What are the Best Cricut Bundles for Tools, Materials and Accessories?

• You can add a lot of valuable tools and materials to your purchase by buying the best Cricut bundle for your needs
• Different bundles are geared to different crafts and projects: heat transfer vinyl, drawing and paper craft, or sewing and quilting
• Different retailers offer a range of bundles that differ from what Cricut offers. There can be a lot to sort through, so we’re gathered as much info as possible to make the decision easier for you!

Bundling your Cricut with tools, accessories and materials can be a great way to save money and jumpstart a boatload of creative vinyl and paper design projects. Cricut offers bundles for all of their cutting machines, as do a number of well-known retailers. What’s the best value for you?

One thing to remember about bundles is that they often change depending on stock availability. The bundle you see one month may be different the next. If you see what you want, don’t sleep on it!

Here is our list of best bundle deals for the Maker and Maker 3, Explore Air 2 and Explore 3 and Joy as of June 2021. We will try to keep this list current, but because of seasonal demand and supply disruptions due to Covid-19, we do not guarantee that anything we link to will be or stay in stock at any retailer listed.

What comes standard with the Cricut Maker 3?

Maker 3 Bundles from Cricut

The brand new Maker 3 doesn’t come with much. Unlike its predecessor, the Maker 3 does not come with any mats, and it doesn’t come with the Rotary blade. While the original Maker also comes with pens and 2 mats, the Maker 3 comes with just the machine.

So, does getting the Maker 3 bundle from Cricut include these extra tools and accessories? No. The Everything Materials bundle includes a lot of new Smart Vinyl and Smart Iron on, but no extra mats or machine tools.

Maker 3 Everything Materials Bundle

What comes standard with the Cricut Maker?

Maker Bundles from Cricut

Cricut offers a number of handy bundles for adding tools, materials and accessories at decent discounts. These bundles frequently change though; some are available for a limited time only, and sometimes the contents of a bundle changes depending on inventory level.

Cricut has two long-standing bundles on offer: the Essentials Bundle and the Everything Bundle.  Keep an eye out for changes in these bundles, but as of June 2021, these lists are accurate.

Cricut’s Essentials Bundle for the Maker:

The Maker Everything Bundle:

Third Party Cricut Maker Bundles

Out of the third party retailers we surveyed, Swing Design has an extensive selection of bundles for every Cricut machine. We’ve listed them as completely as we can, and tried to break them down by tools and accessories, materials, and guides, ebooks and downloads.

We’ve also included information from prominent retailers like Joann’s and Amazon. These listings are as accurate as we can manage, but all third party retailers and their suppliers allow for substitutions of any item listed in the bundle.

Deluxe Vinyl and Heat Transfer Bundle from Swing Design 

Swing Design – Deluxe Vinyl Bundle

Swing Design – Maker Vinyl Bundle

The Maker and EasyPress Bundle from Swing Design

Joann Fabrics Maker Bundle

Amazon Cricut Maker Machine Bundles

Trying to keep track of bundles on Amazon is pretty hectic.  Bundles tend to come and go frequently, so we’ve provided a links to some of the most popular Cricut Maker Bundle search results page so you can review what’s on offer at any given time.

Our advice is to be on the lookout for trusted sellers offering quality, named brand goods. Be wary of items not shipped and sold through Amazon or from overseas sellers, especially when buying a package that includes a Cricut Maker.

What comes with the Cricut Explore 3?

Explore 3 Bundles from Cricut

Like the new Maker 3, the Explore 3 doesn’t come with a cutting mat or even a pen. If you are looking for extras, can you get them with the Explore 3 bundle? Cricut offers the Explore 3 Everything Materials collection, which includes hand tools and lots of smart materials for matless cutting, but no cutting mats or additional blades.

Cricut’s Explore 3 Everything Materials Bundle

What comes with the Cricut Explore Air 2?

Explore Air 2 Bundles from Cricut

The Explore Air 2 Essentials Bundle

The Explore Air 2 Everything Bundle

Third Party Bundles for the Explore Air 2

Swing Design – Cricut Explore Air 2 Deluxe Vinyl And HTV Collection

The Explore Air 2 Vinyl And HTV Bundle from Swing Design

Swing Design – Explore Air 2 Vinyl Bundle with 26 sheets of Vinyl 

Explore Air 2 Vinyl Bundle from Swing Design

Swing Design – Explore Air 2 and EasyPress Bundle

What’s Included with the Cricut Joy?

Joy Bundles from Cricut

Cricut Joy Label Making Kit

The Joy Smart Vinyl Bundle 

Cricut Joy Insert Card Collection

Cricut Joy Essentials Bundle 

Cricut Joy Smart Iron-on Bundle 

Third Party Cricut Joy Bundles

Swing Design – Cricut Joy with EasyPress Mini Bundle

What do we recommend?

When we were shopping for our first Cricut machine (the Explore Air 2), we got a great deal on the machine on its own, but we picked up materials and tools a la carte from the Cricut website and from Michael’s and Amazon.

What we realized from our research is that vinyl projects and cardstock projects should have their own dedicated blades for the Fine Point Blade housing because paper dulls a blade much faster than vinyl.

So we added extra fine point blades to the cart. We also wanted the foil tool, but unfortunately there are no bundles that include the foil tool or the Cricut pressure activated foil, so we waited until Cricut had a tools and materials sale (and saved ourselves 40%). We also added a twin pack of standard 12 x 12″ cutting mats.

Then, we shopped around the clearance section on Cricut.com. Cricut usually has an abundance of materials, pens and tools on sale, and we got great deals on cardstock samplers, permanent and removable vinyl samplers and packs of pens.

Having a subscription to Cricut Access helped a lot too, because you save an additional 10% on your order, and it lowers the free shipping threshold from $100 to $50.

So this is what our a la carte bundle looked like and what it cost:

Our DIY Cricut bundle

• Cricut Explore Air 2 – $170
• Standard Grip Machine Mat, 12″ x 12″ (2 count) – $10
• Foil Transfer Kit – $24
• Replacement Fine Point Blades – $11
• Scoring Stylus – $10
• Extra Fine Point Pen Set, 5 count (clearance) – $3.25
• Cardstock Sampler, Basics  24 count (clearance) – $5
• Premium Removable Vinyl Sampler, 6 count (clearance) – $5
• Premium Permanent Vinyl Sampler, 6 count (clearance) – $5.75
• Cricut Access subscription – $10

Add it all up and I got extra mats, blades, tools and pens that aren’t included in any other Cricut bundle, plus a selection of materials that I wanted and that I will definitely use (sorry, chalkboard vinyl) for $75. Plus I got a great deal on a 9 x 9″ EasyPress 2 for $140 during one of Cricut’s sales (plus 10% off thanks to Cricut Access).

I feel like shopping a la carte and building my own bundle got me great value and didn’t load me down with stuff that I didn’t want or couldn’t use.

So if you don’t see a bundle that catches your eye, there is still a lot of chances to get great deals on tools, materials and accessories by shopping the clearance section and waiting for Cricut sales. You can also browse Amazon and snag deals on mats, pens and markers and replacement blades that qualify for Prime 2 day free shipping.

Tell us about your essentials for you Cricut machine and what you can’t live without!