What this miniature food packaging printable makes
The generator draws an original package you can cut and fold for a dollhouse shop or a craft table. It is a miniature food packaging printable, not a scan of a grocery brand. Four templates share the page, and each one uses a different net.
Cereal box
A tall tuck carton. The front, back, and two sides stand in a row, with a glue tab, dust flaps, and a tuck top and bottom. The face you decorate is the front panel.
Candy box
A shallow two-piece box. The base is a tray: bottom, four walls, and a glue tab. The lid sits beside it, slightly larger in print so it can slip over the base, with a window marked to cut out.
Snack carton
A flip-top carton. The walls match a closed box, and the lid is hinged from the back with side ears and a tuck. The bottom still has a flap and dust flaps.
Can label
A wrap, not a box. The width is the can's circumference, pi times the diameter, plus the overlap you set. A dashed line marks where the overlap starts. There is no fold, because the label wraps a tube.
How to customize the packaging
Pick a template to load its starter colors and words, then change the brand, product, and tagline. Primary and secondary colors, the font, the pattern, and the background stay on the sheet. Reset to defaults restores the starter for the template you are on, including 1:12 scale and one copy on US Letter.
Names that are too wide for the face are wrapped, then set in a smaller size. If one word still cannot fit a face that is large enough for type, the form explains that and the download waits. If the face is too small for a line, the download still runs, the mark stays, and the page names every word that was left off. The typed words are not replaced. The type stays inside the panel instead of running into a cut line.
How 1:6, 1:12, and 1:24 work
The inch fields are the full-size package. A scale of 1:12 divides each of them by 12, once. 1:6 divides by 6, and 1:24 divides by 24. Custom scale uses the ratio you type, from 1 to 48. The print-size panel shows the miniature in inches and millimeters next to the reference, so you can see that the box was not scaled twice.
The glue tab is a share of the box depth, divided by the same scale. It is not stretched to a quarter inch. On a 1:24 box that tab can be only a few millimeters wide. The page says so, and it does not enlarge the faces to hide it. The candy lid is a little larger than its base, about eight percent of the wall and never more than a few points, so the paper can slip over. If that clearance is too small to assemble, the page says that too.
How to print at actual size
- Download the PDF. It is built in the browser and is not uploaded.
- In the print dialog, choose the same paper you selected, US Letter or A4.
- Set the scale to Actual Size or 100%. Turn off Fit to Page and Shrink to fit.
- If you have not checked this printer before, print the print calibration sheet and measure its squares.
Artwork view and the print sheet
Artwork view enlarges the net and centers it so you can read the type, the colors, and the cut and fold lines. Print sheet view shows the whole US Letter or A4 page, including margins, crop marks, and every copy. Neither view is the physical size of the paper. Use the zoom controls, and reset zoom to fit the panel again.
How to cut, fold, and assemble
Solid line. Cut.
Dashed line. Fold. Do not cut it.
- Cut on the solid lines. Leave the dashed lines uncut. Those are the folds.
- Score every dashed line with a bone folder, or the back of a butter knife, before you bend it.
- On a cereal or snack box, fold the dust flaps in first, then the closure flap, then tuck the small flap inside.
- Spread a thin line of glue on the pale tab and press it inside the opposite panel. The word "glue" prints only when the tab is wide enough to hold it.
- For the candy box, build the tray and the lid as two pieces. Cut out the window on the lid if you want an opening.
- For the can label, wrap the sheet around a tube of the printed diameter and let the overlap tab lie on top of the other end.
Fill the page prints as many complete sets as fit on one sheet. It does not stretch the drawing. An assembly page can be added to the PDF. It stays off until you check it, and it does not change the net.
Paper for miniature boxes
65 lb cover, about 176 gsm, is a sound default for cereal, candy, and snack boxes. It scores without falling apart and still folds on a short flap. A can label can be lighter, because it only has to wrap. Glossy photo paper fights the fold and smears if you glue it too soon. Let inkjet ink dry before you score a large area of color.
When the print is the wrong size
- The whole net is small by the same amount. The driver fit the page. Set the scale back to 100%.
- The net is clipped. Confirm the tray matches the PDF, Letter or A4, and that you did not choose borderless expansion.
- One side looks stretched. A custom scale in the driver, or a mismatched paper size, does this.
- The screen looked right. The preview is fitted to the column. Measure the paper, not the monitor.
More actual-size printing advice is on the print tips page. For a different paper craft, browse the miniature packaging category. The cereal box template is available directly in this generator.