All About Tin Lunch Boxes

Tin Lunch Boxes, short as lunch tin, lunch box, are tin boxes with a handle design, used to as promotion gift products packaging options.

In this article, we will try to share the most comprehensive knowledge about tin lunch boxes, from the structure to the printing.

This article is mainly to serve as additonal information for packaging designers and companies who are interested in pack their products with tin lunch boxes.

Without further due, let’s dive in this topic.

The whole article will cover topics listed below:

1. What differs tin lunch boxes from the other tin boxes?
2. Common structures of popular lunch tin boxes
3. Big names using tin lunch boxes as branding awareness packaging
4. How to desgin a lunch tin box?
5. Process to place a custom tin lunch box order

What differs tin lunch boxes from the other tin boxes?

Lunch tin boxes are just one type of common tin boxes, tin boxes having below features can be called lunch tins:

• Handles on the top: Plastic, metal, or leather hanles are the mounted on the top side of the lunch tinboxes;
• Metal Locks on the top: Metal mateiral lock to keep the lunch tin box lid and body together;
• Hinges: connection part of the lid and body;

Handles on the top:

There are 6 different types of tin lunch box handles available for your choice, they are tph-1 flat plastic handles, tph-2 plastic or metal handle with a embossing in the middle, tph-3 full plastic cynlinder shaped hanles, tph-4 leather material handles and type-5 full metal handles, and the last one tph-6 type, full plastic small handles for small lunch tin boxes.

Metal Locks on the top:

Locks are used to fix the lid and body of the lunch tin boxes, below are the popluar types choosen by our lunch tin boxes.

Hinges connecting the lid and body:

There are two types of hinges which are widely used on tin lunch boxes:

Common structures of popular lunch tin boxes

99% percent of the tin lunch boxes have a symmetrical design, i.e. the lid and the bottom end come from the same mold, they are the same, where some lunch tin boxes are just normal tin boxes adding a handle.

Big names using tin lunch boxes as branding awareness packaging

Lunch tin boxes are popular choosed by big names in many industries, such as pokemon lunch box tins, are most used to contain pokemon game cards,

hello kitty tin lunch box, is another hot items, for this item, you can also see the other features can be applied to tin lunch boxes, the clear PVC window on the lid, which can make the custome see the products packed inside, thus help to fast buying decisions.

Other than these two, tin lunch boxes are used to pack TV series or movie IP products like halo tin lunch box, star wars lunch box tin, batman tin lunch box, harry potter tin lunch box, mickey mouse tin lunch box, retro tin lunch boxes, and you can name it.

Further more, due to the flexibility of the custom printing on the tin lunch boxes surface, we can go apply vintage looking on lunch tins, these are called vintage tin lunch box:

Okay, Nevertheless, whatever designs you saw belong to other’s, and with controled cost and effort you can have your own orignal deisgns tin lunch boxes, tailored to what suits your brand and products best. These are custom tin lunch boxes.

How to desgin and custom a lunch tin box

Before you can move on the desgins and customizing a lunch tin box, the first thing need to be sure is the size, the dimension of the lunch tin boxes, each tin lunch boxes suppliers shall have different existing molds(sizes options) available, choosing from the exsiting mold sizes means no investment on new tooling fees(that’s large amount of dollars, 1500usd to non limited), so to save the total cost, you’d better choose a similar size which can work for yo.

Once size is confirmed, then the supplier will send you the template file(dielines, or artwork blueprint file, usally in PDF format or .ai format), you and your designer will paint on this blank canvas, to put your designs on.

To make sure there is less misundertanding on the design files, a 3D mokcup of the designed tin lunch box are recommended, thus, you can see what you might get in 3D shape (this tin box mockup fee usually cost about 50~100 USD).

Process to place a custom tin lunch box order

It’s quite easy to find a supplier of tin lunch box these days, you can just google “tin box supplier”, “tin box factory”, or “tin lunch box suppliers”, you will get tons of results, but it does take some time and effort, or trials and erros to find a trusted one. When you get one, call them, tell what your needs:

• Sizes of the tin lunch box
• What items you need to contain inside the lunch tin?
• Quantity of the bulk order, how many pcs of lunch tins you gonna purchase?
• Printing requirements: CYMK printing or Patone color, single side or both sides need printing?
• Surface handling or decorations: embossing or debossing or logo or other text and patterns?
• Packaging needs?
• …more details will bring you more specific solutions

How to choose a tin lunch box supplier you won’t regret?

Finally, we come to the last topic, things to consider when choosing a tin lunch box supplier, this is the key factor which leads your tin lunch boxes sourcing project a failure or a success, why?

A expierenced and easy-to-corperated tin box supplier will save you out from unnecessary headaches:

• You got a perfect design, but bad supplier will turn a 100 grades desgin to 60, because of lacking experience
• Bad communications, you will spend weeks, days, hoursly to keep both of you on the same page
• Quality issues, the ability to hanle problems
• Reputations, suppliers with bad reputations will not only causes you headaches, but also risk your money to rubish products

But how can you get yourself out of these risks listed above?

My advice is always start with a sample order, in the process of communications, you will come to a basic conclution, which comes from these questions, ask yourself:

• Does the supplier always reply you with clear points, and fast?
• Does the tin box supplier try to have better understanding of your needs?
• Does the supplier promise if anything bad happens, what they will cover for you? what’s the guanrantee?
• Have the supplier told you what their process to control the quality of the tin products?
• Does the supplier evaluate your design before they do the sampling? (professional tin box supplier will points out the gap between a lunch tin box in design file and a real lunch tin box that can be produced)