diy outdoor lantern for you next picnic or garden party

Make these gorgeous and easy lanterns for your next beach picnic or garden party.   I used them for a beach picnic here.  Light enough to carry several to the beach and back, windproof, inexpensive and easy to make, and so pretty!  You are going to love this diy!  Picnic into the evening and make the good times last even longer!

Make your own Beach Lanterns in 4 easy steps:
You will need: empty 2 litre soda bottles, scissors, bamboo pole, duct tape, tassels to decorate

• Cut the bottom of the bottle off neatly
• Place bamboo pole inside the neck of the bottle
• Tape bottle to bamboo pole neatly.  You will need a few layers to get a firm finish.  Do the final layer as neatly as possible and trim with scissors.
• Tie two tassels to the base of the bottle neck to finish.

Use your beach lanterns safely:

• Stand lanterns by pushing the poles into the sand and patting down the base securely so they don't fall over.
• Fill the base of the bottle with a cup full of sand, and press candle into the sand so that it stands upright firmly and the flame won't touch the sides.
• The sand will catch melted wax and support the candle, we don't want lanterns melting or catching alight mid party!  
• If you are in a no fire area replace candles with battery tea light candles for a similar and fire safe effect.

Enjoy!!!  I would love to see how yours turned out, take a pic and share them with me on Instagram at #beachlantern

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valentine's party...diy lantern chandelier

I threw a little valentine's party for my family this week, really an excuse to dress up the table and make some fun food.  Also a good excuse to visit my favourite $2 shop and decorate with lots of pink.  The lantern centrepiece was quick and easy to make, none of the lanterns cost more than $2 and I used nine.  
The trick with the lanterns is to vary the length they hang as well as the sizes, see below for a more detailed diy.  All in all it took me about half an hour once I had the rope tied over the table.

Setting the table

I wanted to diffuse the pinkness a little so I used a piece of pink and blue fabric as a simple tablecloth.  I bought this piece a few years ago to make cushions but never got around to it, looks better on the table anyway.  Its only 1.5 wide by 1.5 long and was around $35 per meter, not a huge investment for a very pretty result.

Fun food details

I also bought pink and white striped gelato cups, and matching straws, at my favourite $2 shop.  
Filled little bottles with pink cranberry cordial and finished with the straws.
Made strawberry jelly in the gelato cups and topped them with a red celophane heart chocolate.
Not a lot of time for a whole lot of smiles.

Suggested combination of lanterns:

• 2 large plain pink
• 3 small plain pink
• 3 small pom poms
• 2 small polka dot lanterns
• pink organza ribbon for tassles

Hanging instructions:

• I started at the centre with the two larger lanterns and then filled in around them.
• Use the hanging lengths as a guide and push them closer together to create a full effect.
• Remember to walk around the table to see that it looks good from all sides.
• Hanging lengths shown in cm

Tieing tassles to hang straight down:

If you do a simple knot to tie the ribbons they don't fall prettily.  To make them hang straight down tie them similar to a business tie, see below.

Step 1 - Fold ribbon in half and thread top loop over the lantern wire

Step 2 - Open the loop and thread the ribbon tails through

Step 3 - Pull tails firmly downwards

Step 4 - Center ribbons on lantern

I heart the chocolate details, this little bit of red looks fab with the pink and blue scheme.

Its not to late, stop at the $2 shop, buy some jelly, and you will have a valentines party of your own in no time.   

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