Free Printable Chinese Takeout Boxes

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What Are Chinese Takeout Boxes?

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

Chinese food boxes are uncommon in Chinese culture, but they are of American design (Frederick Weeks Wilcox, 1894) and are prevalent in Chinese restaurants across the USA.

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. As oysters became cheaper, 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.

However, if you are planning a party or Chinese Banquet, be sure to take a look at these 50+ Delicious Recipes for Chinese New Year!

Year of the Snake

Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake begins on 29 January 2025.

Your Chinese zodiac is Snake if you were born in one of these years: 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, and 2025.

We have shared Chinese New Year Printables since the Year of the Monkey in 2016. These printables are updated annually to reflect that year’s zodiac animal using a gold version of our Free Build A Snake Craft Printable

Printable Chinese Take Out Boxes

This folded take-out style box is often used for wedding favors. Similarly, our printable takeout boxes make great containers for treats to give party guests. The larger boxes are a creative way to serve (dry) party snacks!

You can 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.

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 2025, it is the gold and full-color version of Shujun the Snake, as it’s the Year of the Snake.

The boxes are designed with the Chinese character 福 (Fu), which symbolizes good luck, and the current Chinese zodiac animal.

The graphics on the red boxes are gold; 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 symbolizes 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, Red Money Envelopes, or some Chinese Paper Lanterns.

How To Assemble Printable Chinese Take Out Boxes

• The free downloadable downloads are below the tutorial card, with step-by-step directions and photographs.
• There are red takeout box templates with gold graphics and white boxes with full-color graphics.
• The A4 and US Letter printables make 5 cm/2″ boxes.
• The A3 and 12″ x 12″ printables make 7 cm/2.75″ boxes.
  • Measurements are approximate.
• The latter sizes require a wide printer to print 12″/30cm paper. If you print a lot of craft templates, a wide-format printer is a good investment piece. Ensure you read the printer specs for paper size, ink, etc.
• You can always get the oversized templates printed at a print shop online (we use Doxzoo in the UK) or in-store.