Crafternoons with Poppy: Juice Carton Lantern

When I was a little girl, I would carry one of those cellophane lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival. You know, the roosters and rabbits with the real candles. This was a time before the noisy battery operated ones came on to the market. According to my mum, my lanterns never lasted more than a couple of minutes because they'd catch fire as soon as we got to our destination. Which somehow always seemed to be Katong Park.

I don't actually remember carrying the lanterns, but I do remember walking around in the dark alot, so I suppose my mum's memory of my lantern carrying days are quite accurate.

With that in mind, I thought that a lantern made of recycled materials would be more appropriate for Poppy. So we made one yesterday, from an old juice carton box. And if the crafty bug is biting you, I've also included the steps (with pictures accompanying almost every step! I'm so efficient today). It's not difficult to make, and your child will really enjoy pasting the cellophane tape.

Juice carton lantern
You'll need:
1 old 1-litre juice box
Cellophane scraps
String
Chopstick
Sticky tape
Decorative items (we used coloured duct tape)

Step 1: Cut top off a clean and dry juice box. Marigold boxes are good cos the insides are silver and aren't silver lanterns just so super cool? I'm sure there are many more juice boxes like that.


Step 2: Cut along the joining corners of the juice box, from top to bottom, stopping at the bottom


Step 3: On one side (the wider side), cut a rectangular hole. You can do the same for the other side, or choose to poke holes like I did. Poke from the inside of the box out because the inside of the box will be the outside of the lantern.


Step 4: Cut cellophane into strips and paste over the rectangular hole. It was Poppy's job to decide on the colour layout. I was merely the sticky tape dispenser (which meant I dispensed sticky tape to her, with the help of the real sticky tape dispenser of course, you know that little thing with the really sharp teeth?)


Step 5: Make holes about 1 inch from top of each of the narrower sides of the juice box and push string through, making knots on the inside to prevent string from slipping out.


Step 6: Attach string to chopstick, decorate lantern if you like, and pop a fake candle in (I got mine from Art Friend, at about $3), and give to child to swing around and potentially destroy. Enjoy!