How to make a paper box - tutorial

I have been making these little boxes for years.  They are perfect for filling with treats and giving as gifts throughout the year, but I always make them as Christmas gifts for teaching staff that work with my children.  I love making them, and I love making little treats to put inside them.  This year we made Nigella Lawson's 'Hokey Pokey', I actually remember it being called Cinder Toffee when I was a girl (oh deary me, I sound like my grannie!), but it is more commonly known as honeycomb, and can be found inside Crunchie bars.  Apparently the name 'Hokey Pokey' comes from Cornwall.  What a fab name, I love it, and  it gave me the opportunity to sing the Hokey Pokey (while my daughter pulled her face at me!!!) whilst making it.

Okay, here's how to make the boxes:

This makes a box measuring 10x10cm

Materials needed:

2 complementing pieces of 12x12” paper*

scalpel

glue (not essential)

ruler

1.   Place the piece of paper that is going to be the bottom of the box in front of you and take a 1cm strip off the top, and a 1cm strip off one of the sides (you should still have a square!), to make the bottom of your box slightly smaller.

2.  Take one of the corners and fold diagonally across to meet the opposite corner (fig 1). Crease, unfold and do the same with the other corners so that when you open it out again you have a cross (fig 2).

fig 1.

fig 2.

 3.  Now take each of the corners and fold into the centre point (fig 3).

fig 3.

 4.  Leaving the corners in the centre, fold the bottom edge up to the centre line, crease and then unfold (fig 4).  Do this with each of the edges.

fig 4.

 5.  Unfold you sheet (fig 5).

fig 5.

6. Fold two opposite sides into the middle, and using your scalpel and ruler, cut along the crease to the edge of the folded sides (fig 6).

fig. 6

 7.Okay, now you should have two opposite sides with long pieces, and two short sides.   Place the paper with one of the short sides towards you.  Pick up the long end on the left and the long end on the right and bring them together (fig 7).  Still holding the two pieces together, take the short end and fold it over the top so that the triangular end fits into the bottom of the box (fig 8).

fig 7.

fig 8.

 8. Turn your box around and do the same for the other side (fig 9).  You can at this point put a little spot of glue under each of the triangles in the bottom of the box to hold them in place.  It’s not necessary, but they often pop up if you don’t.

fig. 9

 9.Time to make your lid.  Follow steps 2-8.

10. Fill full of treats and wrap a pretty ribbon around for a perfect gift.

If you are putting food in them, I recommend that you put a piece of greaseproof paper in, big enough to come up the sides and fold over the top too.

The past few years I have made truffles, what would you put in yours?