Last week, while antique shopping in Missouri, I added several vintage cigar boxes to my ever growing collection. My best find was this funky, colorful old Golden Rod box.
I think the labeling is so eclectic and beautiful. It’s a bit scuffed but oozing with charm.
I scanned all the panels of the outside of the box and the labeled inside lid. I then spent some time in Photoshop and Illustrator and created these reproductions/templates for you to make your own little cigar-gift boxes with extras.
I think they would be great to create message boxes for birthdays, Father’s Day, etc. They also just the right size for holding gift cards or jewelry pieces.
Click on the template images to download the free PDF files.
Print Template No. 1 to heavy cardstock paper.
Print Template No. 2 to full sheet label stock.
Use your printer’s finest settings to hold the detail.
Using an Xacto knife, carefully trim out the box outside & inside images from the label sheet and cardstock.
Peel away the backing from the label piece and, aligning with the back of the cardstock piece, adhere the two pieces together.
Trim away corners on top flap.
Score all fold sections of the box. (I LOVE Martha Stewart’s scoring board for paper crafts like this.) Fold all flaps inward.
Trim out the cigar edging tape from the label sheet and attach one half section of the tape to side flap sections, trimming away excess. 
Fold up side flaps and adhere to front and back panels with the edging tape to create the box.
Fill…
and tie.
Create a gift or note card using the cut out extra cardstock piece and label with a piece from the label stock image.
Use a scalloped punch to create a seal if you’d like.
You can even make a custom gift tag.
I think they would be cute as party favor candy boxes, too. What would you do with a mini cigar box?
Really??? Couyld you be any more awesome??? These are very cool!
Oh my goodness! I just love it! and you’ve come up with such a wonderful tutorial and pattern. Thank you very much.
Hugs XX
Barbara
I think that my son, a budding cigar aficionado, would love having a gift certificate given to him in one of those…
i would thank you once again for your generosity and cleverness… and i would make a thousand of them. should i have the proper printer to get these classy results.
happy happy, thank you’s miss genius.
Told ya we have great antiques in MO!! 😉 Seriously, Cathe, this is great fun. You just jumpstarted my rain-weary brain with this…lots of new ideas buzzing around in there now. Thanks. You ROCK!
Very cute idea!
My hubby and I found some vintage ones in a thrift store and bought all of them. He puts all sorts of stuff in them.
Peace…Naila Moon
I have to agree with Patty. SIMPLY AMAZING. so my answer to your question What would you do with a mini cigar box? Many things actually. Like you suggested, For Gift cards, also as Favors for dinner themed parties. There is a website that is dedicated to the top 15 guys that was known for cigars, and it reads as follows….Winston Churchill, Groucho Marx, Oron Welles, Sigmund Freud, Fidel Castro, John F. Kennedy, Babe, Ruth, Che Guevara, Al Capone, Peter Falk, Alfred Hitchcock, General George S. Patton, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, and one of MY favorite of all Clint Eastwood……….Think of ALL the fun dinner Parties. Even a fun idea would be say….Give the movie “The good the bad and the ugly, this cute little Cigar Box, and a story how Clint and Cigars go hand in hand…………………You could put fun trinkets in this box also. Jewlery, Antique coins, Use it as a Time Machine Piece. I am excited on making more for my Vegas Game Night.
Also, I forgot to add, This is great for making Mini Scrapbooks. I am working on it right now actually….also how fun would it be to send this little box to someone as an invitation to a party with the invite inside the box…
Cigar boxes were often fitted out as sewing boxes back in the day. I think I may combine this with last week’s vintage thread labels to make a mini mending kit. Neat project!
What about mini edible cigars…say made from tootsie rolls?
You are so super clever. To find such a wonderful vintage cigar box and then transform it to share with us to make a gift card box and tag is just so generous. Thank you and Happy week to you…
just awesome! thanks so much!!! 🙂
I love it. Thank you for all your time and effort.
I adore your ideas!
Beautiful job! I really love this!
Oh they would be really cute to hand out in the hospital to visitors of a new baby. You could fille them with candy instead of handing out cigars! Or put a baby photo in them and use them as birth announcments!
I knew I’d love this, and when I saw ‘To Jeff With Love’… it was perfect. That’s my sweetie’s name, and I wanted to use this for him… Thanks!!!
Lovely project and thank you so much for the time you spend scanning and retouching! Such an interesting mix of colours, textures and shapes on this little box ;)!
wow! this is beautiful
thank you so much for sharing this with us!
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Super cool!!! Thanks for sharing – that was a lot of work!
WOW I love cigar boxes but don’t have any. Now I can make my own, it’s so generous of you to share this, thank you!
Wow, that is the coolest thing I even seen. Thanks for the great website
You are so generous, thanks so much! A brilliant idea, and I’m sure I will find a good use for it.
Oh, this is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing with us!
I am with Patty and Linda and Sherri…you rock! These are fab! Thanks so much for sharing.
This is wonderful! Thank you so much. What a fun project this will be. I so appreciate all the work you put into creating this.
So cute! I love cigar boxes, and I was thrilled to discover that the cigar/pipe store in my local mall sells them for $1 apiece! You never know what they are going to have, but I usually find a great one when I visit. I love to use them to store my scrapbook supplies, photos, and odds and ends.
Thank you so much – today’s my birthday and I really enjoyed creating my own little gift box!
I find that every time I want to comment on your projects, I say the same exact same thing… “This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” And it is! Seriously the cutest!
Thank you again! If I can get off the computer to do some serious crafting, I would print out some of these and fill them with some yummy homemade treats to send off to family. Or maybe enlarge the graphics and make a newer box look old. I found some at a dollar store once and have been saving them. I just love these!
These will be so much fun to make and give away. Thank you for the template.
I, too, have a collection of cigar boxes; how did you scan yours? Did you use a flip?
Wonderful! Can hardly wait to make some. I have been collecting
cigar boxes since I saw how clever you used them in your craft room.
They look and work wonderful for all my crafting collections of parts.
Luckly, a man I work with smokes cigars and has brought me lots of
them. Thanks for the wonderful free download and your hard work in
putting it together. What a gal………..
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Usually with your projects, I remember they were available, and come back later to download them when I want them, but this is so cute that I downloaded it right away! Not only will this be great for gifting ATCs, but I can see myself using this for Father’s Day, too. Awesome!
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Wow, this is an amazing project! Thank you so much 🙂
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Love this, Cathe! My nieces and I use to decopage old cigar boxes, probably because they weren’t nearly as beautiful as the detail on these. Thanks for the reminder and beautiful artwork!
oh my gosh girl! I collect cigar boxes too and this is the best one i have seen! You made one for us??? Oh my! Thanks a million!
Absolutely fabulous!! I LoVe LoVe LoVe it. My mind is reeling with all the cool things I can use it for. Thank you so much.
Wow, I loved this so much that I got up early and spent the morning making this for my SIL’s birthday gift card. So much fun. Thank you for all you do. I love your website. Color me a big fan!!!
Thanks so much for this Cathe! I have been looking for sigar boxes like this for months but no luck. You’re a DOLL!
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How FUN! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
I found you through CRAFT GOSSIP!!!! WHY have I not found you before????? I LOVE YOUR SITE!!!!! AND I HAD TO subscribe!!!!!!! Looking forward to getting your newsletters/ emails!!!!!!!! GREAT SITE!!!!!!!!! 🙂
WOW! Goldenrod I’m not allergic to! LOL Thank you so much for this download. I love it!
Thank you for the cigar box templates! I love cigar boxes & cigar
wrappers…am just a novice collector.
Keep up the great artwork.
Franny
Thank you!!!I cannot wait to try this one out. Your directions are so clear!!!!!!!!
How very generous of you, thank you. These are gorgeous boxes. You are a very talented lady. Loops xx
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Thank you so much, I just made this cigar box and it came out perrr-fect
Kathy T
Thank for the free mini cigar box template.
FABULOUS !!!!! 🙂
How beautiful Cathe, t/y for sharing! ♥
This cigar box reminds me so much of the ones we kept our treasures in when we were children. I’m going to tell my doll collecting friends aboiut this so that their dolls can have them to keep their tiny post cards and marbles and sling shots and old Valentines in them. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Thank you so much. Just wonderful.
Love your web site. Thank you for the free templates. You are the best
thank you so much- just what I need for a gift card for my son’s birthday- Hope to make it up to a workshop- can’t wait to see your “Inspired Barn” – bound to be fantastic!
What a fantastic present for a male of any age (cigar box). Let’s face it ladies the men are always difficult to make cards etc for. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
Amazing, Cathe! I love everything you do, and appreciate your generosity.
These are absolutely adorable and would make really cool decorations for a man cave! I, too, have an infinity for collecting cigar boxes but you can’t really find the old cardboard ones anymore! I also go to the smoke shop and get the wood ones… they are gorgeous but just not vintage lol… they practically give them away here… 99 cents at one place but the other shop started charging 4.99 each for the plain boxes and 6.99 for the more intricate boxes… they haven’t sold too many since they decided to cash in on cigar box hoarders like me… same ones sitting there for months… lol so many cool things you can do with them. But I’ve been making wooden purses for years now and just started using these instead of the craft boxes at the craft stores… also when I make a special piece of jewelry or something small for someone I’ll embellish a cigar box to give it in. Much better than wrapping paper, it’s always well received, classy, there’s no waste and plus they get a bonus keepsake! For 99 cents and using what I have on hand to create a special box actually makes me happy. Sometimes people are more intrigued by the cigar box than their gift… I often have to tell them to open it… the gift is inside the box.. they think the box is the gift! And happily so! Hehe thanks for the great tutorials!
That’s funny because growing up in the Midwest on the farm, each of us grandkids had our own cigar box of our grandpas. My gramma filled them with little toys and trinkets individual to each of us. Then… as I’m sure you know about this… lol… all grandmother’s stored the crayons in those cardboard cigar boxes… my grandfathers brand was Ben Franklin… so we’d get out the ole’ benny box filled with crayons to color with!!! Such fond memories… I know smoking is bad and all but these really do bring back fond memories of the best times of my childhood