How are macaron boxes sized?
November 2026
The count sets the length. The shell sets everything else.
A macaron box gets sized from the inside out, starting with a single shell. A standard macaron is about an inch and a half across, a jumbo one well beyond that, and the box is drawn around whichever one the counter sells. The count decides how long the box runs, and the fitting decides whether the macarons arrive looking the way they did in the case.
The count
The usual counts are eight, twelve and twenty-four, though some shops prefer to sell by ten, fifteen and twenty-five. Either way the count comes first, because it fixes the length of the row and the number of cavities in the tray.
Standing on edge: the row
Stand the macarons on edge in a long, narrow box and every flavor shows its full profile: two shells and the filling between them, color after color down the line. It is the classic format, the one that photographs best the moment the lid comes up, and the natural partner for a windowed lid that lets the colors sell the box before anyone opens it.
Most of the time the fitting is a thermoformed tray: a clear, food-safe sheet molded with a cavity for every macaron, so each one keeps its place and its neighbor keeps its distance. Each cavity leaves a little room at the rim, so the feet, the ruffled edge at the base of every shell, arrive exactly as they left the oven.
Ready to ship
For online orders the tray gets doubled, so the macarons travel locked in place and land the way they left the counter.
A nice touch on top: a sheet of custom greaseproof paper wrapped around them, so the first thing anyone unfolds is the shop's own paper.
Ones and twos
Single and double boxes are where macarons go to events, often one at every place setting. At that size the box is mostly proportion and paper, so the stock and the way the lid sits do nearly all the talking.
Rigid or folding
A folding box ships flat and sets up at the counter in seconds, which matters on a Saturday morning with a line out the door. A rigid box arrives assembled and holds its shape for good, which matters when the box is the gift. Plenty of patisseries run both: folding for the daily counter, rigid for the holidays.
Sized on the real macaron
Every fitting gets drawn around the shop's own macarons, measured from the case, because the shells from two good patisseries are rarely the same size. The first sample gets filled with the real thing before anyone signs off on it.
Bring us a dozen.
Tell us the count and the size of the shell, and we will draw the tray around the real thing, then build a physical sample on the stock you will actually run. The dozen is for measuring. Mostly.
Let's Talk
More questions
It depends on the shell. Standing on edge, twelve macarons fit a long box in one row or two rows of six, held in a thermoformed tray with a cavity for each. The tray is drawn around the actual macaron, so the box follows the shell rather than a standard catalog size.
The usual counts are eight, twelve and twenty-four, and some shops prefer ten, fifteen and twenty-five. Single and double boxes are common for events and favors.
Yes. A windowed lid shows the colors before the box is opened. The window is cut into the lid and closed with a food-safe clear sheet, rigid enough to hold its shape.
