How to Make a Sturdy Gift Box and Lid in Minutes

This square gift box is really easy, takes only a few minutes to make and looks very professional. Amazingly, it’s made from just two squares of paper.

You can create almost any size of box, although smaller than about 50mm (2 inches) square might be tricky. Boxes larger than 150mm (6 inches) square are possible, but you might want to hide a piece of card in the base and the lid to make it more rigid. You can also glue the wrapping paper to thin card before cutting the squares for larger boxes.

Materials:

Good quality, thick wrapping paper
Pair of scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Decorations of your choice
An iron if required 

Step 1:

Unfold the paper from the packet and give it a gentle iron on a low heat setting to remove as many of the folds as possible.

To work out what size pieces to cut, decide what size box you need and and multiply that by three. It won’t be totally accurate, but will be pretty close. So, if you want a roughly 100mm (4 inch) square finished box, cut your base piece about 300mm (12 inches) square.

The lid needs to be a little larger so it fits over the base. Cut the lid square just 2mm larger on each side than the base. For example, if your base square is 300mm (12 inches) square, cut the lid piece with sides measuring 304mm (12 5/32 inches).

Step 2:

Place the paper pattern side down on the table and line up the ruler diagonally across from corner to corner. Lightly mark a line near the centre of the paper. Do the same across the other two corners. Your pencil lines should form a cross which will mark the centre point of the square. The second picture shows this, with heavy lines for clarity.

Step 3:

Now we have to make some fold lines which will help to create the box. Make these folds as accurate as you possibly can. See the pictures for help.
1. Fold one corner to the centre point and crease it very well by running the back of a fingernail down the fold.

2. Fold the new straight edge you just made to the centre point and crease very well as before.

3. Unfold these two folds. Your paper should look like this:

Repeat steps a) to d) on the remaining three corners.

You’ve now completed the pre-folding and your square should look like this:

Step 4:

With the scissors, make 4 cuts along the marked fold lines. Be very careful not to cut too far.

Step 5:

Ok, now we’re at the fun part where the box magically appears! As you go, you may want to just re-crease some of the folds to make them sharp again. Follow the steps and pictures below.

a) Place the paper with the cuts to the right and left as shown.

Fold the top corner point to the centre as before.

Fold up the straight edge, but not to the centre this time – just until it’s standing up straight at right-angles to the base. It’s a bit tricky to see in the photo, but the next two will help.

You might find putting a little bit of weight inside on the flap, like a coin for example, makes it easier.

b) Fold the top right triangle-shaped tab in at a right-angle to the standing side.

c) Fold the tab on the top left in just the same way as the right side.

d) Fold the bottom corner to the centre.

Fold the straight edge up on that side so it’s standing vertically like the other one.

Fold the left and right tabs in. They will overlap the ones from the other side.

Again, a little weight holding the centre together might help here if you run out of fingers!

e) Now, fold the long flap on the right over so it covers the two tabs on that side of the box, then fold it down inside the box to enclose the side tabs. The tip of the corner should meet the two already in the bottom of the box.

Repeat step e with the last remaining flap on the left.

You should now have a remarkably sturdy box base! Easy, wasn’t it?

TIP – You may want to put a tiny dab of glue or a little piece of double sided tape underneath the four centre corner points in the bottom of the box, just to stop them moving.

Now repeat Steps 2 to 5 to make the lid of the box. It should fit just snugly.

Add the decorations of your choice and …Tah-Dah!! You’ve created a very professional-looking gift box in just a few minutes.

These two boxes have been decorated very simply. The first has two pieces of ribbon crossed over and taped just inside the lid, then a pretty bow was added. The second one has taken advantage of the paper design. Three butterflies were cut out, the wings folded upwards and the bodies glued onto the same images on the box lid, giving a 3D effect.