Custom Paper Bags with Handles

Printing Paper Bags with Handles

Flexographic printing in one to three spot colours is the most economical way to print large runs of handled bags. A single dark colour on brown kraft is clean, readable and inexpensive, which is why so many cafés and delis choose it. Full colour printing is available for designs with photographs or gradients, usually on white paper.

Keep the design simple. Paper bags flex and fold, so tiny text and hairlines can break up. A strong logo centred on both large faces, with a website or social handle on the gusset, does more than a busy all-over pattern.

Consider how the bag will be seen. On a high street, the bag is visible from a distance as customers walk away, so the logo should read clearly at several metres. Inside a shop, the bag is seen close up at the till, where a tagline or website can be read.

Printing on both large faces doubles visibility for little extra cost, because the second face uses the same plates as the first.

If you have a brand colour that is hard to match on kraft, consider a white kraft bag with a block of colour printed around the logo. It gives a truer colour than printing the same shade directly on brown paper.

How to Choose a Bag Size

Measure your largest common purchase and choose a bag where it sits fully below the handles with a little room to spare. The gusset, the folded side panel, decides how much depth the bag has; a wide gusset is essential for takeaway boxes and meal trays, which need a flat base to stay level.

Many shops use two sizes: a small bag for single items and a large bag for multiple purchases. Takeaways often choose a bag whose base matches their most common meal box, so food travels flat and does not tip.

If you are not sure, order a sample of plain bags in two sizes and pack a typical sale into each. It is a quick test that avoids ordering thousands of bags that are slightly too small for your best-selling product. Our guide to measuring purchases for packaging covers gussets and base cards.

Who Uses Them

Fashion boutiques, gift shops, bookshops and delis use handled bags as part of the in-store experience. Takeaways and coffee shops use flat-handle bags for collection and delivery orders. Event organisers and exhibitors hand them out with brochures and samples, and farm shops use them for small grocery shops.

Range changes are worth planning for. A shop that adds bulkier lines to its shelves might keep a third, larger size in reserve. Ordering it in the same print run as the main sizes keeps unit costs down.

Garden centres, wine merchants and bookshops are other regular users, each with slightly different needs. Wine shops need narrow, deep bags with strong bases; bookshops need wide bags with a stiff base card; garden centres need tough paper that copes with damp pots. Boutiques that want a darker bag use the same handles on our black paper bags with handles.

Pack a Typical Sale Into Two Sample Sizes

The cheapest mistake to avoid is a bag a few millimetres too small for your best seller, so ask for plain samples in two sizes and pack a typical sale into each before the print run. For takeaways, match the base and gusset to your most common meal box so it sits flat; for wine and tins, say so, because those bags get a card patch under the handles and a base card.

An exact brand colour prints truer on white kraft. Send the size, paper colour, handle type, print colours and quantity, and a custom quote comes back by email within one working day, with bags from £0.25 and minimums quoted per job. The free proof shows the print on each face and the gusset. Production takes 4–7 working days after approval and the flat bundles arrive by free tracked delivery to UK mainland addresses in 2–3 working days. Damaged or misprinted bags reported within 10 days are reprinted or refunded. Shops that want a heavier bag for larger purchases often add luxury paper bags with rope handles in the same print.