Free Printable Chinese Takeout Boxes

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Step into the world of crafting with our free printable Chinese Take Out Boxes, perfect for adding a festive touch to your Chinese New Year family reunion dinner or themed party.

Our printable paper containers are available in two different sizes and are a great way to package party favors, like fortune cookies or candy, to give to your guests!

With two different colorways and four different designs, you can create the type of box style you need for your celebrations, including celebrating the Year of the Dragon this Lunar New Year!

Don’t have time for this printable now? Be sure to tap the heart icon in the bottom right of the screen to save this post for later!

Printable Chinese Take Out Boxes

10 February 2024 is the start of the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon!

Your Chinese zodiac is Dragon if you were born in one of these years: 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 200, 2012, and 2024.

We have been sharing Chinese New Year Printables since the Year of the Monkey in 2016, and these printables are updated annually to reflect that year’s zodiac animal.

It also happens that the Year of the Dragon was one of the first big things we celebrated on The Purple Pumpkin Blog back in 2012 with a Chinese Banquet!

If you are planning your own dinner party, be sure to take a look at these 50+ Delicious Recipes for Chinese New Year.

What Are Chinese Takeout Boxes?

The Chinese food boxes are not seen in Chinese culture but are of American design (Frederick Weeks Wilcox in 1894) and are popular in Chinese restaurants across the USA.

In the UK, our Chinese takeaway boxes are typically foil containers with a paper lid or simple plastic boxes filled to the brim and topped with a plastic lid. They’re quite boring to look at compared with the Chinese take-out boxes used in America!

Nowadays, these boxes are used for foods like noodles and fried rice*, but their original use was as an oyster pail in the early 20th century to hold shucked oysters. However, as time went by and oysters became cheaper to buy, the boxes became used for takeout foods, especially after World War II.

Want to read more about the history of the iconic Chinese food takeout box? Check out The Surprising Origin Of Chinese Takeout Boxes and the Wikipedia Oyster Pail page.

*We should mention that our printable custom boxes should not be used for hot food—they’re for decorative purposes only.

This style of box is often used for wedding favors; in a similar vein, our printable takeout boxes will make great containers for treats to give to party guests. The larger boxes act as a creative way to serve (dry) snacks at parties!

Pop in some red tissue paper and add Chinese New Year goodies like fortune cookies, lucky coins, homemade Chinese Almond Cookies, or other small gifts.

Where Are the Free Printable Templates?

• You will find the download links at the bottom of this page, surrounded by a purple box.
• Tap the purple download buttons to save the PDF file(s) to your device. Open this file format with Adobe Reader.
• Printables are available in four sizes – A3, A4, US Letter (8.5″ x 11″), and 12″ x 12″.
• Download the size suitable for your printer or send it to a print shop.

Chinese New Year Designs

We made these paper Chinese takeout containers for the first time in 2017 for the Year of the Rooster, and while our tutorial photographs show our Rooster graphic, the printable downloads are updated annually with that year’s animal.

For 2024, it is the gold and full-color version of Dingxiang the Dragon, as it’s the Year of the Dragon.

The designs on the boxes are the Chinese character 福 (Fu), which symbolizes good luck, as well as the current Chinese zodiac animal.

On the red boxes, the images are gold, and on the white boxes, the images are red (for the Fu symbol) and full-color for the animal.

Red is an auspicious color in Chinese culture, representing good fortune and joy. Gold represents power, wealth, longevity, and happiness. These colors have been used in all of our Chinese New Year Printables and are designed to complement each other.

When assembling these boxes, why not enjoy more crafting and make a String of Paper Firecrackers and some Red Money Envelopes.

How To Assemble Printable Chinese Take Out Boxes

• The free printable downloads are below the tutorial card, which has step-by-step directions with photographs.
• There are red takeout box templates with gold graphics and white boxes with full-color graphics.
• The A4 and US Letter (8.5″ x 11″) printables make 5cm/2″ (approx) boxes; the A3 and 12″x 12″ printables make 7cm/2.75″ (approx) boxes.
• The latter sizes need a wide printer that can print paper over 12″/30cm. If you print a lot of craft templates, an Epson printer is a good investment piece. Ensure you read through the complete specs of paper size, ink, etc., for your needs.
• You can always get the larger templates printed at a print shop online (we use Doxzoo in the UK) or in-store.

Continue to Content

Chinese New Year Take Out Boxes

Yield: As Many Take Out Boxes As You Need!

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Intermediate

These Free Printable Chinese Take Out Boxes are great for filling with a fortune cookie or candy for a cute party favor!

Print

Materials

• White Card or White Paper
• Free Printable Template (links in blog post)
• Fortune Cookies, optional
• Red Tissue Paper, optional

Tools

• Scissors
• Craft Knife or Scoring Tool
• Stapler
• Staples

Instructions

1. Print the desired number of boxes onto good quality (120gsm/30lbs) thick paper or onto thin card.
2. Cut each template out, and use a craft knife or scoring tool to score along the lines as demonstrated by the black lines in the photo below. The line on the "lid" needs to be cut all the way through for the tab to slot into it.
3. Begin folding. I start with the straight (not diagonal!) lines, folding them inwards towards the un-printed side.
4. The diagonal lines get folded inwards too. You want to then make the two un-printed sides of the diagonal pieces touch, as they will form the outer flaps for the take out box.
5. Fold the flaps over one another and using a stapler staple them into place.
6. Fold the top flaps down, and push the tab into the slot. That is the box complete!
7. You could add wire handles if you have some wire to hand (I didn't for this demo). Fashion two little hooks at the end of a length of wire, then hook onto the staples and close to secure in place.
8. Add some red tissue paper, and a fortune cookie, for a sweet party favor.

Notes

The assembly images show the Year of the Rooster design. However, the printable has been updated to include the current Chinese zodiac animal.

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Download Year of the Dragon Take Out Boxes

Grab the free printable templates to make these awesome favor gift boxes using the instructions in the tutorial card above.

Visit The Purple Pumpkin Printables Printables Shop for more awesome printables and products! (Opens in new tab.)

Creating these boxes is not just a crafting activity; it’s a journey through culture and creativity. Whether used as party favors, gift boxes, decorations, or just as a fun DIY project, these boxes are sure to impress. So, grab your craft supplies, download your free printable template, and start folding your way to beautiful, Chinese takeout boxes.

The free printables are in PDF format and can be opened with the free-to-use Adobe Acrobat Reader (or other PDF Readers). If the download is a Zip File, it can be downloaded with WinZip, WinRar, or other software typically bundled on computers. Printables designed and created by The Purple Pumpkin Blog and its Designers are for PERSONAL USE ONLY and NOT FOR RESALE under any circumstances. Please read our full Terms and Conditions. You are welcome to print these free printables at an online print shop or print shop in-store if you don’t have access to a printer; however, some print shops may not print licensed characters. Colors may vary slightly on printing due to different screen and printer settings. You may share this free printable blog post on social media, including Pinterest, and on your blog/website with a link to this blog post. Please DO NOT share the PDF on social media or your blog/website. If you use any of our printables, it would be awesome to know about it! Post a picture on the social media platform you hang out on, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Use the hashtag #TPPBprintables so we can find you!

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