The room goes dark before the jar is ready.
Someone cups both hands around it. A tiny light clicks on inside, and the face that looked like paper and paint a moment ago is suddenly glowing back at everyone.
These Halloween lanterns are simple enough to make from saved jars, but the final lights feel like a reveal. Make pumpkins, ghosts, or whatever face the children think should appear when the lights go out.
Find more invitations for the season in Halloween Activities for Kids. For activities that begin when the room gets dark, visit Glow in the Dark Activities.
The Safer Light Inside
Use an intact battery-operated tea light or a short strand of battery fairy lights. Do not cut open glow sticks. Glow sticks can contain small glass components, and their liquid is not meant to be poured into a child’s craft.
For younger children, use clear plastic jars instead of glass. If you use glass, an adult should handle the jars whenever they are carried or placed on the floor.
What You Need
Clean, dry glass jars or clear plastic jars
Orange or white tissue paper
Washable school glue or decoupage glue
A foam brush or wide paintbrush
Black paper, black craft foam, or black adhesive vinyl
Child-safe scissors
Battery-operated tea lights or battery fairy lights
Ribbon, yarn, or pipe cleaners for the rim, optional
Make the Lantern
Tear the tissue paper into small pieces. Uneven edges will disappear into the finished glow.
Brush a thin layer of glue onto a small part of the outside of the jar.
Press tissue pieces over the glue, overlapping them slightly. Continue around the jar. One or two thin layers will glow better than a thick stack.
Brush one gentle coat of glue over the tissue and let the jar dry completely.
Cut eyes, noses, and mouths from black paper or craft foam. Glue the faces onto the outside.
Place an intact battery light inside. Turn off the room lights and let the faces appear.
Keep glue away from the inside of the jar and from the light’s battery compartment. Leave the jar open while the light is on so children can switch it off easily.
Let Every Face Be Different
Set the black shapes in the middle of the table and wait.
One child may build a careful jack-o-lantern. Another will stack three eyes above a surprised mouth. A scrap that looks useless to everyone else becomes the perfect crooked tooth.
The faces do not need to be planned before the jars are covered. It is easier to see the character once the orange or white jar is sitting on the table.
Pumpkins, Ghosts, and Something New
Pumpkin Lanterns
Use orange tissue and black jack-o-lantern features. Add a green pipe cleaner around the rim if the jar needs a stem.
Ghost Lanterns
Use white tissue and an open black mouth. A strand of cool white fairy lights gives the whole jar a soft, webbed glow.
Monster Lanterns
Choose any tissue color and add mismatched eyes, fangs, stitches, or horns. This is the version that makes every scrap useful.
If the lights-out reveal becomes the favorite part, set out Ghost Eggs for another glowing Halloween surprise.
Ways to Use the Lanterns
Place them on a windowsill for Halloween night.
Carry plastic versions on an indoor flashlight hunt.
Use one as the gentle final light at a Halloween story table.
Line several down the center of a party table.
Let each child take home the face they invented.
These are decorative lanterns. Use battery lights only. Never place a real candle or open flame inside a child-made jar.
Halloween Lantern Questions
Can we make them without tissue paper?
Yes. Paint the outside with a thin coat of washable or acrylic craft paint, leaving a few translucent patches for the light. An adult can also prepare jars with frosted glass spray outdoors before children add the faces.
Why is the lantern not glowing brightly?
The tissue layer may be too thick, or the room may not be dark enough. Try a brighter battery tea light or a short fairy-light strand, and spread the lights inside the jar.
Can children use glass jars?
Older children can decorate glass with close adult supervision. Clear plastic jars are the easier choice for preschoolers and for any lantern children will carry.
Can the lantern be saved for next year?
Yes. Remove the battery light, store the jar upright, and keep it somewhere dry. The little creases and overlaps in the tissue will still glow beautifully next Halloween.
Where Should We Glow Next?
Make Ghost Eggs for another lights-out reveal, turn tonic water into Glowing Halloween Oobleck, or return to Halloween Activities for Kids and choose the next door together.
