# Packaging Ideas



## mill-valley (Feb 22, 2008)

I am looking for something easy and attractive...don't think I want to invest in shrink wrapping just yet. At this point I'm not selling any soap, just giving as gifts. I want something halfway professional, but see-through, smell-through, preferably something I can get locally. Someone suggested tissue paper...but you can't see through it. Plastic you can't smell through. Maybe the organza bags? (How would you label these?) Also, I do a fair amount of Milky-way type molds so they aren't all bars. Trying to brainstorm and find something I can do without ordering/shipping....I can sew also but most fabrics are non see-through...maybe a netting type thing?

TIA,
Beth


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

the organza bags are beautiful...you could also use pretty writing on gift tags to label the soap and tie it on the one of the strings, or incorporate it into a bow or however you do the bags. I told my hubby when I first started that that was how I wanted to package my soap...and that I wanted the tags to be seed paper so people can put it in their garden and grown flowers....never got that far. I have to say, that once you give these as gifts, they are promptly going to say, sell this soap - it is the best soap I have ever used....so think more long term..gifts too you want to make pretty and you don't care too much about packaging costs...not yet anyways


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Linda I started out with homemade paper cigar bands! That lasted about 6 months  When your adding nearly $1 a bar for wrapping..forget it!

Beth you can always go to the craft section of wallmart, get the ziplocks, they are super cheap there, cheaper than online sources, they also fit a business card inside. If you want smellavision with them just pop a hole punch into the corner of them...they have little ones that I use for my lipbalms and also for samples. Then if you start selling move to something else if you like. Vicki


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## winestonefarm (Oct 6, 2008)

i wrapped raffia around mine like a package with a card underneath.


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

And with sample sized cello bags you can nip the corners and WHALAH! you can smell through the plastic and get air to the soap . Tammy


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## dvm-mommy (Feb 5, 2009)

We use our printer on cardstock and printo out 6 bands per page. It comes out to a few pennies per bar of soap from what we figured. We like to minimal packaging and no plastic. The downside is must store soap carefully or can get "yucky" fast...but we are careful and in selling over 200.00 worth of soap recently at work, etc, it has worked out very well. Our soap does a lot of traveling with us!!

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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Lori, the problem with this is that you can't get retail accounts with products customers can touch...the soap keeps shrinking and soon your cigar bands are loose and falling off...BTDT. Vicki


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## dvm-mommy (Feb 5, 2009)

Oh! Didn't know that about retail accounts! Wonder if that is just a Texas thing. Cause here in Ohio, places like Mustard Seed market(a HUGE organic/natural foods store), etc...have soap out like this all the time for sale. Actually, Mustard seed has logs of it completely "naked" and you cut off what you and pay by the pound. Guess it depends on where you live???

Anyways, it does at least work for non-selling people who just want an attractive wrap of sorts. Coudl always just buy the shrink wrap to put around it (and leave ends open to "smell") if get into selling at retail establishments later....as the wraps are only pennies per label, wouldn't be too much in costs above that!


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

Lori, your soap is just beautiful


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Our health food stores carry naked soaps. They don't even have cigar bands! The display box has the company info and price. They have those zum bars too that just have cigar bands. But Vicki is right about shrinkage. I'm always picking them up to sniff and those bands fall right off sometimes.


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## dvm-mommy (Feb 5, 2009)

OOOOHHHHHHHH!!! So it is not because it is not allowed then, it is more an issue of if they keep falling off then it does not work?? I get it now :blush2 Since my soap has cured for 8 weeks plus, I don't notice as much of them falling off even after a few weeks more....but then again, i never have soap past a 2-3 month time period once cured after 8 weeks.....

Thanks Linda for you compliment!!


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

The thing I found with bands too is dirty hands. Lots of folks handling a bar leaves yuck on them, then no one wants to buy it. Tammy


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

Zip top bags from a source like papermart in the 100 ct or case beat the price on zip tops from Walmart, even after shipping. In bulk they can be less than a penny a piece.

I use 4x6 shrink bags, shrink them with a little opening at one end (for smelling). Then I use cigar bands, 3 per sheet. I have very little problem with dirty bands, even in my retail accounts. My bands don't fall off, even after a year, because I glue stick the fold overs to the shrink wrap. Glue stick glue peels off easily enough that if a band tears and must be replaced, it doesn't damage the shrink wrap.

My preferred package would be boxes, but I'm not that upscale....yet


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Hmmm, never thought about gluing a band outside the shrink wrap. I may give that a try myself.


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## kidsngarden (Oct 28, 2007)

I know you don't want to invest in Shrink wrap, but dans bands from the sage are only $4.00 for 100 and you can get a heat gun at the hardware store for not too much cash. They work great, protect the soap, have open ends, and if the soap shrinks you can re-shrink the wrap. They look very professional as well.


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## winestonefarm (Oct 6, 2008)

Dan's bands are $8 to ship making them actually $12 for 100. they are nice and you can use your hair dryer on them.


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

With shipping to you in MI:

MMS, Dan's Bands 100ct, 1 pkg+ 13.81 shipping is $17.81 making them 17.8 cents each

papermart.com, 4x6 shrink bags 500ct, min order fee $3 + 7.07 shipping is 16.03, making each bag 3 cents each

uline 4x6 shrink bags are ridiculous now, $19 for 500, so scratch them

oregon trail has shrink bags for $4.50 for 100, $6.95 priority shipping, but a min order of $15, I recommend their cranberrt FO and red apple FO (actually smells like crisp green apples in CPGM...

There are several Harbor Freight stores in MI, and that is where I got both of my 2 temp heat guns, on sale for $10 each. The second one even has a built in stand that points it into the air, so I can shrink wrap with out holding the gun. Shrink wrap isn't that expensive. 

Papermart also has great deals on fabric bags of all kinds...


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## mill-valley (Feb 22, 2008)

Wow, Michelle, thanks for looking that up! I guess it's quite a bit cheaper than I expected. Great ideas!!

Lori...I like your idea for giving right this minute (because I have cardstock, computer and printer already ) but I do like the shrink-wrapped look.


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## kidsngarden (Oct 28, 2007)

Oh yes, with shipping it would be more, but that's why you don't order just shrinks...the sage has a lot more to offer too...


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## winestonefarm (Oct 6, 2008)

anyone know where to get 5" shrinkwrap, tried 6" too big for my soap. 4" too small

thanks


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

I'd just hit it with the heat gun a little longer


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## winestonefarm (Oct 6, 2008)

tried that but it was still too big and bunched up kinda ugly. found 5" at uline but was hoping to find less of them for a better price. looks like i am getting 500  

Vicki, on the commercial accounts, can you leave 1 or both ends open for sniffing and still get those accounts or do they have to be completely sealed? 

thanks


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Did you try the shrinkwrap store? That's where I got a roll of shrink tubing. I cut it on my paper cutter to the length I want.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I simply don't have a store that doesn't want them completely covered. Just like what was stated above if you don't cover the bar and everything gets touched and smudged, nobody will buy the bars and your buyer will complain. Most of my stores carry my soap wrapped with a unwrapped bar to smell and sniff in the front of the contianer....3 with the same soap dishes I use, another with it sitting in the basket with the wrapped soap, each scent has it's own basket but most with that idea. Because of the soaping process effecting your batches, when the next batch is purchased I always send a naked bar, to replace the old one, since it will have slight variations than the previous batch...it also refreshes the smell of the soap being new which increases sales when the displays scent attracts buyers. The plastic shows off my swirls and textured tops better than boxes or any other wrapping so although I hate the plastic bags and ties, it works. Since most of my stores buy scents in 36 bar batches, sending one free bar of soap in orders this big, with them carrying from 5 to 15 different scents is good buisness. I stopped selling to stores that don't give my product a decent place.....a huge feed store, upscale one in conroe is a perfect example, her soap is in a bucket, which is cute, but it's at the bottom by your feet at the counter, how much soap could she possible sell with it there? I wouldn't even let them put my soap there. It's why I like my soap in the hands of the buyer because they work there, when they love your product and the folks who work there have used your soap and love it, you sell more product. Because at $6.95 a bar really think an employee making minimum wage is going to buy a bar of my soap? no. Vicki


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

As a frequent soap customer at festivals I have to agree with access to the naked bar.
I love a display that lets you handle and smell the bar and read the ingredient list but when I want to buy one- I want it fresh and un-mauled. I was wondering with the gloom and doom about the resurgence of the flu this fall if people will be even more wary about unwrapped products.

Lee


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