DIY: $3 Halloween Paper Lantern Trio

Trick or Treeeeeat?!? I've been practicing this question all month with my international kindergartners gearing up for our "Pumpkin Week". Except... how about today, neither a trick nor a treat but instead a Halloween Do It Yourself tutorial?

Remember last week when I randomly popped into the Euro store in search of spider webs? I didn't find any spider webs and quickly became disappointed at the lack of Halloween decorations. As in there were none. NO Halloween items to be found in the Euro shop. Where is a Wal-Mart when you need one?

Without any Halloween decorations in store, I realized I was going to have to come up with something on my own. That is around the time I noticed a few lonely paper lanterns hanging at the bottom of a balloon and party supply display. Spotting orange and white, the idea of Halloween Paper Jack-O-Lanterns and a Ghost immediately came into mind. Don't you love when projects just fall into place?

 Materials:
-Paper Lantern
-Scrapbook or Construction Paper
-Scissors
-Glue Stick

1. Carefully assemble the paper lantern according to the directions. 

 2. Cut triangles from the scrapbook paper. I did this part free hand. It doesn't have to be perfect!

3. Glue the eyes and nose onto the paper lantern. 

4. I wanted a traditional mouth on the jack-o-lantern. On the backside of the paper, I drew the mouth. 

5. Glue the mouth onto the paper lantern. I had to press the eyes, nose, and mouth over the wire rings causing a little crease in the pieces. 

How cute is this traditional jack-o-lantern face? For the second orange lantern, I created a different face using the leftover triangles. On the white lantern I assembled pieces that looked like a face of a ghost. 

The bottom of each lantern has an on/off switch for an inside led light. I haven't tried the lights yet but will do so after I round up the 6 AA batteries that I need!

Check out this Halloween Paper Lantern trio. These jack-o-lanterns are $13 in store. I saved $10 with this 30 minute Do It Yourself project! 

I hung the lanterns from a garland I made over the weekend. I'm not sure if I am finished with the garland. I'm debating hanging orange glass Christmas balls from the rod. What else does the garland need? 

During the summer I picked up two rolls of black tulle with glitter from the flea market for 50 cents a piece! I used both rolls to make the garland.

Did you notice the spider webs? I finally found spider webs here in Munich at a home decor store! One package of that stuff goes a long ways...

Our house is looking spooktacular and we are ready for Halloween! Now we just need to place bets on how long the spider webs will stay up after Halloween...surely I will take them down before Christmas. 

Have you worked on any Halloween crafts this year? I'd love to hear your ideas! Check out the DIY Halloween Ribbon Wreath tutorial from last year. 

Also if you are interested, I am taking orders on yarn wreaths for Christmas. You can read all the details here!

Happy Monday,