On Thanksgiving evening this year I pulled out some of these sky lanterns that I had purchased on Amazon. The kids had fun writing a wish on the lantern with a sharpie before we lit them up in the air. This was the first time I had used a sky lantern…and I wanted to share with you some tips in case you would like to send a wish up on New Years….By the way….it was really really cool….everyone will love it!

* Be sure to unwrap the lanterns gently. The fire retardant paper is delicate. Once you have unwrapped it lay it on a flat surface to write down wishes.

* There is a small square piece of wax that comes with the lantern. The whole piece of wax will ignite. You need to secure the wax to the bottom of the sky lantern by placing the wire on the bottom of the lantern through the hole in the center of the wax and secure it as best as you can.

* You need two people to set it up and light. One person should be in charge of lighting the wax while the other person holds the paper upright. The heat from the wax acts like a hot air balloon…but you need to give it about 3-5 minutes to heat up the inside before it will be ready to “take off”. The person in charge of holding the lantern will be able to feel the lantern getting lighter and lighter until eventually it will want to take off.

* Take into consideration how cold it is outside….obviously the colder the air is the longer it will take to heat the air inside the lantern.

* Be sure to go far away as possible from house and structures. An open golf course or large back yard is great.

Now all you have to do is decide what to wish for….:) Happy New Years!!

(By the way, these took about 3 days to ship to me….so plan accordingly)

This is where I purchased my sky lanterns (set of 10 is best…a couple where ripped)

(amazon affiliate link)