As the days get shorter and the nights draw in, it’s time to start planning some fun for Halloween season! Would your kids enjoy making their own super spooky Paper Halloween Lanterns? They’re a great way to add a touch of creepy magic to your home or classroom this scary season!
These Halloween paper lanterns are super easy to make with my free printable lanterns templates and there are seven wonderfully spooky designs for kids to choose from and colour in!
These spooky lanterns are really easy for toddlers, preschoolers and young kids to make. But don’t worry if you have teens or adults that want to join in the fun too. I’ve got some fun ideas for them at the bottom of this post as well.
I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to share these Easy Paper Halloween Lanterns with you. At this time of year, as the evenings start to draw in, my kids and I love diving into Halloween crafts!
This year, these super spooky DIY paper lanterns have become our newest obsession! They look absolutely amazing glowing with battery tea lights. They’re a wonderful addition to our Halloween craft collection and I bet you and your kids will love them too!
What’s even more exciting is that the free printable paper halloween lanterns come in not just one or two, but a whopping seven fantastically creepy designs! You’ll find everything from spider webs, witches’ cats, haunted houses, creepy trees with spooky faces, ghosts, zombies, even a jack-o-lantern face and much, much more!
Each printable page is decorated with two fantastically spooky scenes that will make up two sides of your lantern. That means that kids can have lots of fun mixing and matching the lantern templates to make up all four sides of their luminary.
Your little ones will love being able to choose their favourite designs to create their own unique Halloween lantern, that they’ll adore! They’re such a fun way to get into the spirit of Halloween and have a spooktacular time together!
Happy crafting and Happy Halloween!
How To Make Free Printable Paper Halloween Lanterns
These Halloween decorations are super easy to make and look so impressive when they’re lit up in the dark. The silhouettes of the spooky scenes look fantastic and will add a touch of magic to your celebrations this October and Halloween night.
Plus, the good news is, my free printable template makes it a breeze for even the littlest of crafty hands. Kids will love making their own light up decorations!
Put them on display in your front porch for the trick or treaters to see or at your Halloween party to thrill your guests!
Get ready to glow together this spooky season!
Lantern Making Craft Supplies:
- Free Printable Lantern Templates (Get your pdf template at the bottom of this post.)
- Printer Paper
- Marker Pens
- Scissors
- Glue
- Battery Candles
How Do You Make A Halloween Lantern Out Of Paper?
1 – Download the free Halloween Lantern templates and print them onto paper or very thin cardstock. (You don’t want the cardstock too thick or the tealight won’t shine through!)
2 – Let the kids choose the different images they want to use for their lantern. They’ll need to chose two sheets, as each sheet makes two sides of the lantern.
3 – Then have fun colouring in the designs. You can use, pens, paint markers, pencils crayons or anything else you fancy. I’d recommend colouring in the creepy parts of the design with a dark colour like black, grey or purple. Then colour the empty spaces in the middle with a lighter colour or even leave them white!
4 – Next, cut out the paper lantern pieces and carefully fold down the dotted line dividing the two halves and also where the tab joins the side.
5 – Then, fold along the join of the bottom pieces and the top.
6 – Apply glue all along the tab of one sheet and attach it to the second sheet.
7 – Then, glue along the remaining tab and fold the sides up and glue them together.
8 – Now all that’s left to do is fold and tuck the bottom pieces together to make your base. Pop in your tea light and hey presto! Gorgeous Paper Halloween Lanterns the whole family will enjoy!
What type of light source should I use for the lantern?
These Halloween lanterns are only made of paper so are highly flammable. It’s absolutely crucial that you that you DO NOT USE A REAL CANDLE. Only use flameless candles or string lights that won’t burn inside them.
We love this set of battery tea lights that have a lovely flickering effect and add to the spooky atmosphere.
You could also try using different coloured tealights too. I think red, purple, green and orange would work particularly well for Halloween.
And if you’re looking for something super special, try these colour-changing tealights. They look fabulous!
How Can I Hang My Lanterns Up?
If you want to hang your lanterns up, I think the easiest way would be to hole punch the top of the lantern on all four sides. Then you can thread a little bit of halloween ribbon through them to make a hanging loop. They’d give a super spooky feel to Halloween parties if you pop in an LED candle and hang one either side of your front door!
Halloween Luminaries Variation For Kids
We’ve used white paper for own lanterns but why not experiment with printing the templates onto different coloured paper? It’s not something I’ve tried, so do let me know how you get on if you give it a go.
Remember you can also have fun adding extra embellishments to your lanterns like bio glitter or sequins.
DIY Halloween Lanterns Variation For Teens and Adults
Here’s an idea if teens or adults are making lanterns and you want a bit more of a challenge.
You could cut out the lantern design’s empty spaces with a craft knife on a cutting mat. Then you can back them with purple, green or orange tissue paper or cellophane to create a stained glass effect!
It would obviously be a lot more work than just colouring in the lanterns, but I’m sure the results would be stunning when you put a battery led light inside! Let me know how it goes if you give it a try.
More DIY Lantern Ideas
If you’re looking for more Halloween lantern ideas, try our fun Mummy Luminaries made from mason jars, or our spooky Ghost Lanterns.
If you want some homemade lanterns for Autumn, try our gorgeous Tin Cans Luminaries or these Colour Mix Lanterns made from glass jars. Our absolute favourite are these Leaf Lanterns, they’re so pretty and you’d never guess they were made from recycled milk jugs!
More DIY Halloween Decorations
Halloween is such a fun and exciting time for kids and they’ll love making the perfect decorations to make the house look spooky. We’ve got loads of Halloween crafts for you to try. We love our Jumbo Floating Ghosts, Frankenstein Wind Catchers, and these Super Speedy Spiders!
I hope that you have as much fun making these beautiful paper lanterns as we have. It’s such a fun and easy Halloween craft for kids. Don’t forget my free printable templates pdf files, available in the link below!
All you have to do is fill out the short form with your email address to sign up to our newsletter and I’ll send them straight to your inbox. Have fun crafting a spooky light-up Halloween!
More Great Ideas for Kids Halloween Crafts:
