Custom Seed Paper Boxes
Custom seed paper boxes and cards with real seeds embedded in the sheet, from 250 units. The customer tears it up, plants it, waters it, and it grows — packaging with a second life that is genuinely a second life, not a claim on a label.
Packaging that is meant to be buried
- Material
- Handmade recycled pulp, 120–250 gsm, seeds embedded
- Seeds
- Wildflower mix, herb mix, or single species; region-appropriate
- Formats
- Insert card, band, hang tag, small box, sleeve
Get a price for Seed Paper 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.
What the material actually is
A thick, soft, uneven handmade sheet — usually 120 to 250 gsm — with a visible texture and flecks of the seeds themselves. It is not smooth, it is not white, and it does not take fine print. It scores and folds well, holds a die cut, and feels unmistakably handmade, which is most of the appeal. It is also weak when wet, by design, so it cannot be the outer layer of anything that will meet rain.
| Wildflower mix | The default; germinates readily across most temperate zones |
|---|---|
| Herb mix | Basil, parsley, thyme; suits food, drink and cosmetics brands |
| Single species | One flower, for a brand color or an event theme |
| Seed-free recycled | The same handmade look with no seeds, for parts that get wet |
Where the seeds should and should not be
A whole box in seed paper is possible at small sizes and is often the wrong choice: the material is soft, so a box made entirely of it crushes, and the customer has to destroy the packaging to plant it, which they will not do while the product is still inside. The version that works is a seed paper insert, band, tag or card inside a conventional box — the part that is meant to be removed, kept and then planted, with the instruction printed on it. For the box itself, a recycled kraft carton carries the structure and the brand. Where the whole pack has to break down rather than one card of it, the fiber constructions on our molded pulp boxes pressed from recycled fiber do more.
Seeds are living material with a shelf life. Plantable stock should be used within about a year and stored dry and cool; a warehouse in summer reduces germination.
Printing on a rough, wet-made sheet
Heavy ink coverage is not only ugly here, it is counterproductive: a sealed sheet germinates worse. The design should leave paper showing.
- One or two colors, letterpress or flat digital; the texture eats fine detail.
- Type at 10 pt and above, in a weight that survives an uneven surface.
- No solid flood coverage — it looks blotchy on handmade stock and it seals the sheet.
- A blind emboss or a deep letterpress impression, which suits the material better than ink does.
The claim, and being straight about it
Seed paper is genuinely compostable and genuinely grows, and it is worth saying so plainly with planting instructions — depth, water, light, and a realistic season. What it is not is a solution to a brand's packaging footprint: it is one card inside a box, and the box is where the material actually is. We would rather help you say the small true thing than the large vague one, which is the approach our guide to sustainability claims on packaging sets out.
Seed Paper 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
- Material
- Handmade recycled pulp, 120–250 gsm, seeds embedded
- Seeds
- Wildflower mix, herb mix, or single species; region-appropriate
- Formats
- Insert card, band, hang tag, small box, sleeve
- One or two colors, letterpress or digital; blind emboss; no flood coverage
- Shelf life
- Use within about a year; store cool and dry
- Minimum
- 250 pieces
On every job
- Print process
- Digital below about a thousand, offset above it. Both sides as standard on cards, tags and leaflets.
- Color
- CMYK with spot colors for a brand match. Uncoated and cotton stocks print noticeably lighter than coated ones.
- Tolerance
- Trim plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut. Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding.
- Tooling
- A die only where the piece is shaped, perforated or drilled, made once and kept. A plain rectangle needs none.
- Food contact
- Food-safe inks on menus and counter print that will be handled where food is served.
- Sustainability
- Uncoated and unlaminated stocks recycle without separation, and FSC papers are available across the range.
- 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 seed paper boxes on
Sheet print is judged in the hand more than a box is: the weight, the surface and whether a pen works on it. These are the stocks we run for cards, folders, leaflets and stationery.
Coated card 300–400gsm
The workhorse. Sharp full-color print, matte or gloss, laminated where it is handled. Does not take a pen unless the finish is matte.
300–400gsmUncoated card
No clay coat. Colors read softer and warmer, a deboss goes deeper, and it writes on with anything. Photographs lose punch.
300–400gsmCotton and textured card
Soft, thick and fibrous. Takes a deep blind deboss and reads as an invitation. Foil sits beautifully; four-color does not.
400–700gsmDuplexed card
Two sheets bonded, often with a colored core, for a very thick card with a visible colored edge. The heaviest thing we print.
600–900gsmText paper 100–170gsm
Leaflets, folder inners and booklet pages. Folds without cracking and takes a full-color print on both faces.
100–170gsmManila and kraft paper
Unbleached, tan, and cheap. One or two colors read well; white ink gives a light mark. Envelopes, folders and tags.
90–300gsmSynthetic stock
Polypropylene sheet for tags and cards that get wet, torn or handled outdoors. Prints like paper and does not soften.
200–400 micronBoard-backed
A printed face laminated to grayboard, for a rigid card, a folder back or a display that has to stand up on its own.
1–2 mm boardNot 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.
Sheet print takes the widest range of finishes of anything we make.
Matte lamination
Soft, fingerprint-resistant, and it still takes a pen. The default on anything handled.
Gloss lamination
Maximum color depth. Shows every fingerprint and refuses a ballpoint.
Hot foil
Gold, rose gold, silver, holographic or a color. The block is small so the die is cheap.
Emboss and deboss
Deepest on uncoated and cotton stocks; shallow and prone to cracking on gloss coated.
Spot UV
A gloss shape on a matte laminate. Best on a dark ground where the contrast reads.
Edge paint and colored core
Color on the cut edge of a thick or duplexed card. Only seen when the card is picked up, which is the point.
Soft-touch
A velvet laminate on a cover or a folder. Marks on white; excellent on dark.
Uncoated and textured
No film at all. Writes on, debosses deeply, and reads as considered rather than cheap.
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 printed sheets, folds and the grain: seed paper boxes
A printed piece is specified flat and finished folded, and the difference between the two is where mistakes live. Send the finished size you want and we work back to the flat.
- Finished size
- The size after folding and trimming. A6, A5, A4, DL, US letter and legal are standard; anything else is cut on its own die.
- Bleed and safe area
- 3 mm of artwork past every trim edge, and nothing important within 4 mm inside it. The guillotine drifts by a fraction on every stack.
- Grain direction
- Paper folds cleanly along the grain and cracks across it. We set the grain to the fold, which is why a sheet is not simply cut from the biggest sheet available.
- Fold allowance
- On a roll fold or a gate fold, the inner panels are cut a millimeter or two shorter so the piece closes flat.
- Creasing
- Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding. Without it the fold cracks and the coating flakes along the line.
- Trim tolerance
- Plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut.
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
Spec your Seed Paper Boxes
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a stock 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 seed paper 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.
Does it really grow?
Yes — planted under about a quarter inch of soil and kept damp, the paper breaks down and the seeds germinate. We print the instructions on the piece.
Can the whole box be seed paper?
At small sizes, yes, though the material is soft and crushes. A seed paper insert or card inside a recycled kraft box works better and is what most brands choose.
Which seeds can I have?
A wildflower mix, an herb mix, or a single species. We match the mix to the region the packaging is sold in.
How long do the seeds stay viable?
About a year, stored cool and dry. A hot warehouse over a summer reduces germination, so order to your usage rather than stockpiling.
Can it be printed in full color?
Not well. The sheet is rough and handmade; one or two colors, letterpress or a blind emboss, suit it. Heavy ink coverage also seals the sheet and hurts germination.
Is it waterproof?
No, deliberately — it is designed to break down in water. It cannot be the outer layer of anything that meets rain.
Is it compostable?
Yes, fully. It is paper and seeds with nothing else in it.
Can I have a seed-free version?
Yes, the same handmade recycled look without seeds, for parts of the pack that get wet or do not need to be planted.
Why is the minimum 250?
The paper is made by hand in batches. Below a few hundred the batch cost dominates.
Can I say my packaging is plantable?
For the piece that is, yes, and we would put the instructions next to the claim. Saying it about a whole pack when only a card is plantable is the thing to avoid.
How long does production take?
Longer than ordinary print — the paper is made to order. We give a date with the quote.
Will you send a sample?
A printed sample on the seed stock, which you can plant. It is the only way to judge the material.
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