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in Christmas· Create· Winter

Mini Christmas Tree Lantern

This beautiful DIY Christmas lantern is a great way to add some light to your holiday season! This is the perfect craft to celebrate the winter solstice, Christmas, or just for fun! Make your very own holiday lantern with a few supplies and beautiful pieces of nature. 

A beautiful DIY Christmas lantern!

I don’t know about you, but as soon as Halloween is over I start thinking about Christmas! I love decorating my home with joyful decorations that fill our days leading up to Christmas with cheer and light. One great craft that fits this description is a festive  DIY Christmas lantern! These cute lanterns have little evergreen clippings that resemble adorable mini Christmas trees. They look so beautiful when you add a little flameless light! 

Don’t forget to carefully pack it up at the end of the holiday season, so you can enjoy it year after year!

Ready to a DIY Christmas lantern?! Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

  • Tissue paper: You can try any color, but we used white.
  • Elmers Glue-All– We used this type of crafting glue.
  • Balloons– We used these biodegradable balloons. 
  • Paint brush– We used the foam sponge brushes.
  • A container to place your lanterns in when they are drying.
  • Flameless tea light
  • Water
  • Arborvitae clippings- or another type of evergreen that lays flat 
This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

Looking for more homemade winter decorations?! A Simple and Adorable Holiday Wreath for Kids!

Here’s How We Made Our DIY Christmas Lantern:

Step 1:

Head outside and search for an arborvitae tree! These trees are perfect because the foliage lays flat aren’t prickly. You can try another type of evergreen if you don’t have arborvitae in your area. 

Step 2:

Now set up your lantern making station. We set up our area with our supplies and got right to work. For the glue mixture, I used half a bottle of Elmers Glue All and mixed in equal parts water. This doesn’t need to be exact. I have made quite a few of these lanterns and eyeballed the mixture every time.

Holiday luminary

Step 3:

For the first layer of covering, we just used plain water without glue. Dip the tissue paper right in the water and start a single layer without glue. This will help the balloon peel off the inner layer of tissue paper when you pop it later.

Holiday luminary

Step 4:

Now add another layer of tissue paper, but this time add the glue mixture on top of the first layer of tissue. I suggest four layers of tissue paper at most, but we stopped at three layers to allow for more light to shine through the lanterns. 

After the three layers of tissue paper were applied to the balloon, we added the arborvitae clippings. I added a fresh layer of glue mixture and we then added the clippings one at a time. These are a bit heavy, so we had to press them onto the tissue paper for about 30 seconds to help them stick. Then we added one more layer of the glue mixture over the clippings. They might peel back a little during the drying process, but overall they dried nicely. 

A beautiful DIY Christmas lantern!

Step 5:

Let them dry.

I set my lanterns in a take out container, so they could dry evenly. Once the tops were dried, I took them out of the container to make sure the bottoms of the lanterns were 100% dry before we popped them. Give them about 10-12 hours for them to dry completely.

A holiday luminary

Step 6:

Pop the balloon and your DIY Christmas lantern is all set. This is always a fun process!

I used a sharp knife to pop the balloons. The balloon popped right out and the lantern looked awesome! You can trim the top part of the lantern or keep the rim a little wild. I think it looks pretty either way, but we trimmed ours a bit. 

A beautiful DIY Christmas lantern!

It looked so beautiful when it was lit with the flameless candles! You can take it on a wintery hike or find a special spot in your home and turn on the light every evening. 

A beautiful DIY Christmas lantern!

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A beautiful DIY Christmas lantern!

I hope you give this DIY Christmas lantern a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more winter nature craft ideas?! Check out:

Mini Rosemary Wreath Necklaces

Pine Needle Keepsake Ornament

 

« The Best Outdoor Gifts for Nature Loving Kids!
Homemade Cardboard and Nature Ornaments »

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