How to use a free paper lantern template to make some colorful upcycled tea light jars. This cute decoration was made with Chinese New Year in mind but would look great on the mantle all year round.

We actually celebrate Chinese New Year in this house. I may not be Chinese, but I was born and raised in Hong Kong. There are bits of the culture and traditions that will forever be engrained in me, such as celebrating Chinese New Year.

Besides Chinese New Year, there are a few celebrations we mark in the cold dark winter months. Not that I necessarily need one, but I love to have an occasion to craft for.

I made some rainbow thistle decorations for Burn’s Night on the 25th of January (my mother is Scottish). My birthday falls on Valentine’s day. I love to craft and fill my house with heart decorations to celebrate.

Making Upcycled Tea Light Jars For Chinese New Year

During the dark winter months, I love to brighten up my home with illuminated decorations. Last year I made some cute upcycled postage stamp tea light jars out of yogurt jars.

These jars are just the perfect size to use as tea lights, whether using real candles or LED ones.

We’ve eaten a lot more yogurt since then. I have another stack of cute little jars. This time I have upcycled them using a paper lantern template to make cute little Chinese Lantern tea lights for my mantle.

These are just as colorful as the postage stamps, as I have used colorful patterns for my free paper lantern templates. The patterns used are traditional Chinese patterns from a 19th Century book, “Examples of Chinese ornament“.

This is a very simple and affordable upcycled craft. Even the kids can get involved.

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What You Need

• Small glass jars like the ones you get with the posh yogurt. Mine are from Aldi but I think there are other brands of yogurt made in similar glass jars.
• Double-sided sticky tape
• Thin washi tape in a variety of colors
• Remote-controlled tea lights – I use remote-controlled tea lights so that I can switch all the lights on and off with just a push of a button. It beats having to take them out of the jars one by one, every time you want to switch them on or off.
• Inkjet printer and 2 sheets of normal computer paper
• Scissors

The Free Paper Lantern Templates

There are six Chinese paper lantern template designs spread over two pages.

Just click on the title above the design page you want. Higher resolution images will open in a new window on your browser. If you right-click with your mouse on the larger image you will have the menu option to save it to your device.

These mini paper lanterns were designed to go around small yogurt jars. However, if you don’t have small jars, you can print them on heavy paper. They then will stand up on their own.

Chinese Paper Lantern Designs 1

Chinese Paper Lantern Designs 2

How To Make The Chinese Lantern Tea Light Jars

1.. These are so easy to make. The first thing to do is to wash the yogurt jars in hot soapy water. Scrub away the labels.

2. Next, print out the paper lantern templates. Normal printer paper will do. Make sure you select the best quality print option on your printer’s advanced menu settings. This will make sure the colors are nice and bright.

There are three lantern templates per page. Cut each one out using scissors.

3. Next, fold the paper lantern template in half lengthways. Make sure you crease the paper along the fold.

3. There are black lines marked at equal distances along the lantern template. Using a pair of scissors, cut along these lines. Do not go beyond the end of the black lines. Once all the slits have been cut, unfold the Chinese paper.

4. Next, place double-sided sticky back tape around both the top and the bottom of the yogurt jars. Then wrap the Chinese paper pattern around the jar so that it sticks to the tape.

5. Next, pick a colored washi tape to match the pattern of your paper lantern. Then wrap the tape around both the top and bottom of the tea light jar.

I wrapped the washi tape around the jars twice. That was so the pattern below wasn’t visible through the tape.

6. Finally, all that is left to do is to pop the LED candle into the tea light jar.

Chinese New Year Paper Lanterns

These cute mini paper lanterns sit on my mantle and they look really bright and colorful. I love that the LED lights are remote controlled. This makes them so easy to switch on and off.

They will be staying on the mantle way beyond Chinese New Year. They look great with my Chinese hexagon patchwork cushions.

There are so many possibilities to make these paper lanterns in different designs. It wouldn’t be too difficult to cut your own chosen paper to size and to draw the slit lines on them. There is a large collection of vintage Japanese art prints here, that I also think would make great lanterns.

The remote-controlled LED lights are good fun to use with these upcycled map luminary bags too.

If you liked these Chinese paper lanterns, then you might like some of my other illuminated decoration ideas.

• Handmade shell candles
• DIY heart string lights
• Christmas bottle lights

You can find more of my holiday crafts here.