Paper Tiki Lantern Craft

Kid Torches

• These kid-friendly tiki torches put a twist on traditional flashlight flag. Instead of just giving the kids flashlights for their evening fun, help them roll the flashlights in brown paper. The paper mimics a bamboo rod that holds the torch at one end. Mimic flames with orange, red and yellow tissue paper cut into jagged flame shapes and wrapped around the top of the brown paper torch. Cover the glass on the flashlights with colored tissue or acetate film to complete the effect.

Jar Lantern Twist

• Jar lanterns often make an appearance at summer celebrations. Take your homemade jar lanterns from traditional to tropical chic with corrugated paper. Many party supply stores sell rolls of corrugated paper streamers in many colors and patterns for just a few dollars per roll. The light won't shine though the thick paper, but you can cut or punch designs in the paper that allow the light to shine through. Wrap the paper around empty baby food jars and set a real or flameless tea light inside each jar. You may set these paper lanterns on tables or use wire handles to hang them from trees or fence posts.

Decoupage Bottle Lanterns

• Instead of tossing your old beverage bottles, repurpose them into colorful tiki torches. Decoupage compound allows you to rip up colorful pieces of paper and glue them to the outside of the bottle in an abstract pattern. Tissue and thinner pieces of paper work best for this, but scrapbook paper bits can give these lanterns an elegant touch.

  You can either add a tiki torch wick to these bottle lanterns, along with some torch fluid, or fill them with a small string of battery-powered twinkle lights. Narrow-necked bottles work best for tiki wicks while wide-mouthed bottles and jars work well for twinkle lights.

Paper-Cup Lanterns

• The next time your company has a surplus of cone-shaped paper cups by the water cooler, ask for a couple of sleeves of them. Paint transforms the simple cups into cone-shaped lanterns. Simply snip off the end of the cone and slip each cup over the bulb on a string of white twinkle lights. You may also use colored twinkle lights and cover only the white lights on the string with cups. Leave the colored bulbs uncovered for an eclectic look.