Easter Candy Explosion Box

Make one of those amazing candy explosion boxes with this free SVG! It’s a big box ready to be filled with Easter candy.

The Easter candy explosion box has three layers of candy on falling sides, with one center box that holds Kinder eggs or Cadbury Creme Eggs or another candy.

The lid is designed to look like an Easter basket, but when you lift the handle, the lid comes off and the candy-laden sides fall down.

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Supplies needed to make the Easter Candy Explosion Box

• the free SVG – it’s design #74 – Easter Candy Explosion Box in the Free Files Folder.
• at least four sheets of posterboard (readily available and about $1 at stores such as Walmart or Dollar General)
• Cricut cutting machine such as the Explore or Maker
• scoring stylus or wheel
• 12 x 24 inch LightGrip cutting mat
• bone folder
• patterned paper
• Cricut Access subscription (if you’re making stickers as shown)
• printer (I love mine; it’s this one)
• Zicoto printable vinyl sticker paper
• glue (I used Art Glitter Glue)
• lots of candy!

* 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. *

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How to adjust the SVG in Cricut Design Space

Download the free SVG. It’s design #74 – Easter Candy Explosion Box in the Free Files Folder.

Unzip the file, and then upload the Easter_Candy_Explosion_Box_minorDIY.svg file to Cricut Design Space. Insert it into a new project, then Ungroup it.

Change the cut lines as shown below to Score lines, then Attach each Score line to the cut piece below it.

This is what the first (largest) layer should look like.

You will need two pieces of posterboard to make all of the bright green pieces.

The light green pieces are cut from scrapbook paper for decoration. (Feel free to skip this step if you’re in a hurry!)

The two pieces on the left will be glued together in the center to form the largest base. The light green pieces are cut from patterned paper to form the outsides of the box.

You can use the solid strip for the handle, or use it under the handle with flower cut-outs.

The large piece with scored edges is the lid (it needs to be cut from a 12 x 12 inch piece of posterboard.) The light green square can be used for the top of the lid.

The four bright green rectangles go over the sides of the box. When the candy is attached, it’s heavy enough to make the box sides bend out if you don’t use these support pieces. (Yep, I’ve done the tests so you don’t have to!)

Cut your first piece of posterboard like this.

This mat will use the 10 x 22 inch piece of posterboard, and the mat with only one side piece will use the 9 x 22 inch piece.

The “Medium Cardstock – 80 lb” material setting worked really well for me.

Here is the second layer, with the Score lines changed and Attached.

Cutting the posterboard into sections as shown below works well for the 2nd layer.

The pink layer is the smallest layer that the sides will fall down on. The purple layer is the small candy box in the middle.

Use Cricut’s Access images to make stickers for the lid and sides

I have to admit, for a long time I didn’t want to pay the $10 a month for Access. I mean, I can design my own SVGs so why pay for it?

However… 3 things convinced me to shell out for it.

1) The convenience of having so many images to choose from without any downloading or searching to find a free version – saving my time is worth it.

2) Writing fonts! I got tired of trying to make thin fonts look like single-line fonts and failing.

3) You can score so many more mystery boxes! At first, I thought “but I probably won’t use everything in the box” or “I already have that.” It turns out that I like having materials to experiment with that I wouldn’t have normally bought. I probably wouldn’t shell out for the Cricut TruControl knife… but it was amazing when I got it! A second scoring stylus? Sweet, now I have one for both my Explore Air and Maker 3!

You can sign up for Access here if you don’t already have it. It’s month by month so you can always cancel if you don’t use or like it.

There were 2,217 images found when I searched for “Easter.”

I chose two of them to use.

Both images were layered. The image below could be cut from 7 or more different colors of paper. No thank you! I’m using Print then Cut to save time.

Select the image, then click on the Flatten button.

Now it’s a Print Then Cut image.

I don’t want it to cut out each individual letter or shape, so I’m going to add an offset.

I didn’t like the colors on the standard palette, so I clicked on the Advanced button and slid the colors around until I found one I liked.

The final step was to select both layers, and Flatten them together. Now the image will cut around the edges of the design.

I used printable vinyl to make the stickers – I love the Zicoto vinyl sticker paper and use it for photos too.

** Remember to caliburate your machine before doing Print Then Cut.

Below are my two big stickers.

I highly recommend putting the stickers on the sides when you have the lids on. You can’t center the sticker properly if the lid isn’t on.

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Cut almost everything from the posterboard, then assemble the Easter Candy Explosion Box as shown below.

If your mat has the correct amount of stickiness, the little flower petals from the handle should stay stuck to the mat as you peel it away from the posterboard.

Glue the two largest base pieces as shown.

** You’ll want to glue a thick piece of cardboard or foamboard underneath the middle square of this first layer. This makes it much easier to move! All of that candy is heavy so the box needs extra support under it.

Glue the handle pieces together.

Then, glue the handle to the sides of the largest lid. (How to assemble the lids is shown just a few photos below in the tutorial.)

Do the same for the next two layers.

Glue on any side decorative paper while the layers are still flat.

To make the lids, burnish along the score lines and fold the tabs in.

Apply glue to a tab, then glue the tab to the next side of the lid.

Make the corner nice and sharp.

Burnish along the score lines of the small middle box; then glue on the decorative paper sides.

Next, fold all of the box tabs in and apply glue to all of them.

It’s a little tricky to get all of the sides in the box, but they need to all go in at the same time. Use a few clothespins or clips to hold things in place.

Finally, glue the center box to the layer below, and then glue each layer to the one beneath it. Add a square of thick cardboard or foamboard underneath the largest box for extra support.

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How much candy can we fit inside this Easter Explosion Box??

I bought all of this Easter Candy to stuff in the box (just for testing purposes, of course. 😉)

The only thing that doesn’t fit is the chick Peeps. They’re too thick.

The bunny Peeps fit only on the largest layer.

First, I filled the center box with eggs.

Next, I used blue painter’s tape to attach all of the candy to the sides of the box (wrapped in a tight circle underneath it), but you could also use clear tape or washi tape.

When you attach the candy, put it up higher on the side to make it fall better. The candy shouldn’t be resting on the floor of the box – that makes the side just stand in place when the lid is removed.

The smallest layer outside of the box needs to use thinner candy. (The space available is about 10 mm or a bit over 1/4 inch.)

Fold those sides up, and put on the lid.

The next layer has about 20 mm or 1/2 inch of space for candy.

I discovered here that you need to leave some space (without candy) for the sides to come together at the corners. Leave 1/2 inch on each side if possible.

The final layer! Remember that only the bunny Peeps fit, not the chicks.

(Later I taped the eggs up higher on the sides so they would fall better.)

This final layer has about 25 mm or 1 inch of space for candy. Remember to leave space where the corners come together.

Add the lid with the handle, and it’s ready to gift!

See the sides bending out in the photo above? That’s without the extra layer of posterboard.

Who’s the lucky recipient of this box?

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Hopefully you’ve learned a few new techniques while using the free Easter Candy Explosion Box SVG today!

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Want to use this explosion box SVG to create physical boxes to sell? You can purchase a Commercial-Use License here.

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