Greeting Card Lanterns

Like most people you probably have a ton of used greeting cards, especially after the holidays, so what are you going to do with them? Some of them are really nice and you don't want to throw away so here is a little project you and the kids can do to preserve those cards just a little bit longer. These greeting card lanterns are great for children. It's an easy project that young children will find fun and great for a snowy day when you're stuck inside.

All you need to make these greeting card lanterns is:

As many used greeting cards as you want (you only need one for each lantern)

Scissors

Tape

Construction paper (optional...I usually use cardstock or whatever you have around)

The best greeting cards to use for these lanterns, in my opinion, are the ones that have at least a colored back, if not a design too but you can use whatever you have. The only requirement is that you use folded cards, not ones that look like a postcard.

The first thing you need to do to make these lanterns is to cut the greeting card. You will want to cut slits along the folded edge (so the cuts are perpendicular to the folded edge), about half an inch apart, and about half an inch from the opposite edge. This step can be seen in the picture.

Once you make as many slits as necessary to cut the whole card you need to open it up and form a lantern shape by rolling it the opposite way it had been folded. Then just tape the top and bottom edges to hold the greeting card lantern in the right shape. This step can also been seen in the next picture.

To make your greeting card lantern look more like a lantern, use a strip of either construction paper or cardstock to form a handle on the top. This is what the finished project will be and can be seen in the first photo. You will be able to see the writing from the inside of the card when you look in the lantern but the outside image should distract you enough that it will be acceptable.

Although these greeting card lanterns are a bit cheesy to the adult eye, they are a really fun craft for the younger kids and actually look pretty neat when you have nice greeting cards that you don't want to throw away quite yet.