Brynn Grover, who helped spear head the Midsummer Mingle, is an elementary school teacher and made all the lanterns for the event (minus the laser-cut looking ones. I'll be showing a tutorial on those soon!), and showed me how to make them too for all of you!
Materials: Paper, scissors, paper cutter is helpful, pencil
Step 1: Fold your paper in half the long way.Step 2: Start cutting into the paper in strips. Do not cut all the way to the end. You can use a paper cutter for this if you desire.Step 3: Unfold your paper and glue the edge.Step 4: Glue the two edges together and voila!Step 5: (optional) Add decoration on the lanterns with additional strips and patterns. We had fun using all the great paper we had to add more color onto them.Step 6: To make it into a functional lantern where you can add an electric tea light, place the lantern onto a paper and trace the bottom circle.Step 7: Cut the circle and glue it onto the base of the lantern.
Easy squeezy!
Seriously, these guys are so great, practical, cheap, and add major impact to a space. I'd make them in globs (that's my word for a lot) so that it's overwhelming to your guest and you don't need much more to decorate a space (but in my case I also used globs of garlands because, the more the merrier in a Mad Hatter themed space.)
photography in studio by Trisha Zemp
bottom two photos: Natalie Norton
See more pics from A Midsummer Mingle here, here, here