Custom Taper Candle Boxes
Custom taper candle boxes from 100 — long, slim cartons cut to the length of a dinner candle, holding a pair, four or six tapers side by side, in tuck end, sleeve and tray, or window builds.
A box as long as the candle and barely wider than two of them
- Board
- Cardstock (SBS) 18–20 pt, or kraft; white-lined inside for scented wax
- Builds
- Straight tuck end, sleeve and tray, long-face window
- Count
- Pairs, fours and sixes; single tapers in a slim tube-style tuck
Order online
Order taper candle boxes
Starting from $1.20 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 Taper Candle 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.
Length first, then the count across
We add about half an inch to the candle length so the wick has room and the base does not press into the end flap. The width is the candle diameter times the count, plus a little for the board, so the row cannot shuffle.
| Pair of 10 in tapers | About 10 1/2 x 2 x 1 in inside; the classic gift pair |
|---|---|
| Pair of 12 in tapers | About 12 1/2 x 2 x 1 in; the dinner-table standard |
| Four tapers flat | Four across in one layer, about 4 in wide; a set for a table |
| Six tapers flat | Six across, about 6 in wide; often a mixed-color set |
| Short or spiral tapers | Measured from the actual candle, because spirals are wider than their base |
Keeping a row of tapers from rolling
- A folded card insert with a shallow groove for each candle stops them knocking together.
- A belly band or paper wrap around a pair holds them as one unit before they go in the box.
- For six or more, a scored tray base with raised walls keeps the outer two from sliding to the edge.
- Wicks sit at one end against a soft fold, never against a hard tuck flap.
Tuck end, sleeve and tray, or a window
A straight tuck end box is the leanest build and opens at the short end, so the tapers slide out lengthwise. A sleeve over a tray lets a shopper pull the tray to see the colors, which suits a boxed set sold on a shelf. A window cut along the long face shows the wax without opening anything. For candles in glass rather than sticks, our window boxes for jar candles cover the squarer shapes.
Heat, scent and a wax that marks the board
Paraffin and beeswax both soften in a hot van, and a taper that leans for a day sets in that curve. A snug fit and a stiff 18 to 20 pt board keep it straight. Scented tapers can leave an oily mark on uncoated kraft, so we coat the inside face or use a white-lined board when the candle is fragranced.
Beeswax tapers bloom with a pale film over time. A box that does not rub the surface keeps that bloom even, which buyers of beeswax expect to see.
What goes on a long, narrow face
The long face reads like a label: the maker, the wax, the length and the burn note, with room for a pattern along the full length. The end panel is small and shows when the box stands on its end in a display, so it carries the color name and the count. Safety wording about never leaving a flame unattended fits on the back panel. The wider range of candle packaging covers pillars, jars and tins.
Send one candle, or its exact length, base diameter and wick height. A taper box is sized from the candle, not from a catalog size.
Taper Candle 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
- Cardstock (SBS) 18–20 pt, or kraft; white-lined inside for scented wax
- Builds
- Straight tuck end, sleeve and tray, long-face window
- Count
- Pairs, fours and sixes; single tapers in a slim tube-style tuck
- Inserts
- Grooved card inserts, belly bands, scored tray bases
- Full color, foil, emboss; inside print on sleeve and tray sets
- Minimum
- 100 boxes per size
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 taper candle 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: taper candle 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 Taper Candle 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 taper candle 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.
How long should a taper candle box be?
About half an inch longer than the candle, so a 12 in taper sits in a box roughly 12 1/2 in long with room for the wick.
How many taper candles fit in one box?
Most boxes hold a pair, four or six tapers in a single flat row. The width is set from the candle diameter times the count.
How do you stop taper candles breaking in the box?
A grooved card insert or a band around a pair keeps them from rolling into each other, and a stiff board stops the box flexing.
Will scented taper candles stain the box?
Fragranced wax can mark plain kraft, so we coat the inside face or use a white-lined board for scented tapers.
Can a taper candle box have a window?
Yes. A window along the long face shows the wax color and finish without opening the box.
What box suits a set of colored taper candles?
A sleeve over a tray works well, because a shopper can slide the tray out and see every color in the set.
Can taper candle boxes stand on a shelf?
Yes. They can lie flat or stand on the short end, and the end panel is printed with the color and count for that view.
Do taper candle boxes suit beeswax candles?
Yes. A snug fit that does not rub the surface keeps the natural bloom on beeswax even and unmarked.
Can you make a box for spiral or twisted tapers?
Yes, sized from the widest point of the spiral rather than the base, which is why we ask for a sample or the exact measurements.
Can a single taper candle be boxed?
Yes, in a slim square tuck box sized to one candle, which suits sample tapers and single long candles sold as gifts.
What should be printed on a taper candle box?
The maker, wax type, length, color and count, plus the usual burn safety note on the back panel.
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