Friday, September 9, 2016

Celebrating Mid Autumn Festival & 5 ways to DIY lanterns for your kids

We had an early Mid Autumn Celebration at Emma's school earlier this late afternoon.




To liven up the festive spirit, I dressed her up this old dress-turn-tunic top cheongsam and white legging. It's probably the last time she could squeeze into it. Haha.


Over the 2 hour celebration, we enjoyed the songs performance by the children, games, riddles, mooncakes, pomelos, chinese tea, refreshment and lantern walk. It's a fun way to introduce the children to the traditional festival!


Besides gathering with family and friends over mooncakes this festival, why not take this chance to do some lantern crafts with your little ones. It's cheap, fun and stimulating! To bring about some fun craft ideas to you, I pulled out an old post written for a website 2 years old back.

 Here's 5 ways to DIY a lantern for and/or with your kids. Fret not, these ideas are pretty easy to follow

 

1. Paper Lanterns


Paper lanterns are simple yet great way to get the kids started. Unleash their creativity by letting them take charge of the decoration after you have craft out the lantern. You will be surprised by what these little hands can create!

Take a look at Fiskars and see how craft designer, Katrina Simeck, did up her paper lanterns for some inspiration! Stick on a handle over the top of the lantern, attach it to a stick and you are ready to go! Besides pretty stock papers, you can also use markers, coloured construction paper, gift wrappers, ribbons, stickers or even magazines and brochures to design the lantern.

 

2. Glass Bottles Lanterns



Do you have any leftover jam jars or glass bottles? Try turning them into lanterns before you toss them into the bin and be prepared to stand out among the rest. This creative lifestyle blogger of little projects in style has shown us how special glass bottle lanterns can be.

 

3. Recyclables Lanterns


Give your old lantern new life! Remove the lantern bulb stick and attach it to your DIY lantern. By the way, I saw Japan Home selling just the lantern bulbs which will be useful for making this DIY lantern.

Since there is no flame, we can use plastic materials like takeaway containers, plastic water bottles or even mooncake holder. Paste on some eyes, ears and mouth on the recyclables to transform them into cute animal characters like this.

 

4. Ready made Lanterns


After being a parent myself, I understand how impossible craft session can be at times. So I have a cheat sheet to share! Buy a paper lantern and designed it to your favourite characters like Pokémon or Angry Birds using the same concept above! I am sure the kids are still going to be proud of their personalised lantern. 

Though the Pokémon craze is slowly subsiding, I'm sure many still can't resist these cute Pokémon lanterns. They are definitely going to steal the limelight of many!

Credits: @rrykiell

I also love how Karaspartyideas has creatively used the Angry Birds lanterns to bring out the different themes for their party, this lantern can also double up as a home or party decoration.



5. Balloon lanterns


And for those who are up for challenge, try doing up the balloon lantern from scratch! I know it sounds impossible but nothing is stopping you. The steps over at instructables are easy to follow and you just probably need a little more time and patience than those above.


Have fun crafting your own lanterns with your little ones! Feel free to share with us a photo of your lanterns that are handmade with lots of love and joy. 


Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

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