Why square cells and not round egg-carton pockets?

Because a pocket is a dome, and a dome cannot be folded from a flat sheet — the moulded pulp carton from the shop is pressed, not folded. A square cell a few millimetres wider than the egg, with walls about two thirds of its height, holds it upright just as well; it is how card egg carriers at a market stall are made. Stand each egg pointed end up.

What sizes do I type?

The egg, not the box. Measure the widest part of one of your eggs and its height, end to end. A large hen's egg is about 45 by 58 mm; a medium one about 42 by 55; duck eggs run bigger and quail eggs much smaller. The tool adds the room round each egg and the board between them, works out the carrier, and shows its inside size under the drawing.

How do I make a dozen?

Set eggs in each row to 6. There are always two rows, one each side of the handle, so 3 gives half a dozen and 6 gives a dozen. Anything from 2 to 8 a row works.

Why is the handle so tall?

So your fingers do not land on the eggs. An egg stands well above the walls, and when you hold the handle your fingers go through the grip and curl down on the far side. The handle is raised until the bottom of the grip is a finger's width above the tops of the eggs you typed — taller eggs, taller handle.

Will it print on one sheet?

Not on A4 or US Letter: half a dozen large eggs draws at about 216 by 366 mm, which fits A3. On a home printer, print it across two sheets and join them, or use a cutting machine. A dozen wants a bigger sheet again, or a print shop.

What board should I use?

Card of 300 gsm or more, or thin corrugated for a dozen. Set the material thickness to what you are really cutting: the slots are cut that much wider plus a working clearance, and the carrier grows by one board for every cell. For eggs you sell, check your local rules on food packaging.

Egg Carrier Template — Free Half Dozen or Dozen Egg Box With Handle

The egg carrier template, flat and folded

Egg carrier template — free printable dieline with cut and fold lines, any size — The printable dieline at its standard size. Type your own size above for yours.

Egg carrier folded up from the template — the finished box — The box it folds into.

What this template is for

Half a dozen or a dozen eggs with a handle to carry them by. Sized by the egg: each one stands in its own cell, walls high enough that it cannot tip, and the handle raised clear of the tops. Farm shops, market stalls, backyard hens and Easter.

Also called egg carton · egg box with handle · egg crate · half dozen egg box — all the same shape, and this is it.

Farm shop and market stall eggs
Backyard hens — sharing the surplus
Easter egg hunts and painted eggs
Duck, quail and bantam eggs, sized to fit

How to use this template

All four downloads are the same egg carrier at the same size — only the format changes.

PDF printing at home: Print at 100 per cent, or hand it to a print shop as "actual size, no scaling".
PNG 300 dpi Canva, Photoshop, Procreate: Upload, lock it in place and design your egg carrier on top. Free plan and phone included. Full Canva walkthrough →
SVG Cricut, Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity: Vector, with cuts, folds and labels on separate layers. Cricut and Silhouette walkthrough →
DXF Silhouette, laser and vinyl cutters: Two layers, CUT and FOLD — and the one free Silhouette Studio Basic will open.

Getting it printed properly →

Printing it

Type your size above, then download the PDF.
Print at 100% — never “fit to page”, or every measurement comes out wrong.
Too big for the paper? Pick your paper size and leave Fit the pieces to the page ticked: each piece gets its own place on a sheet and the PDF comes out with every page in it, nothing cut in half and nothing to tape.

How to put it together

These pictures are the egg carrier itself, not a generic diagram — change the measurements above and the template changes, but the three steps never do.

Cut the solid lines
Every solid line is a cut. Do the inside shapes first, while the sheet is still whole and easy to hold.
Score every dashed line
Dashed lines are folds. Score each one first — an empty ballpoint against a ruler — or the card cracks along the outside of the bend.
Fold, glue and hold
Cut the two slots in the floor. Fold the tray up and glue its four corner tabs. Stand the dividers in it first, notches upwards. Lower the spine onto them, notches downwards, so each pair of notches slides together, and push its two foot tabs through the floor slots. Fold the foot tabs flat under the floor and glue them, then fold the end flaps against the end walls and glue those too. Stand one egg upright, pointed end up, in each cell.

Glue: a glue stick for paper, white PVA on card — hold each seam thirty seconds, and let the box dry standing up.

Questions about the egg carrier

Why square cells and not round egg-carton pockets?: Because a pocket is a dome, and a dome cannot be folded from a flat sheet — the moulded pulp carton from the shop is pressed, not folded. A square cell a few millimetres wider than the egg, with walls about two thirds of its height, holds it upright just as well; it is how card egg carriers at a market stall are made. Stand each egg pointed end up.
What sizes do I type?: The egg, not the box. Measure the widest part of one of your eggs and its height, end to end. A large hen's egg is about 45 by 58 mm; a medium one about 42 by 55; duck eggs run bigger and quail eggs much smaller. The tool adds the room round each egg and the board between them, works out the carrier, and shows its inside size under the drawing.
How do I make a dozen?: Set eggs in each row to 6. There are always two rows, one each side of the handle, so 3 gives half a dozen and 6 gives a dozen. Anything from 2 to 8 a row works.
Why is the handle so tall?: So your fingers do not land on the eggs. An egg stands well above the walls, and when you hold the handle your fingers go through the grip and curl down on the far side. The handle is raised until the bottom of the grip is a finger's width above the tops of the eggs you typed — taller eggs, taller handle.
Will it print on one sheet?: Not on A4 or US Letter: half a dozen large eggs draws at about 216 by 366 mm, which fits A3. On a home printer, print it across two sheets and join them, or use a cutting machine. A dozen wants a bigger sheet again, or a print shop.
What board should I use?: Card of 300 gsm or more, or thin corrugated for a dozen. Set the material thickness to what you are really cutting: the slots are cut that much wider plus a working clearance, and the carrier grows by one board for every cell. For eggs you sell, check your local rules on food packaging.

Print your own design on it

Add a logo, photo or pattern in the panel on the left and drag it onto the egg carrier. It is trimmed to the cut outline, embedded properly in the PDF, and never leaves your computer — most free template sites hand you the outline and stop there. How printing your own design works.

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