Paper Bathroom Cups

Small cups for the sink, the vanity and the dentist's chair

Bathroom cups are the small disposable cups that sit in a holder by the sink. They are used for rinsing after brushing teeth, taking a pill with a sip of water, or a quick drink when a glass is not handy. A paper bathroom cup is usually 3 to 5 oz, small enough to fit a wall-mounted dispenser or a countertop holder, and sturdy enough to hold water for a minute without going soft.

At home they are a hygiene habit: no shared glass sitting wet by the sink. In business, they show up in more places than you might expect. Hotel bathrooms, where a printed cup in a paper wrapper tells guests the room has been cleaned. Dental and orthodontic offices, for rinsing during treatment. Spas, salons and gyms, beside the locker room sinks. Hospitals and assisted living homes, for medication and mouth care. Restaurants and offices, in the restrooms. Even airlines and trains use them in onboard washrooms.

Picking a size and style

If your dispenser is the familiar wall-mounted kind, measure the opening and the cup height it takes before ordering. Many dispensers are built for 3 oz cups and will not hold anything larger. For bigger cups used for drinking at a cooler, our page on printed paper water cups for coolers covers that use in more depth.

Hotels and hospitality: the branded touch

A printed bathroom cup is one of the cheapest ways to make a hotel room feel considered. Guests notice a cup with the hotel's crest or logo, set upside down on a tray beside the sink. It signals that the room has been prepared for them.

• Keep the design quiet: a small logo in one color on white or soft cream board.
• Match the color to your towels, amenity bottles or room signage using PMS printing.
• Gold, silver or rose-gold foil on the logo suits boutique hotels and spas.
• Matte finishes look calm and upscale in a bathroom; gloss is easier to wipe if cups are handled a lot.
• If you want guests to know cups are fresh, set them in a lidded holder or turn them rim-down on a small tray.

Spas and salons can use the same cup for cucumber water in the relaxation room. One printed design then covers two places in the building.

Clinics and healthcare

Dental practices, clinics and care homes go through bathroom-size cups quickly. For them, consistency and hygiene matter more than design. Plain white cups or a single-color logo work best. A cup used during dental treatment should be stiff enough not to collapse in the hand of a patient leaning back in a chair, so ask for a heavier board. If staff use the same cups for liquid medicine, look at our small 2 oz paper cups, which can carry printed measurement lines.

In assisted living and memory care, small cups help staff track fluid intake through the day: each cup is a known, small amount, so it is easy to count how many a resident has finished. A printed fill line at a set level makes that count more accurate. For residents with shaky hands, a double-wall cup is easier to hold steady than a thin single-wall one, and it does not crumple if gripped too hard.

Other uses for small bathroom cups

Some people find this page while looking for ideas for individual appetizer cups, and it is a reasonable fit. Small paper cups this size work for party shooters of gazpacho, shrimp cocktail, layered dips or mini desserts. They also hold paint for craft classes, seeds for planting and small parts in a workshop. For food service, though, a cup designed for food will have a shape and lining better suited to it, so caterers usually order printed paper serving cups for appetizers instead.

Storage and dispensing

Keep cups in a closed dispenser or a lidded holder near the sink, so they stay dry and clean. Water splashes on an open stack can stick cups together. Store spare cartons in a dry closet, not under the sink, where pipes can leak or sweat. Hotels typically restock with each room clean, so cups that come in sleeves of a set count make it easy for housekeeping to load a cart.

Ordering bathroom cups

1. Measure your dispenser or holder, then pick a size from 3 to 9 oz.
2. Choose white SBS or virgin pulp board, single or double wall.
3. Decide plain or printed, and send your logo if printing.
4. Pick quantity from 100 cups. Hotels and clinics reordering regularly benefit from volume discounts.
5. Approve the proof. Cups are produced in 4 to 6 business days, with rush options.

Free design help and free samples are available. Shipping is free to the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia.