Chinese New Year Lantern

Celebrate the Chinese New Year with a gorgeous, no-glue red lantern project this year. During the Lunar New Year, many children get monetary gifts inside elaborately decorated red envelopes, wishing them a happy and fruitful year. You can find these envelopes at any Asian store during the winter season, and a small pack comes with enough to make at least two lanterns. They are easy to make and look gorgeous enough to hang up any time of year!

What You Need:

• 12 red envelopes (we used 4.5" x 2.75") or small index cards
• Stapler
• String
• Needle
• Scissors  

What You Do:

• Have your child take an envelope and fold the opening flap closed to create a perfect rectangle.
• Fold the envelope in half lengthwise, and crease the ends to mark the middle point. Avoid creasing the middle of the envelope. Now fold each corner down to meet the midpoint.
• Have your child repeat steps 1 and 2 until you have 12 envelopes with the corners folded. They should look like elongated octagons.
• Place two envelopes right side up, on top of each other, with both sides facing out. Staple one of their top corners together. They should now be attached by one top corner.
• Staple the top corner of another envelope to the top corner of the first piece, so you now have three envelopes joined by the corners.
• Have your child staple one more envelope to this piece by the corners and then staple the other corner to the corner of the very first envelope. Now you have four envelopes connected by the corners.
• Repeat steps 4-6 with four new envelopes. Now your child has the top and bottom of the lantern.
• To form a middle section connecting the top and bottom, pick up a new envelope and turn it horizontally. Staple the top corners of this envelope to the bottom corners of two adjacent envelopes on the lantern top.
• Have your child continue adding three more horizontally places envelopes to the lantern top, stapling the corners to each new envelope.
• Add the bottom of the lantern by lining up its corners to the rest of the lantern body, and then stapling them together.
• Poke a hole at the top of the lantern and string a piece of thread through it to make a loop for easy hanging.

You can also arrange the envelopes with the plain red backings facing out, or with index cards, for a solid surface your child can decorate with her own creativity!