Did you know you can make your own shipping boxes? It is relatively easy to do this, and I will try to help you with this project. Doing this will take the headache out of trying to find that perfect box for whatever item it is you are trying to ship. This project can be done with materials you have on hand, using an oversized box that was leftover or getting cardboard and making it into a box. Many different companies sell boxes for competitive pricing, but they won’t have the box you need most of the time; either it will be too big or too small, you won’t easily find that perfect box for that reason going with making your own box. With this guide, I hope to help you quickly understand how to make your very own box for shipping. 

First, you will need to determine the size of the box you will need to make. This can be done by getting a measuring tape to measure the time you wish to ship. You will want to measure the length, width, and height of the item. If it is fragile, I recommend adding half an inch to an inch of space for bubble wrap and other kinds of packing material; this can also be applied to other items, not just fragile ones if you so choose. You will want to write the measurements down on a piece of paper. 

With these measurements, you will be able to make your box, but you will need a few more things. Firstly you will need to get either the cardboard you want to work with; this can be obtained from craft stores for cheap, or if you have a leftover box from a previously received shipment, you can use that as well. Once that has been gotten, you will need to draw out four even-shaped squares on the cardboard. This will form the four sizes of the box we are going to make. Once those squares have been drawn, on a protective surface, cut out those squares. Either cut them out all separately or all in one that can be folded together. Additionally, you will need to cut out two more squares separate for the top and bottom of the box.

Now that you have a lot of squares, you can begin constructing your box. For this part, you will need some masking tape or packing tape; I recommend using packing tape. If you left the four squares together, fold them to form a square and tape the single seam inside and out. If you cut out all the squares, you will need to tape all the seams together to form a square. Once this has been done, you will need to do the same process to add the bottom and top of your box. Leave the lid off if you still need to add your item in. Make sure you protect it with some packing materials. 

Now that all of this has been done, if done correctly, you should have a nice-looking box for your shipping needs. There are many companies that have shipping boxes for sale, but generally, they are expensive or not the correct size. This project can be a bit challenging, but it is an effective way to ship items on a budget. I also think this would be a fun project to do but use the box for storage needs or something of that caliber.