Custom Popcorn Tin Printing
When it comes to custom tin can printing, selecting the right tin is crucial for creating a professional and eye-catching design that effectively showcases your brand. At City Pop, we offer a wide variety of popcorn tin sizes suitable for all your printing needs. Whether you're looking to promote your business with personalized designs or give gifts for the holidays, we have the perfect option for you.
Our tins are not only practical and stackable but are also available in vibrant pre-made designs with solid color lids ready to be printed with your logo, design, or message.
Silk Screen Printing
The Fastest Customization
- Ideal for logos and lettering
- Vector art required
- Available on the lids of most of our popcorn tins
- Available on the bodies of most of our popcorn tins
- Smaller printable area
- Uses solid PMS ink colors
- PMS matching
- Metallic inks available
- Only white or metallic inks can be printed on darker tins
- Smooth, slightly glossy finish
- Print is flat to the touch
- Best for medium-large quantity orders
- More economical on larger tins
Artwork for the 2025 Holiday Season is due by September 25th, 2025.
Lead Time
Custom Printed Popcorn Tins: The lead time for most orders is 1-2 weeks from proof approval and finalized order until ship date if the tins are in stock at time of order. Lead times are typically longer during the seasonal months of September-December.
Order early! Supply chain disruptions happen, and production times can vary. If you don't need your tins right away but you have a deadline further out, we encourage you to order early and let us know when you would like to receive your tins, especially for the holiday season. This way you can beat the holiday rush and we'll have time to bring in more tins if necessary. We recommend placing holiday orders for personalized tins in Summer or early Fall.
What about rush printing? We often get this question during the busy holiday season; however, it is not a service we offer. We strive to get all orders printed and shipped as quickly as possible, in the order they were received. If you need your tins more quickly, we suggest using one of our stock tins.
Pricing
Pricing for personalized popcorn tins varies depending on tin size, color, quantity ordered, and printing method (which we will determine after reviewing your artwork). Please provide this information when submitting your artwork via our Request a Quote page for the most accurate quote.
Volume pricing: Generally, the more you order, the better the pricing. Volume price breaks on tins start at 500. Silk screen price breaks: lid imprint charges starting at 240 and body imprint charges starting at 480. Digital printing is priced by size, so no volume discounts on imprint charges, but discounts on tins still apply.
Lithography for Large Orders
For larger jobs we offer lithography as an option for your full-coverage design or custom tin color. To achieve full coverage, the metal must be printed before the tin is manufactured at the factory. Because this is a more involved process, the minimum order is significantly higher than it is for silk screen or digital printing.
For this type of printing, anticipate 12 weeks (non-peak) and 18 weeks (peak season) from artwork approval to have your popcorn tins in hand.
Since pricing depends on artwork and print coverage, in order to provide an accurrate quote, please email your finished artwork to info@citypopdenver.com
Plan Ahead
Silk screened and digitally-printed tins have a relatively quick turnaround, but lithography requires much longer lead times at every step. If you need tins in one or two months, stock cans or smaller customized orders with silk screen or digital printing are better options.
Key Information
| Minimum Order | For most tin sizes the minimum is 5,000 cans. Large, tapered tins are typically 5,000, while seamless cans may require more than 10,000. |
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| Lead Time | Because tins are custom manufactured, lead times are 6–8 weeks during slower months and may extend to 12 weeks or longer during the holiday season. Lead time begins after proof approval and payment. |
| Pricing | Pricing depends on multiple factors and requires a detailed custom quote. Quotes usually take a week or longer. Providing detailed artwork and project information speeds up the process. |
Information We Need to Quote
| Essential Details | Tin size (stock sizes only), quantity, deadline, ship-to location, preliminary artwork, PMS ink colors, and tin contents. |
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| Options Affecting Cost | Stock components vs. custom, handles (added or removed), reflectivity in design, custom inside/bottom/curl colors, protective lacquer for corrosive products, and any accessories such as inserts, dividers, pads, shrink bands, or mailing cartons. |
Digital Printing Art Requirements
| File Formats | We use Adobe Creative Suite and can accept PSD, TIFF, JPG, PNG, AI, EPS, SVG, PDF, RAW, WEBP, WMF, EMF, CDR, and PS. Flattened artwork is acceptable, but editable files are preferred. Vector files are ideal. |
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| Resolution | Vector artwork is preferred. Raster artwork should be at least 300 ppi at actual size. Images from websites are usually too low resolution. |
| Fonts | Fonts must be converted to outlines or provided in a collected fonts folder. |
| Color | Files should be in CMYK color mode. RGB artwork may shift in color when converted. Pantone spot colors may be used for more predictable results. |
| Print Area | No templates required. Place artwork within the maximum print area (see above). |
| Submitting Artwork | Files can be emailed to info@citypopdenver.com |
Silk Screen Art Requirements
| File Formats | Vector art is required. Accepted formats: AI, EPS, SVG, PDF, WMF, EMF. CDR and PS are also acceptable but may cause unexpected results. |
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| Fonts | Fonts must be converted to outlines or provided in a collected fonts folder. |
| Color |
Artwork must use flat PMS spot colors with no gradients, transparencies, or shadows. Standard ink colors are shown below. Custom mixed colors add $70 per color. Most inks are not opaque, except for white and metallic.
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| Trapping | When two or more colors touch, trapping may be required. Traps are thick and can cause muddy results, so avoid trapping if possible. |
| Design Guidelines | No hairlines, thin type, halftones, or large flood fills. Lines should be at least 1 pt. Knocked out type must be thickened. Our specialists will review files to ensure they will print properly. |
| Print Area | No templates required. Place artwork within the maximum print area (see above). |
| Submitting Artwork | Files can be emailed to info@citypopdenver.com |
Art Requirements FAQ
| Microsoft Office Files | DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, and XLSX are not suitable for professional printing. Send them if that’s all you have and we’ll evaluate. |
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| InDesign Files | We can accept InDesign files, but they must be exported to PDF before printing. Please send both the INDD and exported PDF. |
| Resolution | Raster images should be at least 300 ppi at actual size. Low-resolution images will look pixelated when printed. |
| Vector vs Raster | Raster art is pixel-based and may look jagged when enlarged. Vector art is geometry-based and can scale without loss of quality. |
| Color Spaces |
CMYK is used for printing, RGB is for digital screens. Files in RGB may shift when converted to CMYK.
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