Laternenfest

Another weekend, another festival...

This weekend we celebrated St Martin's Day with our German friends by attending the Laternenfest at a local German preschool. We drank glühwein, ate würste and, as is the custom on St Martin's Day, the kids joined in a procession with their homemade paper lanterns.

Glowing lanterns - with squished handles!

Lola and I made paper lanterns with her little friends during the week in preparation for the festival. Amid all the paper, paint, glitter, pipe cleaners and dot art markers the kids created a beautiful mess that was turned into lanterns with a few dabs of glue here and a strip of tape there.

Can you believe I forgot to take photos while we were making them?

I did however remember to take photos at the festival on Sunday evening. However, wriggly kids and glowing lanterns at night time don't always make for the best photos so I didn't quite get the shots I would have hoped for but at least you can see how our lanterns turned out.

Ava with our lanterns - waiting for the procession to start

Being silly for the camera

Marching and eating rice crackers

A little break in the procession for some music 

My lantern from the top

Lola decided my little lantern was a better fit for her

Here's a look at our lanterns during the day. Traditionally the lanterns would be carried hanging from a stick, much like a fishing rod. We figured it would be a little easier for the kids to just carry theirs with handles. This also saved us from buying/making sticks that would sit in a cupboard until next year!

Sky, Lola and Eden's lanterns decorated with dot art markers and washi masking tape

Lola shows off our lanterns

Our lanterns 

The little lantern at the front in the photo above was a little handheld one I made using a pattern for a faceted vase by paper artist Chloé Fleury. The DIY for this vase was featured on one of my favourite blogs, ohhappyday.com. You can find the pattern and instructions here. I added a base (which isn't included in the pattern) to hold the candle. I decorated the edges with a nice bright neon washi masking tape to add a little colour. Not quite the traditional lantern for St Martins Day but I liked the idea of making something a little more modern. 

Time to start "pinning" ideas for next year's lanterns!