Cocktail Umbrella Lantern How-To

This “How-Tuesday” was published on Etsy a couple weeks ago and I thought it was worth re-posting on my blog.  This is such an easy project and perfect for summer BBQ decorations.  With some adult supervision this would be a great project for kids too. 

Supplies You’ll Need:

• A paper lantern
• Cocktail umbrellas
• A light bulb and light cord
• A base for your lantern
• Scissors
• A glue gun

Step One: Prep!

The first thing you want to do is cut the stems off your cocktail umbrellas. You will need about 30-40 umbrellas depending on the size of your umbrellas and lantern. Make sure you pick enough of each color! Open up your lantern and put it in the base so it won’t roll away.

Step Two: Glue!

Take each of your umbrellas and glue them onto the lantern. Be sure to glue them onto the paper of the lantern, not onto the wire structure. Hold each umbrella snugly against the lantern until the glue dries, then grab another.

Fell free to alternate your colors, make a pattern, or cover one whole lantern in a single color. Keep gluing until your lantern is fully covered.

Step Three: Hang!

With your scissors, carefully cut around the hole at the top of the lantern so you have room to thread  your light bulb and cord inside the lantern.

Thread the light bulb and cord through, hang it up, and let the summer nights continue!

There is a video for this project however I’m unable to post it to my blog for some reason, here is the link:  http://vimeo.com/26024795