Eid Tea Light Lanterns

When I was growing up in Libya, the one memory that comes to me the strongest is the paper lanterns that come out for Eid celebrations. Of all the preparations for Eid, the day the lanterns were hung up on the streets over the bakery, for me, really meant that Eid had arrived. I remember they were always so many different bright colours and I would look up to them with such joy.

Today we are going to make these little paper lanterns to sit along our back patio railings. We’ll need quite a few for our Eid preparations, but they are so easy to make, I know we can make them in no time.

You’ll need
8 x 4 ¾ inch cardstock
Ruler
Glue
Scissors
Tea light

Fold the cardstock lengthwise.

Take the ruler and bend the open end about ½ an inch upward. This is just to mark where you will be cutting to in the next step. You can also mark it lightly with a pencil, but we wanted to keep this fast and easy.

Cut on the folded part of your paper toward the upward bend of the paper.

Open the cardstock up fully and put some glue along the length of one end.

Place the other end of the cardstock on top of the glued end so that your lantern is now round.

Place your lantern on your tea light.

Be sure to not leave the tea light unattended and don’t let the kids play with it. Playing with fire can be dangerous.
Be sure to check out more of this year's 30 days of Ramadan Crafty Challenge (2011).