Popularization of Environmentally Friendly Materials: With the enhancement of environmental awareness, environmentally friendly materials such as degradable plant fiber coatings and recycled paper composite materials are widely used, with the usage rate exceeding 35%. Some enterprises have launched 100% recyclable gift box solutions. Gift boxes made of natural materials like paper, rattan weaving, and felt are on the rise. For example, the imitation rattan weaving storage basket from Guangdong, with a waterproof lining, can be reused as a picnic basket or a home decoration item. The pink felt handbag with a customized embroidered logo has a high reuse rate and can be used as a commuting bag. Now, the concept of environmental protection is becoming more and more deeply rooted in people’s hearts, and consumers pay great attention to environmental protection. Therefore, according to consumers’ preferences, environmentally friendly materials should be selected for gift box production. For the selection of environmentally friendly materials, materials from plants can be chosen as the materials for gift boxes. For example, bamboo, wood, platycodon roots, etc. are all good plant materials.
Enhanced Intelligence and Interactivity: More technological elements are integrated into gift boxes to achieve functional integration. Functional components such as magnetic closures and LED induction lights are starting to be applied. A smart gift box of a certain brand achieves gift traceability through a mobile phone NFC chip. In the future, elements such as temperature and humidity monitoring and AR interaction may also be integrated, allowing consumers to obtain more product information and brand stories by scanning QR codes or NFC tags, enhancing the interactive experience. Intelligent technologies should be chosen because with the development and progress of technology, only more intelligent products will be popular. Moreover, the designs of some gift boxes are relatively complex. For example, they have ingenious designs for mechanisms and switches, which makes consumers feel very novel. Any gift box that makes progress and breakthroughs in technology will be liked and favored by consumers.
Highlight of Customization and Personalization: Customization services have become the mainstream, with more than 70% of purchase orders tending towards customization. Consumers’ demand for in-depth customization has increased significantly, including personalized design, exclusive logos, material selection, process customization, and packaging customization. For example, the “customized gift box with the recipient’s surname” has a repurchase rate of over 35% in scenarios such as birthdays and anniversaries, with the recipient’s surname hot-stamped on the box cover. In the wedding field, “storyline packaging” is popular, with hand-painted patterns of the newlyweds’ wedding photos printed on the outside of the gift box and emotionally charged items such as handwritten cards inside. Customization is the key to gift boxes in the future because when giving gift boxes during festivals, personalized gift boxes can meet people’s inner needs, and the recipients will feel valued by the senders.
Combination of Cultural Elements and Modern Design: Traditional cultural IP has become a guiding indicator for customization, and end customers’ demand for customized molds/design images has increased. In the design of traditional festival gift boxes, traditional cultural elements are integrated with modern design styles. For example, in 2025, Dragon Boat Festival gift boxes show a trend of combining tradition with a youthful style. Some gift boxes incorporate intangible cultural heritage craftsmanship and folk culture, combined with a modern and simple design style, reflecting both cultural inheritance and modern aesthetic trends. By combining traditional Chinese culture and popular IP and designing on the gift boxes, it will attract consumers who like this IP to make purchases.
Multifunctional Design: The storage value of gift boxes has been deeply explored, and they have more practical functions. For example, a double-layer drawer gift box launched by a manufacturer in Shenzhen has scented candles and chocolates placed on the upper layer, and a detachable jewelry storage compartment designed on the lower layer. The storage box in the shape of a suitcase, with its large capacity and compartment design, has become a popular choice for the maternal and child group to store milk powder and toys. Multifunctional designs are helpful for consumers to use. For example, gift boxes can be used as storage boxes, shoe boxes, jewelry boxes, etc., enabling the recycling of gift boxes.
Increasing Demand for Specific Types of Gift Boxes:
Black Rectangular Gift Boxes: In 2025, its market size increased by 23% year-on-year, especially in the fields of festival gifts, high-end products, and corporate customization, with a significant increase in demand. Black is classic and elegant, and the rectangular structure takes into account both space utilization and portability. 85% of customized orders use environmentally friendly paper substrates, combined with processes such as gold stamping and UV printing. In the design process, 3D modeling software is used to achieve precise size control, supporting more than 20 types of box shapes such as heaven-and-earth boxes, drawer boxes, and book-shaped boxes. This specially made gift box is more expensive in price. In addition, more caution should be exercised in the selection of materials for specially made gift boxes because the gifts loaded by customers are definitely unique, so special production is required.
Transparent Material Gift Boxes: The sales volume of gift boxes made of transparent acrylic and PVC materials has an average annual growth of 23%. The transparent visual effect of these gift boxes makes the items inside part of the packaging. For example, an acrylic flip-top gift box can display items such as wedding candies and customized lipsticks in layers, and its usage rate in weddings and corporate events has increased by 40%. This kind of transparent material gift box looks very high-end, and the gifts inside can be clearly seen, allowing people to know what the product is at the first sight. In addition, due to its transparent texture, the gift box made of plastic material is more expensive than the general paper gift box.
