When should I start an advent calendar?

Allow a week of evenings if you are cutting by hand. It is twenty-four drawers plus the cabinet, printed a sheet at a time, and the cutting is the slow part rather than the folding. Starting in the first week of November is comfortable; starting in December is not.

What card takes glitter and paint best?

An uncoated card around 250 gsm. Coated or glossy stock repels water-based glue and paint and the glitter lifts off with the first knock. If you are printing a design on it instead, uncoated also stops the ink sitting wet on the surface.

Will these survive being posted?

The flat-packed ones will: post the box unfolded, with the creases scored, and let whoever receives it fold it. A made-up paper box posted as-is arrives crushed unless it is inside something rigid. The gift card holder is the exception and posts flat by design.

Can I print a photo or pattern on them?

Yes. Add a picture in the tool, drag it onto the drawing, and it prints on the finished box trimmed to the cut lines. Nothing is uploaded anywhere — it is re-encoded in your own browser and stays there.

What size should the advent drawers be?

Decide by the smallest gift, not the largest. Twenty-four drawers sized for a bar of chocolate make a cabinet that will not fit on a shelf. A drawer around 5 by 5 by 3 cm holds a chocolate, a note or a small toy and keeps the whole thing to a sensible size.

Christmas Box Templates — Free Advent & Star

Christmas making has a deadline, and the shapes below are ordered roughly by how long they take. If you are reading this in December, start at the bottom of the list. The advent calendar in particular is twenty-four small boxes and a cabinet to hold them, which is a week of evenings rather than an afternoon.

The 8 shapes, and when each one is the right answer

Advent calendar template

Twenty-four drawers and the cabinet they slide into, printed one A4 sheet at a time. This is the big one: budget several evenings, and size the drawers around the smallest thing you want to fit rather than the largest, or the cabinet grows fast.

Also called advent calendar box or advent drawers
3D star template

A folded paper star with as many points as you ask for, flat to print and three-dimensional once it is up. Hang it, or sit it on the tree as a topper — it is the one thing here that is decoration rather than container.

Also called 3d paper star or christmas star
Star lid box template

A hexagonal box whose lid folds shut into a star. The closest thing on the site to a present that is already wrapped, and it needs no ribbon to look finished.

Also called folded star box or hexagon box with lid
Dome lid box template

A curved lid over a rectangular base — the treasure-chest shape. It suits something with a bit of height, and the dome is what makes it read as a gift rather than packaging.

Also called treasure chest box or curved lid box
Gift card holder template

For the gift that is a card or a voucher and looks thin under the tree. Folds in a couple of minutes and takes a printed design across the front better than almost anything else here, because the front is one unbroken panel.

Also called gift card holder template or money holder
Book box template

A box shaped like a book, hinged at the spine. Good for a gift that wants to be opened slowly, and it sits on a shelf afterwards, which is why people keep it.

Also called book shaped box or book gift box
Star box template

A star in plan rather than in elevation — a lift-off lid with any number of points. Sized small it is a tree ornament; sized large it holds biscuits.

Also called star-shaped box or star gift box
Cone template

The quickest thing on this page. Roll, tape, fill with sweets and hang it. If it is the twenty-third of December, this is the one.

Also called truncated cone or party hat template

Every one of these is sized by you

None of these is a fixed template. Open any of them, type the measurements of what is going inside, and the drawing redraws to fit — then download it as a PDF to print, or as SVG or DXF for a cutting machine. Solid lines are cuts, dashed lines are folds, and you should always print at 100% rather than “fit to page”, or the box comes out the wrong size.

Questions

When should I start an advent calendar?: Allow a week of evenings if you are cutting by hand. It is twenty-four drawers plus the cabinet, printed a sheet at a time, and the cutting is the slow part rather than the folding. Starting in the first week of November is comfortable; starting in December is not.
What card takes glitter and paint best?: An uncoated card around 250 gsm. Coated or glossy stock repels water-based glue and paint and the glitter lifts off with the first knock. If you are printing a design on it instead, uncoated also stops the ink sitting wet on the surface.
Will these survive being posted?: The flat-packed ones will: post the box unfolded, with the creases scored, and let whoever receives it fold it. A made-up paper box posted as-is arrives crushed unless it is inside something rigid. The gift card holder is the exception and posts flat by design.
Can I print a photo or pattern on them?: Yes. Add a picture in the tool, drag it onto the drawing, and it prints on the finished box trimmed to the cut lines. Nothing is uploaded anywhere — it is re-encoded in your own browser and stays there.
What size should the advent drawers be?: Decide by the smallest gift, not the largest. Twenty-four drawers sized for a bar of chocolate make a cabinet that will not fit on a shelf. A drawer around 5 by 5 by 3 cm holds a chocolate, a note or a small toy and keeps the whole thing to a sensible size.

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