Easter is early this year, and rapidly sneaking up on us!  Last week, the girls and I got busy making some fun Easter decor, perfect for decorating your brunch table.  These DIY lanterns for Easter are so simple, even Lil’ M (age 2) made one.  And they are both so excited to light them up at night!

Kid-Made Mosaic Easter Lanterns

Who says lanterns are only for Halloween? Growing up in the Texas hill country, the tradition of Easter Fires has become a popular annual festivity, particularly around the German town of Fredericksburg.  Whether dating back to pre-Christianity Spring equinox rituals or Comanche Indian signal fires, the children’s fable of the Easter bunny lighting the fires to cook and color his eggs is a fun and unique tradition to tell. We created our own little Easter ‘fires’ with these simple, kid-made DIY lanterns for Easter.

DIY Lanterns Supplies

To create these lanterns, you only need a few basic craft supplies. With balloons and a tissue paper pack from the Dollar Store, I created these for less than $5.

Supplies

Assorted, pastel colored tissue paper cut in 1-2″ squares
Foam brushes
Small bowls or cups
Mod podge
9″ balloons
Battery-powered tea lights

Cost: Less than $5
Prep Time: Less than 10 minutes
Clean-Up Time: Less than 15 minutes

Making Mosaic Easter Lanterns

To make these DIY lanterns, first blow up your balloons to varying sizes.  This will create different sized ‘eggs’ for your table decor. Next, cut up your tissue paper sheets into 1-2″ squares and separate them by color.  The girls really liked the printed tissue paper that came in our package.  It was a festive, Easter quilt-like pattern with all different designs in pastel colors.

Then, give each child a balloon, a small cup of Mod Podge and a foam brush.  As we went along, I found it was also easier to use an extra small bowl or cup to set the balloon on so it didn’t roll around as we worked.

Paint Mod Podge on the balloon in a small section at a time and add tissue squares to cover it, working until you cover the entire balloon.

Once it is completely dry, add a coat of Mod Podge over the the tissue squares, smoothing them down.  Allow it to dry (30-60 minutes), and add a second coat.

Once the lantern is completely dry (I let our sit overnight), pop the balloon and remove it from the lantern through the small opening on top.  As it deflates, your lantern may collapse a bit, but you can reinflate it by blowing into it as you would a balloon.

Cut a small hole in the bottom of your lantern to set it over the battery-powered tea light.

Festive, colorful, kid-made holiday table decor… commemorating a fun and unique Easter tradition!

How do you like to decorate your Easter table? What fun Easter traditions do you celebrate?  If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out Cascarones – My Favorite Easter Tradition and all my Easter posts here.  You can find all of these on my Easter posts on Pinterest, as well.