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DIY Christmas Pop Up Cubes Gift Box

11.26.2020 by Emily // 14 Comments

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Easily make this amazing DIY Christmas gift box with your Cricut! The pop-up cubes leaping out will delight whoever opens it!

originally published December 12, 2019
updated November 8, 2021

Your special someone will love this handmade papercraft! 😍

It’s quite simple to assemble; you’ll get the hang of it quickly after making the first pop-up cube. Decorate it with photos from past holidays to make it extra-special. 📸


Materials needed to create this unique DIY Christmas gift box:

  • the free Christmas Pop-Up Gift Box SVG pattern downloaded from the Free Files Folder – it’s Design #39
  • At least nine pieces of card stock
  • A way to cut and score the cardstock – I use a Cricut Maker
  • Six rubber bands – size #18 works well in my experience
  • Either
    – Glue such as Aleene’s Tacky Glue or Art Glitter Glue
    OR
    – Extra Strong Double-Sided Tape
  • More paper to decorate the sides of the cubes, or photos if you’d like to personalize it more

* Links to products are for your convenience in finding tools and materials, however, they are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. *


Tips on choosing the right materials:

Extra strong double-sided tape can be used instead of glue.

Instead of using glue, you can also use extra strong, double-sided tape. It’s less messy and very strong.

Sometimes it’s hard to find the correct size of rubber bands. Of the sizes I had, the largest worked best (the white color, as shown in the top left corner in the photo below). If I squish the band down into a line, it is 3 inches (80 mm) long.

From my research, it seems that this is size #18, which is 80 mm long and 2 mm wide. (I am not able to purchase this exact item to check though.)

Use a rubber band that is about 3 inches long.

How to use the SVG file and assemble the papercraft

1) Go to the ✨ Free Files Folder 📂 and enter the password. Scroll down to design #39 – Holiday Snowflake Pop-Up Cubes SVG. Click on the link, and it will download directly to your computer. Unzip the file, and then upload both SVG files to Design Space. Insert them into a new project.

2) Select the cut line over the main piece in gray, and change it to a Score line. Attach the Score line to the gray base piece below. It should look like the screen shot below.

3) The box and drawer are shown below.

Cut the project out.

4) Fold along the score lines and glue the wrapper and drawer as shown. The accent pieces line the bottom of the drawer, and go on both the inside and outside of the drawer ends to make it stronger. Decorate the top if you like.

finished Christmas box and drawer

5) Glue the accent pieces to the cube as shown. I used sticker paper and “Print and Cut” to make the penguins and the gnomes. The snowflakes are cut from vinyl. (The snowflakes are cut images in the SVG.) The gnomes are a file from the Well Crafted Studio.

stickers and vinyl snowflakes
DIY Christmas gift box - one pop-up cube
One decorated cube. Penguins are my favorite!
many cubes
Decorate all of them! Add stickers or photos to create a one-of-a-kind gift.

6) Fold on the score lines. Stretch a rubber band around the tabs and glue the cube closed. Watch the video below to see the technique. Do this for all of your cubes. (The box will fit six or seven, but you can also make fewer cubes.)


7) Fold the cubes into the drawer and slide it into the box.

DIY Christmas gift box - folding the pop-up cubes into the box

Your DIY Christmas Gift Box is finished! When you give the gift, encourage the receiver to pull the drawer all the way out quickly and watch their face light up with surprise and delight. 🤩


Ready to download the free SVG or printable? Head over to the 📂 Free Files Folder and enter the ✨ magic word. ✨ (If you don’t have the magic word, just fill in the form below first.)


Do you want to sell handmade pop-up cubes?

Many crafters asked if they could create gift boxes with pop-up cubes to sell, so I’ve created a commercial use license.

Click on the product for more details.


Save this for later by pinning on Pinterest!

How to Make a  Christmas Pop-Up Cube Gift Box - Pinterest

Looking for more DIY projects for your cutting machine? Try these!

Cricut-Made Gnome Pop-Up Card
Cricut-made Unicorn Pop-Up Card

Categories // Christmas, Cricut Projects, Super Easy & Kid Friendly Tags // Christmas, free SVG, pop-up, snowflake

Comments

  1. Linda Smik says

    November 26, 2020 at 6:17 pm

    Do you have a recommendation as to what size rubber band to use on these? I’ve tried various sizes and I just can’t seem to find ones that work properly. They are either too long so they don’t have enough tension to pop out of the box, or they have too much tension and rip off the tabs.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      November 26, 2020 at 7:53 pm

      Hi Linda! I took some time to finish my rubber band research and added photos and links near the beginning of the post. I believe the correct size is #18, about 3 inches. It doesn’t seem to be a very common size; #19 seems to be more common. That would explain why your cubes don’t pop up as well.

      Perhaps you could try to make the cubes smaller and use the tighter bands? I’ve also noticed that very heavy cardstock doesn’t pop as well as lighter cardstock. I’ve found that it should be 210 gsm or 78 lb. cardstock or lighter.

      I hope this helps!

      Reply
      • Marlene Martin says

        November 27, 2020 at 3:03 pm

        When I bring the pop ups into design space they are very tiny. Star are like 1/2 in across. Is this normal or were size it. The box comes in much larger.

        Reply
        • Emily says

          November 27, 2020 at 4:26 pm

          No, that is definitely not normal! I would try restarting your computer first, and then import again. We all know DS can be finicky.

          If that doesn’t work, simply resize the cubes. They should be 11.5 inches wide to fit into the box correctly.

          Reply
  2. BRENDA Allen says

    November 28, 2020 at 1:53 am

    What size of card stock do you recommend? Thank you for providing these!!

    Reply
    • Emily says

      December 6, 2020 at 3:23 pm

      The file is sized to fit a 12-inch piece of cardstock. I think this size makes a perfect cube. However, it’s easy to size it down just bit to use normal A4 or Letter-sized paper. Enjoy! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Kim says

    February 22, 2021 at 5:31 pm

    Love your pop up cubes box! Thank you sooo much for the SVG file…that’s priceless….sure makes it so much neater…and easier too!

    Your tutorial is great and very much appreciated…but just wondering, is there any way you can slow it down some.

    Thanks sincerely,
    Kim

    Reply
    • Emily says

      February 22, 2021 at 8:38 pm

      Hi Kim! I’ve been thinking about filming longer “craft with me” types of video, but I’m always too impatient to watch a whole video so I wondered if anyone would really watch it. 😁. I will add it to my to-do list!

      Reply
  4. Cathy Royal says

    November 8, 2021 at 9:32 pm

    Wish I had found this befor I purchased the metal die. Glad I found your site.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      November 8, 2021 at 9:39 pm

      Oh darn! Oh well; I had no idea they made dies for this too. I’m glad to have you here! Feel free to leave a comment with any suggestions anytime!

      Reply
  5. Luciane says

    January 10, 2023 at 4:51 am

    I do not understand how to make the handle of the drawer of the box. Thanks

    Reply
    • Emily says

      January 10, 2023 at 9:52 am

      See (in the step 3 image) the part that looks like two ovals? There are 4 score lines there. It’s easiest to make the rest of the drawer first. Then, fold one oval down so it’s at a 90 degree angle from the drawer. Fold the second oval under it. Half of it is glued under to create the tab, and the second half is glued to the outside of the drawer, creating a tiny shelf for the tab.

      I hope this helps! I’ll put this post on my list to update; I realize I don’t have clear photos of each step.

      Reply
      • Luciane says

        January 12, 2023 at 11:17 am

        thank you for your answer: I’m sorry, I have a little trouble understanding.

        Reply

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  1. Projects in Progress » Minor DIY says:
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