Custom Cellophane Bags

Sizing Cellophane Bags Correctly

Lay your product on a table and measure its width, length and thickness. For flat bags, the bag width should be the product width plus its thickness plus a few millimetres; the length should allow the product plus enough at the top to fold, twist or tie, usually 40 to 60 mm extra. For gusseted bags, think of the gusset as the depth of the bag and size it to the thickness of the fill.

If you tie bags with ribbon, allow more length so the bow sits above the treats rather than squashing them. If you heat seal, you need less. For favours, a common mistake is choosing a bag so large that a few sweets rattle around at the bottom; a smaller bag filled generously looks much more appealing.

Shaped products need a little thought. A tall gingerbread figure or a cake pop on a stick is narrow at one end and wide at the other, so size the bag to the widest point and let the rest of the film gather naturally when tied. For stacks of macarons or biscuits, a bag only slightly wider than the stack keeps them standing in a neat column rather than toppling over inside. For bread and baguettes the sizing rule is different; see the bread bag sizes for long loaves.

Printing on Clear Film

Printing onto a transparent material is different from printing onto card. Colours printed directly on clear film look lighter and see-through, so most designs use a white ink layer underneath coloured areas to make them solid and bright. Without white, dark colours like black, navy and deep red work best.

Keep the design simple and leave large clear areas. One or two colours, such as a logo and a thin border, are often more effective than full coverage. Remember that the product behind the film becomes part of the design: a gold logo might disappear against a pile of golden fudge but pop against chocolate. We show your artwork on a proof and can suggest where to place the print so it frames, rather than hides, the contents. White ink on clear film is explained in the print and finish comparison guide.

Closing and Finishing Touches

How you close the bag shapes how it looks. Ribbon ties suit gifts and favours, twist ties in metallic or paper finishes are fast and practical for counter sales, and a printed sticker folded over the top gives a neat, branded seal. Heat sealing with a small impulse sealer gives an airtight close for products that need to stay fresh longer, such as fudge or brittle.

A printed header card stapled over the top turns a simple bag into a retail product that can hang on a peg. It also gives you space for ingredients, allergen information and a best-before date, which are needed if you sell packaged food. Food-contact grade film is available on request; tell us what you will be packing when you ask for a quote. Gift shops that want a paper outer for the bag often use a small luxury paper bag to carry it home in.

Who Orders Printed Cello Bags

Bakers and cookie decorators use them for individually wrapped cookies sold at counters and markets. Sweet shops print bags for pick-and-mix and fudge. Chocolatiers use them for small treats and broken chocolate. Home bakers selling through social media use them to make their treats look professional when they hand them over.

Event and party planners order printed bags for favours at weddings, birthdays and christenings, and businesses use them for small branded giveaways at exhibitions. Craft sellers use them for soaps, bath salts and small handmade gifts that look best on display.

Coffee shops use them for biscotti and brownies sold beside the till, and farm shops use them for fudge, tablet and honeycomb made on site, where a printed bag ties the product back to the shop name. Favour bags for a wedding are often paired with sweet favour boxes for the guests who prefer a box.

Allow for the Bow Before Fixing the Bag Length

The most common mistake with cello bags is ordering a length that fits the treat but not the tie. A gusseted bag for a 120 mm tall jar of fudge needs about 120 mm of extra height for a gathered neck and a ribbon bow, so a 240 mm bag, not a 150 mm one. Fill a sample bag with the real product, gather it and tie it, then measure the bag you wish you had. That one test fixes the size.

Tell us the product, the bag style and size, how you plan to close the bags and your artwork, and we send a quote by email within one working day. If the size is still uncertain, send a photo of the filled bag with a ruler. The free proof shows the print position on the clear film. Bags are printed in 4 to 7 working days after approval and delivered by tracked courier at no charge within UK mainland; faults reported within 10 days are reprinted or refunded. Bakers who also sell cookies on a shelf often use resealable cookie bags for the longer-life lines.