What this template is for
A carry box: the two side walls rise past the top into an arch with a grip cut through it, and two triangular flaps close over the opening between them. Cake and pastry boxes, party favours, gift boxes that have to be carried.
Also called cake box with handle · carry box · party favour box · box with a handle — all the same shape, and this is it.
- Cake, cupcake and pastry boxes
- Party favour and goodie boxes
- Gift boxes that have to be carried
- Takeaway boxes for a small food business
How to use this template
All four downloads are the same handle box 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 handle box 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.
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? Tick Split across several sheets: it tiles across as many as it needs, with overlaps and matching letters to tape together.
How to put it together
These pictures are the handle box itself, not a generic diagram — change the measurements above and the template changes, but the three steps never do.
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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.
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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.
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Fold, glue and hold
Glue the seam to make a tube. Fold the two dust flaps in, bring the bottom panel over them and push its tab down inside the back wall. Fold the two triangles over the top so they meet in the middle, then bring the two handles together and carry it by both.
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 handle box
- Is the handle strong enough to carry?
- It is as strong as the board you cut it from, because it is not a glued-on strap — the two side walls simply carry on upwards, so the load runs straight down the walls into the bottom. On thin card keep the box light; on 300 gsm or cereal-box card a cake will not tear it. Widening the strap helps more than making the handle taller.
- How does the top close?
- The two long walls each carry a triangle. Each one reaches half the width of the box, so folded over they meet down the middle and cover the whole opening. That reach is worked out from your measurements — there is no setting for it, because a triangle that does not reach leaves the box open.
- Can I make the handle bigger?
- Yes. Handle height is how far the arch rises above the box, handle width is how wide it is across, and strap width is the thickness of the arch itself. If you ask for an arch wider than it is tall, the width is reduced so the arch still finishes above the shoulder it springs from.
- Why is the bottom panel as deep as the box is wide?
- Because it has to reach the far wall. A closing flap shorter than that leaves a gap you can put your fingers through. The tuck setting is only the small tab on the end of it that goes down inside.
Print your own design on it
Add a logo, photo or pattern in the panel on the left and drag it onto the handle box. 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.
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