Custom Printed Attar and Oud Boxes for Small Oil Bottles

The bottles are tiny, often 3 ml to 12 ml with a glass dabber or a roll-on. They are sold as gifts far more than most fragrance.

The box pictured is typical. A wrap with the look of raw silk in deep red, and a flap that folds over and closes on a magnet. Inside, a black foam slot holds a 6 ml bottle with a gold cap.

The oil inside may be oud, rose, musk or a blend, and may cost a great deal per millilitre. The box has to make a thumb-sized bottle feel like a present.

Many sell oils decanted from larger stock into their own bottles, and a branded box turns a decant into a product.

Online sellers on marketplaces post hundreds of small bottles a week, and a rigid box protects the dabber in the post as well as presenting it.

Eid gifts, Ramadan hampers, wedding and mehndi favours and mosque fundraising stalls all run on attar in small boxes. For a box holding several oils as a set, the perfume gift boxes for several bottles page shows the wider formats.

• Attar and oud shops decanting into own-brand bottles
• Marketplace sellers posting small bottles daily
• Eid and Ramadan gift sellers
• Wedding and mehndi favour orders
• Mosque and charity stalls selling blended oils

A square 6 ml with a screw cap and dabber, a tall 3 ml tola bottle, a round 12 ml with a long dabber, and roll-on tubes. Measure the one you fill, cap on.

The box inside is the bottle plus about 10 mm each side for the foam slot, and the capped height plus 5 mm. Lying in a shallow slot, a 6 ml bottle of 30 x 30 x 55 mm needs a box about 65 x 55 x 30 mm outside.

Standing the bottle upright in a deeper box is the other layout. It shows the bottle better when the flap opens, but the box takes more room on a counter.

The front wall folds up and over onto a magnet in the lid. The box opens like a small book and the bottle is seen at once.

A lid and base box stands the bottle upright and lifts off from the top. It suits a taller bottle or one with an ornate cap that should be seen from above.

A small drawer box slides the bottle out on a ribbon. It is the neatest for a 12 ml oud oil lying flat. The perfume drawer boxes with a sliding tray page shows that build in detail.

The raw silk look in the photos comes from a slubbed textured wrap in a deep colour.

Linen, leather-grain and plain soft touch wraps are options too. A metallic board under the wrap is not needed; foil does the shine.

The inside is lined, usually in cream or black, with the foam slot flocked to match. Board, rigid and finish options are available on request, and the cosmetic box styles guide explains each rigid closure.

A name in Arabic or Urdu calligraphy, or in a serif Latin face, foils cleanly at 20 to 30 mm wide.

Full colour print is possible on a smooth wrap, for a pattern or a photograph of the oud wood or rose. On textured wraps, keep to foil and blind embossing, which hold their edges on grain.

The inside of the flap is a second panel. A short line about the oil or the maker, printed there, is read every time the box opens. Our guide to foil and embossing finishes shows gold foil on grained wraps.

If one rolls in a box the dabber snaps or the cap unscrews and the oil leaks.

The foam slot fixes that. It is cut to the bottle outline, so the glass sits snug and the cap is held off the lid. A card insert with a cut-out is the lighter option.

For posting, the rigid box goes in a padded mailer or a small outer carton. The magnet keeps the flap shut through the sorting office, and the foam keeps the bottle upright inside.

1. Send the bottle measurements with the cap on, or post one bottle to us.
2. Choose a lying or standing layout and the flap, lid or drawer closure.
3. Pick the wrap colour, foil colour and the flock colour of the slot.
4. Approve the proof showing the box open with the bottle in place.
5. Boxes arrive built; drop the bottle into its slot and close the flap.

The inside lining and the slot colour are on show, so they are worth choosing with care.

Closed, a row of small boxes in one deep colour with a foil name looks like a jewellery display. Mixing wrap colours by oil type, red for rose and green for oud, helps staff and customers find a scent quickly.

For market stalls and Eid fairs, a box that opens and closes a hundred times a day needs a magnet rather than a tuck. The flap is the right choice there.

Many caps are taller than the bottle, and the slot has to take the whole thing.

The second is choosing a light wrap for a box that will be handled by hundreds of hands at a stall. Deep colours hide marks; cream shows them in a day.

The third is leaving the inside blank. A black slot in an unlined box looks like a shipping carton. A cream lining and a coloured flock cost little and change the box.

Attar boxes are quoted per order, from £0.25 per unit, and the written quote lists the box, insert and finish.

Our designers set your name or calligraphy on the wrap for free and send a proof showing the box open and closed. After approval, production takes 4 to 6 business days and free tracked delivery to any UK address takes 2 to 3 business days.

If a box arrives misprinted or damaged, send photos within 10 days for a reprint or refund. Use the attar box quote request form or send a WhatsApp photo of the bottle.