Custom Wax Melt Boxes
Almost everything else on this site is designed to stand alone and face forward. Wax melts are bought several at a time, displayed in piles and stored in drawers, and a pack that only works face-on is invisible for most of its life.
- Formats
- Belly bands, full sleeves, tuck cartons, multi-pack set boxes
- Board
- 250–350gsm sleeves; 14–18pt cartons
- Sizing
- Built to your clamshell measured across the flange
Get a price for Wax Melt 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.
The clamshell sets the size, and it is not yours
Nearly all wax melts come in an off-the-shelf plastic clamshell, usually a six-cell tray in one of a handful of standard footprints. The carton or sleeve is built around that, which means the pack size is decided before you start.
Send a clamshell, or send the exact model. Clamshells from different suppliers with the same stated cell count are not always the same outer size, and a millimeter of difference is the gap between a sleeve that slides on and one that does not.
Measure across the flange, not the tray. The flange is the widest part and it is the part that has to pass through the sleeve.
Sleeve or full carton
The scent trade-off runs the opposite way to most products. Wax melts are unlit, so the fragrance in the pack is the only thing a customer can smell in a shop — and a full carton seals that away entirely.
| Belly band | Cheapest; shows the wax color through the clamshell |
|---|---|
| Full sleeve | Covers the long faces, both open ends; the common choice |
| Tuck carton | Fully encloses; best for scent retention and for posting |
| Set box | Several clamshells in one rigid or folding box, with a divider |
Print the top edge, because that is what gets read
In a drawer or a shop basket, wax melt packs are seen from above along their short edge. That narrow strip — usually 15 to 25 mm — is the highest-value area on the whole pack, and most designs leave it blank.
Put the fragrance name there, in type large enough to read at arm's length, and the pack starts working in every situation it will actually be in. The same edge-first thinking applies across our shelf and display carton range.
Fragrance text takes more room than expected
On a sleeve this will fill one whole long face. Plan for that rather than discovering it after the front has been designed.
- Allergen declarations for the fragrance oils, which on complex blends run to several lines.
- Usage instructions: burner type, how long, how many cubes.
- Safety wording — hot wax, keep away from children and pets, unattended burners.
- Net weight and batch, plus a barcode per fragrance.
Where the range costs less than a candle range
There is no glass, so no weight problem, no breakage allowance and no vessel variation to design around. The board can be light, the box ships flat, and postage per unit is a fraction of a jar candle.
That makes it realistic to run twenty fragrances at a hundred packs each — one dieline, one board, twenty print files. The engineering constraints that make our glass candle packaging expensive simply are not present here.
Wax Melt 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
- Formats
- Belly bands, full sleeves, tuck cartons, multi-pack set boxes
- Board
- 250–350gsm sleeves; 14–18pt cartons
- Sizing
- Built to your clamshell measured across the flange
- Range handling
- One tool across all fragrances; print file changes per SKU
- Finishes
- Matte, gloss, soft-touch, foil
- Minimum
- 100 units
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 wax melt 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: wax melt 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 Wax Melt 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 wax melt 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?
100 units, sleeves or cartons.
Do you supply the clamshells?
No. We make the printed sleeve or carton around the clamshell you buy — send one, or the exact model.
What measurement do you need?
The clamshell measured across the flange, which is the widest part and the part that has to pass through a sleeve.
Sleeve or carton for posting?
Carton. A sleeve leaves both ends open, and an open end in the post is where the clamshell escapes.
Can I run twenty fragrances at 100 each?
Yes — one tool, one board, a different print file per fragrance. That is the normal shape of an order here.
Where should the fragrance name go?
On the short top edge as well as the front. These are stacked in drawers and baskets, where the edge is what is read.
Do you supply the clamshells?
No. We make the printed sleeve or carton around the clamshell you already buy — send one or send the exact model.
Sleeve or carton for posting?
Carton. A sleeve leaves both ends open, and an open end in the post is where the clamshell escapes.
Can I run twenty fragrances at 100 each?
Yes, and that is the normal shape of an order here. One tool, one board, a different print file per fragrance.
Where should the fragrance name go?
On the short top edge as well as the front. That edge is what people read when the packs are stacked, which is most of the time.
Same range
