27 DIY Christmas Lanterns Ideas To Brighten Up Your Home

Let these DIY Christmas lanterns light up your home (and your loved ones’ faces!) for the holidays.

RELATED: 21 Bright DIY Outdoor Lantern Ideas For A Cool Garden Design

DIY Christmas Lanterns: These Lighting Ideas are Lit

1. Frosty Mason Jar Lantern

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When set against the frost and glaze of winter, the light of this frosty mason jar lantern makes the entire decor look like a beautiful luminous crystal! What’s great about this DIY is that it requires only a mason jar, which is probably lying around your house at this very moment!

This Christmas lantern DIY can be hung either inside or outside your home, easily a go-to Christmas decor!

2. DIY Fairy Light Lantern

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If you wish for a flame-free lantern this Christmas, you will love this romantic and whimsical fairy light lantern DIY idea. You don’t need to light your candle just to have a lantern at home, especially if you will have this decor indoor.

3. Colorful Lanterns

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Take the whiteness of snow as a blank canvas you can use to highlight your flair for color! DIY Christmas lanterns are all about thinking outside the box.

These colorful lanterns will definitely add new shades and hues to everyone’s Christmas experience!

4. Snowy Pinecone Lanterns

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Lanterns don’t always have to jack up the electricity bill! Take this snowy pinecone lantern as an example of how DIY Christmas lanterns can be made with just a jar and a candle.

This guide also shows you how to include Christmas elements like snow in your lantern to achieve that Christmas feel.

5. Plastic Bottle Lantern

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Yes, you read it right. DIY Christmas lanterns can be made out of plastic bottles!

If you’re up for DIY Christmas lanterns using recycled materials, this is it. Just combine a few strings of lights and patterns cut out of sheets of paper, and you have an eco-friendly Christmas lantern!

6. Rustic Lantern

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Improvise your Christmas decorations like this rustic lantern. If your son still has his favorite toy car, then a good way to reminisce about his childhood is to display his favorite toy in this lantern.

Ain’t this lantern a good conversation piece?

7. Magical Christmas Lanterns

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Do away with the usual colors of Christmas for once! Save the white, green, and red for next year and give this year’s Christmas celebration a vibe that no one can forget.

These magical DIY Christmas lanterns emulating the night sky will set everyone in a deep thoughtful mood, bringing back their fondest Christmas memories!

8. Red Christmas Lanterns DIY

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Why spend on outdoor Christmas lanterns when you can DIY? Surely, this piece is inspiring enough to get those wooden pallets and power tools and start crafting this festive holiday lantern DIY.

9. Snowman Lantern

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If there’s a theme that never goes out of style all throughout the year, it’s vintage! If you have a distressed lantern, then try making this shabby chic lantern decor instead.

Rustic lanterns are perfect for this specific type of decor.

10. Mini Star Lanterns

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We’re using jars again! They’re just the perfect translucent material that Christmas lanterns require.

This time, recreate the star lantern in a more simple and understated form. By just cutting out a star in some old newspaper, you’ll have a DIY Christmas lantern that exudes serenity and depth.

11. Dried Orange and Cranberry Yule Lanterns

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In this DIY series, we’re not letting even food go to waste! Even fruit you neglected to eat has some use in giving your home the Christmas glow!

This lantern with dried oranges is both in keeping with the season and reminiscent of Thanksgiving! We’ll take all the holiday cheer we can get!

12. String Ball Lantern

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These outdoor lanterns can be hung, or just place them on your doorstep. Using a rose gold lantern will make this classic style stand out.

13. DIY Ice Lantern

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Use the piercing cold of the season to your advantage! This DIY ice lantern appears to be more mysterious and solemn than the other DIY Christmas lanterns.

If you’re going for a more intimate gathering this Christmas, this one’s for you!

14. Christmas Village Lantern

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What’s more uplifting than seeing an entire Christmas village light up? This guide to making a Christmas lantern with a Christmas village silhouette will have you thinking of the many other directions you can take when exploring DIY Christmas lanterns!

Why stop at a Christmas village? Illuminate the nativity scene or Santa’s entire gang!

RELATED: 21 Bright DIY Outdoor Lantern Ideas For A Cool Garden Design

15. DIY Firefly Mason Jar Lights Lantern

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A simple mason jar with the right kind of lights will achieve the same effect! This DIY firefly lantern tutorial will show you how the simplest of Christmas lanterns can be the most breathtaking!

16. Nostalgic Lanterns

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This is probably the easiest lantern to make on the list but certainly the hardest one to forget! This DIY Christmas lantern is all about taking pages of old unused books and documents and cutting out symbols that mean the most to you.

On Christmas day, let your home radiate a lovely memory in every corner!

17. Simple DIY Wooden Lantern

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While most homemakers would opt to buy steel lanterns, you can go against the flow and use reclaimed wood for your lantern. Obviously, you can’t use real candles with this wooden material, though.

18. Christmas Bow Decorative Lanterns

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Aside from reindeer or miniature Christmas trees, you can use other figures like Santa Claus on your lantern decor. And instead of using ordinary candles, try using scented ones.

This will help everyone relax while enjoying each other’s company in your living room.

19. DIY Advent Wreath Lantern Centerpiece

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Looking for Christmas table centerpieces with lanterns? Here’s a great DIY idea for an Advent wreath lantern centerpiece: Use synthetic pine leaves or better yet, fresh ones, to decorate a Christmas lantern for your table centerpiece.

20.  Oversized Wooden Lanterns

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While wreaths are the usual Christmas decors that greet our guests, add these oversized wooden lanterns. If you don’t have topiary on your patio, these rustic lanterns are the perfect substitutes for your DIY Christmas outdoor decor.

Topiary Definition: A gardening style or art that uses the practice of cutting trees or shrubs to shape into ornamental figures or designs.

21. Refurbished Vintage Lantern DIY

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Elegant rose gold set of lanterns as statement pieces? Why not!

These lanterns look elegant and expensive. But, you don’t need to buy one if you still have your old lanterns in various sizes.

Simply use this spray paint from Amazon, and you’ll get these metallic gold-colored lanterns.

22.  DIY Holiday Snowman Lantern

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It’s nice to be fun and funky once in a while with your Christmas decor. This year, save your traditional and elegant Christmas lantern for next year and let’s do this winter craft project – a snowman lantern.

It’s a recycling project that does the environment a teeny-weeny favor.

23. Globe Ice Lantern with LED Lights

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We’re sorry to break it to you down South, but this amazing DIY project needs a freezing temperature to work. You can transform your whole yard into a winter wonderland with this lighting project.

These unique DIY Christmas decors seem like an undertaking, but these globe ice lanterns are well worth your effort.

24. DIY Decor Ideas with a Lantern

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Cheers to clever ideas! Here’s another style of Christmas lantern.

Instead of putting Santa Claus or other characters inside the lantern, why not use a miniature nativity? After all, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

25. Winter Paper Lantern

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You can never go wrong with paper lanterns, too. These are easy crafts with the printable patterns that come with the membership.

Sign up and have these DIY winter paper lanterns done in no time!

26. Decorating with Christmas Bulbs Lanterns

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If you can’t go wrong with paper lanterns, all the more with these Christmas bulbs. Sometimes, you just have to stick to the basics – bulbs!

Try recreating this decor idea with lanterns and put them on your mantle, doorstep, or on a side table.

27. Reindeer Lantern

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This is the easiest Christmas lantern everyone can make. If you’re thinking of involving your kids in decorating your home, this decor is something they can do.

Your little ones can cut the ribbons; older kids can trace the reindeer on a red craft felt fabric.

Watch this video from StylEnrich for more DIY Christmas lantern ideas:

Imagine the glow and brilliance your home will have after you try out these DIY Christmas lanterns! The Christmas season will surely gain a whole new life and meaning in your humble abode!

Light your way towards a meaningful Christmas and a fruitful new year ahead with these DIY Christmas lanterns! These magnificent decors will remind you of the joy and comfort of one’s home this holiday.

I know there’s no place I’d rather be.

Which of these ideas for DIY Christmas lanterns will you be doing for the holiday? Let us know in the comments section below!

UP NEXT: 

• 35 Easy DIY Christmas Ornaments For A Personalized Tree Decor
• Easy DIY Mason Jar Lantern Projects
• 22 Curb Appeal Home Decor Ideas | DIY Outdoor Crafts

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on December 6, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.