Pillow box maker
Pillow box template
Two panels and a glue tab, with curved ends that pinch shut. No lid and no tuck flap: the curves hold it closed.
Ready-made sizes
Inside sizes from the maker's published size, plus room to slide it in.
Gift card
3.86 × 2.6 × 0.39 in 98 × 66 × 10 mm
Pillow box. From 85.60 × 53.98 mm (the ID-1 card size)1; room added: 12 mm in length and width, so the card clears the pinched ends.
How to fold it
Print at 100% on cardstock; lighter card bends more easily along the curves.
Cut the outline, following the outer curves at both ends.
Score the curved dashed lines slowly with a dry ballpoint or an embossing stylus, by hand: a ruler cannot follow them.
Fold along the straight crease and glue the grey tab inside the free edge of the front panel.
Press one end in with your thumbs: the two curved flaps fold in over each other and the panels bow out.
Fill it, then close the other end the same way.
How the template is drawn
Curved creases
Each end is a circular arc across the full width that dips 9.6 mm (0.38 in) into its panel: half the thickness plus half a board. That is how far each panel bows out when the ends close.
Length
Measured inside, between the deepest points of the two curves. The flat panel is longer by both curves: 172 mm (6.77 in) at 6 × 3.5 × 0.75 in.
Thickness limit
Thickness can be at most 80% of the width. Deeper curves come close to a half circle and no longer pinch into neat ends.
Glue tab
12 mm (0.47 in) wide and started below the point where the curve crosses it, so no glue lands on a curved flap.
Ships flat
Glued but not closed, a pillow box lies flat. Make a stack ahead of time and pinch the ends shut when you fill them.
Favors, cards and small gifts
Pillow boxes suit light, flat things: a gift card, a bar of chocolate, a hair tie, a few sweets. Something heavier or boxy needs flat ends: a tuck end box for a bar of soap, or a cube for a round candle.
For a party table, mix them with gable boxes with handles and small pyramids. Every box here takes the same colour, pattern and label.
Other boxes
Sources
- ICAO, Doc 9303, Machine Readable Travel Documents, Part 5 (8th edition, 2021), read 2026-10-07: “The nominal dimensions shall be those specified in ISO/IEC 7810: 2019 for the ID-1 type card: 85.60 mm (3.370 in) wide by 53.98 mm (2.125 in) high”