If anyone is looking for the spookiest street in town, that’s ours! Not because of its fancy Halloween decorations but because our neighborhood gets extremely dark and deserted at night. Most homes are secluded and behind fences/bushes and there are absolutely no street lights (that’s Hillsborough!). Homes are only on one side of our street ~ on the opposite side there is a preserved wildlife enclosed area, basically like a mini forest.
This year, I want, at the very least, to get the kids from our street to our doorstep. So I’m making some easy paper lanterns to create an illuminated path from the sidewalk to our doorway. Just like this:
It didn’t take me more than 30 minutes from start to finish so you have plenty of time to make some, too!
Start with a white paper bag.
Cut off the handles or remove them (my bags were not that big, and I didn’t want to lose an additional 2½ inches so I removed the handles from the inside)
Get a few Halloween paper napkins and cut off a piece (one for each bag) to use as your motif.
On a protected surface, apply a layer of Mod Podge on the good side of the napkin.
Position the paper bag on a flat surface, good side down. Slide and position the napkin, good side down, into the bag. Press gently on the napkin. It helps if someone can hold the bag down.
Remove and discard the additional layers of the napkin (mine was a two-ply napkin so I removed only one layer of tissue paper).
Just before the Halloween fun starts, place a FLAMELESS LED candle inside the bag and switch it on.
Close the bag with Glue Dots or tape.
I purchased my flameless LED candles from Costco for the holidays. I’m not really a fan of anything artificial but I thought they would be nice for our Thanksgiving and Christmas decoration; they also came in handy for this project! They range from 3 inches to 6 inches high and they’re about $25 for the pack of seven. The down side (for me): they have a vanilla scent. The best part: they come with a remote control!
NOTE: Do not use regular candles, votives or any other flammable object for this project as there is a fire risk.
With the remote control, I can switch them on/off without opening the bag!
This evening, I’m having a little Halloween rehearsal:
The darker it gets, the better they look!
The napkin was orange so the lantern gets that same orange color.
I made seven, enough to create a little path to our doorstep.
Such an easy Halloween craft!
