Custom Kraft Window Boxes with a Die-Cut Window

Who buys kraft window boxes?

A window box suits any product that sells on sight. If a customer would want to see the colour, the texture or the bake before buying, a window saves you writing a description on the box.

Most of our window orders come from a few kinds of sellers:

• Soap makers who want the swirl and the cut edge of a bar on view
• Bakers and market stalls packing biscuits, brownies and fudge
• Card makers and illustrators selling prints in a slim box
• Gift shops building small sets with two or three items side by side
• Children's brands showing a toy or a craft kit in a drawer box

The brown board does a quiet job here. It frames whatever sits under the window without competing with it. A pale soap or a golden biscuit looks warmer against kraft than against white card, and smudges from busy hands barely show.

Which style of window box suits your product?

The three photos on this page show the three styles we cut most often. Each one opens differently, so the choice depends on how often the box gets handled before it is sold.

A lid and base feels like a gift and survives being opened in a shop. A tuck end box is the slimmest and cheapest to pack by hand. The sleeve and tray lets you print the tray in a second colour that shows when it slides out.

Where should the window go on the box?

Put the window over the part of the product people care about. On a soap bar that is the top face. On a print it is the whole image, so the opening can take up most of the front.

Leave a band of board around the opening. Without it the panel bends when someone picks the box up by the edge, and the film can lift at the corners. Your designer shows that border on the proof so you can judge it before anything is cut.

Windows do not have to be square. Circles, ovals, arches and scalloped edges all die-cut cleanly in kraft, and a shaped window can echo your logo without printing a thing.

Open window or clear film: which works better?

Clear film keeps fingers, dust and crumbs away from the product, which matters for anything sold loose on a counter. It also makes the box feel finished when it sits on a shelf for weeks.

An open window lets a customer touch the product and, for soap or wax melts, smell it through the gap. It also suits a print or a card that is already sleeved. Both options cost the same to proof, so ask for the one that fits how you sell. If you cannot decide, order a few of each on one quote and watch which ones customers pick up at your next market.

What size kraft window box do you need?

Every box is cut to your product, but these four sizes are where most window orders start. They are inside measurements, length by width by height, in millimetres.

• Small, about 100 × 100 × 50: one bar of soap or a few wrapped sweets
• Medium, about 160 × 160 × 60: a stack of biscuits or a small gift
• Slim, about 200 × 140 × 40: greeting cards, postcards and small prints
• Large, about 250 × 200 × 80: a gift set of two or three items

Measure the product as it will be packed, wrapped or in its paper case, then add two or three millimetres each way. Our guide to measuring the inside of a kraft box covers the clearance for lids and trays.

Which kraft board works for a window box?

We cut window boxes from brown kraft folding board. It creases sharply, takes a clean die-cut edge and keeps its shape around a large opening.

Remember that a window shows the inside of the box as well as the product. Plain brown inside looks natural with soap and baking. If you want the product to look brighter, white-lined kraft is available on request, or we can print a colour on the inside panels.

How does print look around a window?

A one-colour black logo on brown board is the most common choice. It reads well from a distance and leaves the window to do the rest. White ink stands out more on brown, and full colour suits a brand with a bright palette.

Keep text and fine lines a few millimetres clear of the cut edge, because the cut can drift slightly from the print. On a sleeve and tray box, print the tray too: it shows through the window and again when the drawer slides open. Our page on printing black, white and colour on kraft shows how each ink sits on brown.

How do you order custom kraft window boxes?

1. Measure your product as packed and choose a style from the table above.
2. Tell us the window shape, its position and whether you want film.
3. Send your logo, or try it on a box photo first in Design Your Box.
4. We send a written quote from £0.25 per box, then a free design proof.
5. Approve the proof. Production takes 4–6 business days.
6. Boxes travel flat and tracked, at no charge, and reach you in 2–3 business days.

Unsure how many you will sell? Ask us to price two or three quantities side by side, then decide.

Which mistakes should you avoid with window boxes?

• A window so large the panel flexes when the box is lifted
• A logo placed where the window cuts straight through it
• Sizing to the bare product and then adding a paper case or wrap
• Film over a scented soap you want customers to smell
• Forgetting that the plain inside shows through the opening

Every one of these shows up on the proof, which is why we ask you to check it with the product in your hand.

Can you post a kraft window box?

Window boxes are made for shelves, counters and gift bags rather than the post. A cut-out panel and a sheet of film will not take the knocks of a sorting depot on their own.

For online orders, pack the window box inside an outer carton. Our brown kraft mailer boxes for posting can be cut so the window box sits snugly without moving.