How to Make a Paper Lantern for Christmas

Paper lanterns can add a warm, festive touch to your Christmas decorations. Any decoration that symbolizes light will be a welcome addition to the season, which is celebrated during the darkest part of the year. You can easily make paper lanterns at home, choosing colors and styles that will complement your holiday décor. Making paper lanterns for Christmas can be a fun project for the whole family, and it is simple enough that even the youngest kids can participate. Here's how to make your own Christmas paper lanterns.

Things You'll Need

• Colored paper Ruler Pencil Scissors Markers Glitter glue Small string of white lights

Instructions

1. Choose brightly colored paper to match your holiday theme. Red, green, blue, gold and silver are all great colors for Christmas, or you can use some leftover wrapping paper that is a solid color or has a small, repeating pattern. Cut the paper in rectangles that are 2 inches by 4 inches. Each rectangle will make one lantern.

2. Decorate one side of each piece of paper. Use glitter glue in various colors or draw Christmas-themed patterns such as stars, Christmas trees or bells. You could use white paper and draw red stripes to look like a candy cane or use rubber stamps to apply a pattern quickly.

3. Fold each piece of paper in half along its length, making a long, thin rectangle. Draw a thin pencil line 1/4 inch away from, but parallel to, the long, open end of the rectangle (opposite the folded edge).

4. Cut strips across the folded edge, towards the penciled line, but do not cut beyond the line. The strips should be about 1/2 inch apart.

5. Unfold the rectangle and make it into a tube, with the short ends together and slightly overlapping. Fasten this edge securely with tape or staples to form the body of your Christmas lantern.

6. Cut strips of paper that are 1/2 inch wide and 3 inches long. Cut one strip for each lantern, and fasten it across one end of a lantern to form a handle.

7. Hang the lanterns on the string of lights, by their handles, so that each small lantern has its own light bulb. Hang the string of lanterns across a doorway, room or length of a hallway to decorate for a Christmas party. You can even use this little string of lanterns to decorate your Christmas tree.