Card boxes (or envelope boxes) are a really good idea to have at a wedding. Unfortunately, while planning our wedding, I had no idea these things were even… things. At our wedding we were handed a few cards by family members and in the hustle and bustle of the day we totally misplaced them. (Major party foul.) To make sure you don’t embarrass yourselves the way that we did, think about setting up a card box at your wedding.
Here are some of my favorite options…
Monster card boxes that “eat” your wedding cards are big right now. This fuzzy guy is from Monica & Eric’s artsy craftsy Disney infused wedding and it was made by the groom himself.
Bird cages make great card boxes. OBT member 2dBride made this for her wedding, “this was just a basic birdcage card box, but I added the gold ribbon and made the sign to go on it.”
I like this old school lunchbox pail from Stuart and Michele’s wedding. I also found this badass skull and crossbones lunch pail, perfect for a pirate wedding.
Cardbot just kicked my eyeballs’ ass. He’s from Rachael and Miles’ robot themed wedding. “Some people have a basket for their cards, we had the CARDBOT 3000: Wedding Card Processor of the Future!” And with some cardboard boxes and flexible ducting you too could have Cardbot make an appearance at YOUR wedding.
I feel like this one, from Rachael & Dustin’s Goth Buddhist Wedding, may have been made out of a shoe box, which is pretty damn smart. Get an oversized shoe box, cut a slit in the top and decorate to your liking. This one says “thank you” in several different languages, including kitteh.
This is one of my favorites — Lauren and Nick’s card box was hand made from Legos by their friends. What can’t Legos make more awesome?
A card box made to look like a stack of books. OBT member Blauenaugen made this from four papier mache book-shaped boxes with the middles cut out, and covered with book cloth.
Here’s another creation by an OBT member. Chrissy C explains, “I got the boxes at Solutions, cut some holes in it, added ribbon and jewels. The feathers are held up by gluing them into little holes in a syrophome ball (cut in half and painted black, and small feathers glued on top of it). It took about an hour or so to make it.”
Use a hat box and cut a slit in the top. I found this one on Amazon for cheap and it’s perfect to use as a blank canvas to decorate it yourself. Or find one that’s already all fancy-like.
And who says card boxes gotta’ be boxes? Not I. Do you have a big decorative vase or cool oversized jar laying around the house? Set it out on a table with a message for guests to toss in their cards.
And my favorite idea? A pinata. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and they’re already hollowed out!
Got any more ideas/tips/suggestions for card boxes? Leave ’em in the comments or upload a picture of your card box to our Flickr Pool (tag it “card box”) and perhaps you’ll see it in our next card box roundup!
39 responses to “12 creative wedding card boxes”
Hello, organizational photo box as card box from my wedding! I’m sure my aunt will be proud that the nickname Weezabet is on the internet now. In other news, that card jar is a beauty!
We’re using a giant fishbowl for cards and a mini fishbowl with chocolates in it for guests to take…..wish i’d thought of a birdcage though! It’s a stunning idea!
These are all so much fun!
It’s too bad mine isn’t done yet – I was planning to submit it whenever the etsy maker finished. It’s a card box and guest book…combined!
These are all great ideas; we’re using a memory box that I gave him years ago when I went to study overseas (I filled it with a note for every day I was gone).
These look wonderful! I would caution couples about using open card boxes because some wedding quests have sticky fingers!! Just something to keep in mind!
Do you mean actually sticky, like kids? Cos I don’t think I’ll be wanting to invite anyone who would steal from me!
We didn’t have any thieves at our little 60-guest, no bringing a date wedding, but a friend of mine did bring home a lot of opened cards that were supposed to have cash in them and didn’t. She had something like 150 people, a lot of whom were obligatory extended family invites. Just another reason to keep it small and intimate! But I agree, this is good advice if you’re not exactly sure who is going to show up.
I found scrap wood and built a box and put decorations on it,that only has a slit in it for cards,after learning some of my sister inlaw had cash & cards stolen from her box…shameful u never know who’s coming,without your invite…specially if there’s FREE FOOD & BOOZE
I have my future father in law making me a card box out of four 8×10 picture frames and some spare wood. After the wedding we can store photos in it and will have a nice 4-sided picture frame. Once it is finished I will post pics!
I love this idea I saw it on a blog a while back.
OMG wOOt!! Was not expecting to see our purple monster card box a second time on Offbeat Bride – what a rocking, awesome surprise! Thank you lots for selecting us again. We are glad OBB liked Eric’s gift card box. Boy, do I have a talented hubby! 😀
yeah, we probably lost a few hundred quid that way at our wedding too. Great post.
The pinata is awesome–assuming that there’s only cards and money in there, you can still smack that with a stick! Money raining from the sky on your honeymoon? YES PLEASE!
I was going to make a giant robie the robot bank http://www.jeffbots.com/robiebank.jpg
for my friend but they didn’t get married so I didn’t. But I’m using an old leather suitcase for the card box at my wedding!
I didn’t know anybody remembered Robie! Every time I get change at a store I have to secretly turn to the boy and pretend to eat it mechanical-style. Might have to use this – amazing!
An old suitcase – genius for a destination wedding like mine! Are you slicing a slot into it or decorating it in any way?
Thanks! I don’t know yet for sure how i will do it, I think I’m gonna stack a couple up and prop the top one open and hot glue a couple sticks to the inside so no one can get in without breaking it and they can slide the cards in. But I saw one on a blog (I forget which one probably ruffledblog.com) they just had one open with a map glued to the inside top and a picture of the couple on it and then a postcard that they stamped “cards” with typewriter style big letters on it that was also stuck to the inside back on the suitcase and then they out a simple flower arrangement in the box as well i might do it like that too. P.S. If I find it I will post the link.
Thanks! I think I saw what you are describing after googling suitcase card boxes after seeing your post, hehe. It looked great. I wouldn’t be against simply leaving one open. We are having a very intimate wedding so sticky fingers are unlikely.
My mum is taking an old fashioned mailbox (think the kind on a post at the end of your driveway) and is painting “The Birdfellows” on it, along with a picture of the bird that will be our new family name. Think one part Lisa Frank stationary and one part cottage country. A few family members had originally wanted to feature this particular bird EVERYWHERE in the wedding, but we decided it could make one or two appearances and that would be fine.
I found an old picnic basket at the local goodwill. I painted it black to match our colors. I think it is going to work perfectly since we are having an outdoor bbq picnic style wedding.
We found a carved wooden chest (a little bigger than a shoe box) that we liked and used that for cards. I love the fact that it is now part of our home.
FH wants our card box to say “FEED ME!” FMIL, jumping on this, said, “You should make it look like the plant from Little Shop of Horrors!” My family would probably be horribly offended … but it would be really, really cool. And, anyway, my family is already horribly offended that we’re serving craft beer instead of Bud Light, so … 🙂
We’re both huge Pixar/Disney nerds, so for our card box we’re using a mailbox that we’re painting our names on and slapping our handprints on, like Carl and Ellie’s mailbox in the movie Up. I’m so excited!
This = awesome.
The one that says it’s a shoe box kinda looks like a kleenex box to me.
And even if it isn’t, it’s a suggestion. 🙂 Just pull off the plastic cover where the tissues come out.
We are having a mini replica British pillar post box as our card box.
I couldn’t afford any of the replicas I found, so I got someone on Etsy to make one for me.
I’ll upload the pic to the pool when it’s done. 🙂
How did it go, are the pics of the postbox up?? I’m marrying a Brit in October and i LOVE this idea, I want one too!!!!! i’d love to see what it looks like 🙂
We are going to have a Halloween themed wedding, so I’m planning on using one of those plastic pumpkin pails that kids use to collect candy as our card box.
I just stumbled across this great wire tree from Etsy seller TwsytedWyres. I think this would make a lovely card holder or any other type of holder!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/43892809/custom-money-tree-centerpiece-wedding?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Money+Tree+-+Centerpiece&utm_content=etsy_finds_051910&utm_campaign=etsy_finds_051910
lobster trap would be a great touch to a nautical themed wedding
We’re having a bicycle theme in our park wedding and reception. I’ll use a bicycle basket as a card box. As far as sketchy guests, I only invited family and close friends all of whom I trust to not steal from me (hopefully!)
We’re having a piggy bank- a pig shaped pinata for people to put cards in. So excited!
For our vintage themed wedding, we are using an old sewing kit.
We got a wooden treasure chest from a craft store, my mom stained it and we just propped it open with a sign in it. We weren’t too worried about any walking away, especially since the venue had a security camera facing where the gift table was.
My mother is making us a huge death star pinata to put our cards in, so excited!
I was looking for something inexpensive and different. Found this and loved it! Bought it off etsy for a great price and am using it in my upcoming wedding!!
photo frame card box–fits 4 8×10 pix! I really like it because it is nice enough to use as decor in our house after the wedding!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/CraftonsKrafts
These ideas are so cute. Another one I saw on Pinterest was a mailbox decorated with stickers that said the couple’s name and wedding date
I found a birdcage for like $3 at a discount store, but it was plain white, so I spray painted it with a metallic black and rubbed it with some bronze rub n buff, got a vintage label off the interwebs, some ribbon and it looks almost exactly like the cage pictured here! All the bird cages I looked for were expensive, so for $3 I’m super excited about mine!