Tips for Buying Chinese Paper Lanterns for Party Decorations
When paper lanterns are mentioned, it is more common for the first image in a person’s mind to be that of an Asian location or setting, as indeed such lanterns have had a longer and firmer history in that part of the world than in others. However, you do not have to be Asian or have an Asian-themed home to benefit from using Chinese paper lanterns for your décor. Using paper lanterns for parties is becoming fairly commonplace, and some people have even begun to prefer them over string or fairy lights. Indeed, there is nothing to prevent you from stringing up several paper lanterns on a cord to achieve a similar effect. And with the array of lantern styles available, you now have no end of effects you can achieve with them.
The first tip for someone buying Chinese paper lanterns for the first time is that the easiest way to ensure that your paper lanterns match the rest of your decorations is to purchase the most generic shape possible: the lantern sphere. Generic does not necessarily mean “blah” here, as these can still be used to good effect. The spherical shape merely makes them easier to pair with other decorations, especially if you choose a colour in line with your basic theme. Again, if you are going for the safe but still stylish route, you can simply choose a plain-coloured lantern. For example, if your party’s theme is reliant on a lot of greenery, you could go with green paper lanterns to match it.
The second tip regarding paper lanterns for party decorations is that if you want to accent your lanterns by having some designs or text on them, the safest choice would still be to go with round lanterns because they display designs and images to full advantage, due to the wide surface area. With such lanterns, you can choose to go from delicately Asian — say with some 14-inch cherry blossom lanterns featuring a handsome print of cherry blossoms on a shadowed branch , for example — to something that can straddle the line between a seaside-themed party and an Asian-themed one, such as a 14-inch river and palm tree lantern. The plain black print of the latter makes it particularly easy to match with décor in terms of colour, although the elaborate design does mean you shall have to watch the theme. That is another rule of buying paper lanterns for parties, by the way: the more designs or embellishments on it, the more selective a lantern becomes when it comes to themes.
Finally, the last tip on choosing Chinese paper lanterns for your party decorations is that you can use them more or less as you would the special lights you use for other holidays or occasions. This means you can select lanterns of varying colours or shapes if you are feeling bold enough for it. Hence, for example, in decorating for a child’s birthday party, you may replace the standard multicoloured party lights with 15-cm paper lanterns in mixed colours. These come in sets of varied colours and can look very nice for a kid’s party. In the same way, you may also buy something such as a dazzlingly white 24-inch paper star lantern if you want to make clear that the party is for a special event — or even for Christmas. So to sum it up, you can use Chinese paper lanterns for just about any occasion, provided you make your choices wisely.
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