. The tooling is the wrap print and any foil or emboss die, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- A food-grade liner or an inner tray where a rigid box holds unwrapped food.
- Sustainability
- Board and paper recycle together. Magnets, ribbon and foam come out first, and the spec says which the box has.
- 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 rigid setup boxes on
A rigid box is two materials: the grayboard that holds the shape and the paper wrapped around it. The board decides the feel; the wrap decides everything a customer sees and touches.
Grayboard 1.2–1.5 mm
The light rigid box: jewelry, small cases, card boxes. Heavy in the hand for its size without thick walls on a small cavity.
1.2–1.5 mmGrayboard 2–3 mm
The full rigid box. Resists crushing, bends poorly — thickness is chosen from box size so a wide lid does not sag.
2–3 mmArt paper wrap
Printed coated paper, matte or gloss laminated. Full color, photographs, any design. The most flexible wrap and the least tactile.
128–157gsmSoft-touch wrap
A velvet-feel laminate over printed paper. Reads expensive, shows fingerprints on white, and scuffs at the corners before anywhere else.
128–157gsm laminatedLinen and textured wrap
Texture woven into the paper, so it cannot scuff off. Takes foil and deboss beautifully; breaks up a solid print.
120–140gsmLeather-grain and specialty
Embossed grain papers, metallics and colored stocks. One color and a foil mark, not a photograph.
120–160gsmFlocked and velvet liners
A short-fiber or woven pile for the interior and the insert. Holds a product without marking it and sets the color the piece is seen against.
Applied to board or foamMagnets and hardware
Neodymium magnets under the wrap, ribbon pulls, and hinges built from the wrap itself. Each is a line on the quote.
Per closureNot 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.
On a rigid box the wrap is the finish, and the corners are where it is judged.
Soft-touch wrap
Velvet in the hand. The category default, and it scuffs at the corners first.
Linen and laid
Texture woven into the paper; hides marks and cannot rub off.
Hot foil
Stamped into the wrap. Small block, cheap die, large effect on a lid.
Blind deboss
Shape with no ink. On a textured wrap it is the quietest premium mark there is.
Spot UV on matte
A gloss shape on a matte field; a pattern that only shows at an angle.
Colored liner
A wrap on the inside face, seen for a second as the lid lifts. The cheapest thing that changes an opening.
Leather-grain
Embossed grain paper. One color and a foil mark, never a photograph.
Ribbon and hardware
A pull under the product, magnets under the wrap, a hinge built from the paper.
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 rigid box, where the wrap is part of the wall: rigid setup boxes
A rigid box is built up rather than folded, so the internal size is set first and the board and wrap are added outside it. The lid is then made to fit the base, and that fit is the thing people judge.
- Internal dimensions
- The product plus its insert, at the widest point. Everything else is built outward from this number.
- Wall build-up
- Each wall is the grayboard plus the wrap on both faces — roughly 2.5 mm on a 2 mm board. A small box gains noticeably in outside size.
- Lid clearance
- A few tenths of a millimeter. Set on a plain sample: a slow, air-cushioned lift, not a lid that drops off or has to be prised.
- Insert depth
- The tallest item plus 2 mm. On a two-layer box, this sets the total height and the ribbon lift.
- Humidity
- Board takes up moisture and a lid set snug in a dry factory can bind in a damp shop. We allow for the delivery market.
- Tolerance
- Plus or minus 0.5 mm on a rigid box, tighter than folding board because nothing springs back.
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 Rigid Setup 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 rigid setup 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 rigid setup box?
A box made from thick grayboard that is wrapped in printed paper and assembled at the factory, so it ships in its finished shape.
How is a rigid setup box different from a folding carton?
A folding carton ships flat and is erected when packed. A setup box is already a box when it arrives, with board several times thicker.
How thick is the board in a rigid setup box?
Usually 1.5–3 mm grayboard, chosen for the size of the box and the weight of the product.
Which styles of rigid setup box can you make?
Lid and base, shoulder boxes, hinged lids, drawers and book-style boxes all start from the same wrapped build.
Can a rigid setup box be printed in full color?
Yes. The wrap is printed before it is applied, and can be laminated in soft-touch or gloss and foil stamped.
Can a rigid setup box use a textured or colored paper?
Yes. Linen, uncoated colored and metallic papers are common, often left unprinted with a foil stamp on the lid.
Do rigid setup boxes ship flat?
No. They ship assembled, with lids and bases nested where the style allows to save space. A collapsible rigid box is the flat alternative.
Can a rigid setup box have an insert?
Yes. Foam, wrapped card or pulp cavities are designed with the box so the product sits level and does not move.
Why do rigid setup boxes cost more than folding cartons?
The board is heavier, each box is wrapped and assembled by hand or on a setup line, and assembled boxes take more space to ship.
What are rigid setup boxes used for?
Watches, jewelry, electronics accessories, fragrance, gift sets and launch kits: products where the box is kept after opening.
Can I get a sample rigid setup box before the order?
We send a dieline with every quote, and a plain or printed sample can be made before the run when the fit has to be checked.
Same range
