Custom School Supply Boxes

Styles That Suit the Classroom

A lid-and-base box is the classic pencil case alternative: easy to open, easy to close and strong enough to survive being stacked in a classroom tray. A tuck-top box with a crash-lock base is quicker to assemble when you are packing a whole year group's kits in one afternoon. Both ship flat to save storage space in a busy school office.

Boxes with a carry handle work well for art kits and take-home activity packs, because younger children can carry them without spilling the contents. Window boxes let staff see at a glance which kits have been packed and which still need finishing.

For older pupils, a slim flip-top box that fits inside a school bag is more practical than a large carton. It holds pens, a calculator and a ruler and slides alongside exercise books.

Nurseries and reception classes often prefer shallow trays with lids, because small children find it easier to see and reach everything at once. Rounded corners and a soft matt finish feel friendlier for little hands than sharp, glossy edges.

Education suppliers selling stationery bundles online usually want a box that doubles as the shipping carton, so a corrugated mailer style with a printed lid is worth considering if your kits are posted to families rather than handed out in school. Science and craft kits that need compartments for small parts are drawn as educational kit boxes with fitted dividers.

Sizing Around What Goes Inside

List everything in the kit before choosing a size. A typical primary kit might include pencils, colouring pencils, a ruler, a rubber, a sharpener, a glue stick and a small pair of scissors. The ruler is usually the longest item, so the box length is often set by it; a standard 300 mm ruler needs a longer box than a 150 mm one.

Lay the items out as they would sit in the box and measure the overall footprint and the tallest item. Allow some spare room so children can pack things back in easily; a box that only works when packed perfectly will not stay tidy for long.

If the kit includes items of very different sizes, a simple card divider creates separate compartments for pencils and larger pieces, which helps younger children keep things organised. The allowances we add are explained in our guide to measuring for a box.

Printing the School Crest and More

The lid is the obvious place for your crest or logo, along with the school name. Many schools add a short welcome line or the school motto. A blank panel with lines for the pupil's name and class is one of the most useful additions, because every box ends up looking identical in a classroom.

Inside the lid you can print a timetable grid, a list of kit contents to help with checking, or simple rules such as label everything and bring it every day. For PTA-funded kits, a short thank-you line acknowledging the parents who raised the money is a nice touch.

Bright colours and a matt or gloss lamination help the box survive daily use. Kraft board with one-colour print looks smart and simple and keeps the cost per box down for large year groups. Many schools add a matching printed notepad with the school crest to the kit, printed from the same files.

Packing Day Tips

Packing a full year group's kits is a big job, so plan it. Order boxes that ship flat and assemble quickly, set up a line of tables with one item per station, and have volunteers fill boxes in a production line. A contents list printed inside the lid doubles as a checklist so nothing gets missed.

If kits differ by year group or class, ask for a small colour band or a different shade of print on each version so staff can tell them apart without opening them. Leave a few extra boxes for late joiners and replacements.

Store flat boxes somewhere dry until packing day. Boxboard can warp if left in a damp cupboard, which makes assembly fiddly. Once packed, stack kits by class in labelled cartons so they can be handed straight to teachers on the first morning. Boxes from across our printed stationery range arrive flat in the same way, so one packing line handles the lot.

Order From the Kit List and the Packing Date

Two things fix a school supply box: the longest item in the kit and the day you intend to pack. Write out the kit list with the longest item first, usually a 300 mm ruler, which means the inside of the box must be at least 310 mm one way, then the tallest item, usually a glue stick or a sharpener, for the depth. Pick a lid-and-base box if the kit is kept in a tray all year and a tuck-top with a crash-lock base if a parent volunteer team has to build a few hundred in an afternoon. Pencil-only kits fit the slimmer printed pencil cartons for classroom sets.

Send the crest as a vector file with the school colours, the kit list, the style and the number per year group. A custom quote comes back by email within one working day and a free design proof follows. Boxes are made in 4 to 7 working days after approval and delivered free and tracked on the UK mainland in 2 to 3 days, so an order placed a month before term leaves a week for packing. Misprinted or crushed boxes reported within 10 days are reprinted or refunded.