by Hank + Hunt

I was organizing my party box the other day, looking over my assortment to plan the decorations for my sis-n-law’s baby shower next month. I noticed a few of my paper lanterns had a few tears in them.  I didn’t want to just throw them away, and since I am still crazy about fringe, I decided to cover them with the stuff. They reminded me of little round pinatas and it got me thinking…what if I filled that little hole on the bottom?  We’d have a refillable pinata, that’s what! Fill. Pull. Party. Repeat.

Materials Needed: small paper lanterns, crepe paper sheets, scissors, double stick tape, twine and freezer paper.

Cut 4-6 strips of crepe paper, 1.5 inches wide.  Cut the fringe on one side, about every .25 inch, don’t go all the way through, leave a small whole strip to keep the fringe attached together.

Insert the wire form to open your lantern.  Put strips of tape around the bottom  of the lantern, like rays of light from the bottom.  Make them pretty long, and cover the whole lantern, top to bottom, for quicker results. I figured this out after I did one and it was much easier.

Unwrap the fringed strips and start wrapping from the bottom around. Be sure to press the strip down firmly to secure it to the lantern (and to ensure the tape is adhered well.)  Work your way around the lantern in a spiral, adding tape or more strips as needed, until you reach the top. Add a piece of tape to the end to finish. Fluff the fringe a bit, and you have one spunky little lantern.

Take a 4- 5 inch square piece of freezer paper and cut a circle.  Tape a piece of twine to the dull side.  Cut two slits on opposite sides of the circle, this will allow the circle to sit flat in the lantern around the wire form.  Insert the circle, twine side down, through the bottom of the lantern.  Flatten with a wooden spoon from the top.  You just want to make sure there are no big open holes where the “plug” doesn’t sit flush so the confetti will stay in.

If you have any extra fringed pieces left, cut them up for confetti and add store bought confetti for sparkle. Fill your lantern with a good sized handful.

Hang. Pull. Party. Repeat. I did a few test runs with these and they really do work great.  No one will feel left out because you can just refill these babies and pull again! What trouble you could get into with these. Hide a prize in a whole cluster and have your guest’s pick which one has the prize? We already know Ms. A is expecting a boy, but wouldn’t this have been fun with an all white lantern and pink or blue confetti to do a gender reveal?  Fun!  Someone has got to do that and send me the pictures with the looks of surprise on their faces!