Can I put mithai straight into a paper box?

No. Ordinary card and home printer ink are not food-safe, and ghee soaks into card within the hour. Put each sweet in a paper case, or line the box with butter paper or foil, and keep the printed side on the outside. If you are selling sweets, buy food-grade board and have the boxes printed with food-safe ink.

How do I size a box for ladoo or barfi?

Measure one piece and add 3 to 5 mm for its paper case and some room. In the box with dividers you type that as the cell size and choose how many cells along and across. In the shallow box and the box with lid you type the inside length, width and height: the space for the sweets, not the outside of the box.

Which card should I use?

Between 250 and 300 gsm for a box that holds half a kilo, 200 to 250 gsm for small boxes, the pillow pack and the bow. Gold, metallic and pearl card look festive but crack along the folds unless you score every dashed line first with an empty ballpoint pen.

Can I print our name or a Diwali design on the box?

Yes. Add a picture in the tool and drag it onto the panel you want it on; it is trimmed to the cut lines and never leaves your browser. Print and fold one box first to see where the design lands before you print thirty.

How many can I make in an evening?

Cutting is the slow part, not folding. By hand with scissors, eight to twelve boxes an hour is a good pace once you have made the first few. A Cricut, Silhouette or a print shop with a cutter changes that completely: the SVG and DXF downloads are made for them.

Diwali Mithai Box Templates — Free Sweet Boxes

Diwali boxes are given in dozens: to neighbours, to the people you work with, to every house you visit in the week. That decides the shape more than looks do. A box that takes five minutes to fold is an evening at thirty, so most of the picks below go together in a minute or two once the creases are in. One rule before any of them: printer paper, craft card and home printer ink are not made to touch food. Put the sweets in paper cases, on butter paper or in a foil liner, and let the box carry them.

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

Box with dividers template

A lid over a grid of cells, one sweet to each. You type the size of a single cell, not the box, so measure one ladoo or one piece of barfi, add a few millimetres for its paper case, and the box works itself out round them. Nothing rolls into anything else on the way to the neighbour's door.

Also called chocolate box with dividers or gift box with compartments
Cupcake insert template

A platform with round holes, made for cupcakes and just as good for ladoo. Set the hole to a little under the ladoo's width so each one sits in its hole instead of falling through, then put the platform inside a box with a lid.

Also called cupcake box insert or cupcake holder
Shallow box template

Low walls, a wide base and a tuck lid: the shape for kaju katli and barfi laid flat in a single layer. Set a window border and a sheet of cellophane over the opening shows the sweets without the lid coming off.

Also called tuck-top box or one-piece folding box
Box with lid template

A base and a lift-off lid, the box a sweet shop uses for half a kilo. Make the lid a different colour of card from the base and it looks finished with no printing at all; this one also takes a window in the lid.

Also called two-piece box or base and lid box
Pillow pack template

Flat until you push its curved ends in, so fifty of them fit in a drawer until Dhanteras. For dry fruit in a small bag, a chocolate bar, or a card with shagun money in it.

Also called pillow box or curved-end box
Handle box template

A carry box with the handle built into its walls, for the bigger family gift that is carried rather than handed over. Fill it with smaller boxes, not loose sweets.

Also called cake box with handle or carry box
Lotus diya holder template

Not a box: a paper lotus that stands round a tea light, in one or two layers. Put one on the gift, or a row of them on the doorstep. Use a battery LED tea light; paper and a real flame do not mix.

Also called diya holder or lotus tea light holder
Gift bow template

A looped paper bow for the top of the box, from three tiers of strips and a ring. Cut it from the same card as the box, or from gold or red paper, and it turns a plain box into a present.

Also called paper bow or gift bow 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

Can I put mithai straight into a paper box?: No. Ordinary card and home printer ink are not food-safe, and ghee soaks into card within the hour. Put each sweet in a paper case, or line the box with butter paper or foil, and keep the printed side on the outside. If you are selling sweets, buy food-grade board and have the boxes printed with food-safe ink.
How do I size a box for ladoo or barfi?: Measure one piece and add 3 to 5 mm for its paper case and some room. In the box with dividers you type that as the cell size and choose how many cells along and across. In the shallow box and the box with lid you type the inside length, width and height: the space for the sweets, not the outside of the box.
Which card should I use?: Between 250 and 300 gsm for a box that holds half a kilo, 200 to 250 gsm for small boxes, the pillow pack and the bow. Gold, metallic and pearl card look festive but crack along the folds unless you score every dashed line first with an empty ballpoint pen.
Can I print our name or a Diwali design on the box?: Yes. Add a picture in the tool and drag it onto the panel you want it on; it is trimmed to the cut lines and never leaves your browser. Print and fold one box first to see where the design lands before you print thirty.
How many can I make in an evening?: Cutting is the slow part, not folding. By hand with scissors, eight to twelve boxes an hour is a good pace once you have made the first few. A Cricut, Silhouette or a print shop with a cutter changes that completely: the SVG and DXF downloads are made for them.

See all 120 templates · Wedding and party favour box templates · Christmas box templates · Food box templates