What to Put in a Lantern

I love decorating with lanterns.  They add character and charm to your home and outside.  If you have a lantern but are not sure what to do with it, here’s some suggestions of what to put in a lantern to make it work for your decor.  Watch the video or read the tips below.

What to Put in a Lantern

Candles

Candles are the clear favourite lantern filler, after all that’s what lanterns are designed for.

You can use wax  pillar candles, flameless battery ones, or tea lights.  After an incident where my candles all melted from the heat of the sun, I now use the Pottery Barn Flameless Outdoor Candles.  They’re good.  They don’t melt!  Use a single candles or mix up different height candles.

Plants

Greenery also looks great in lanterns.  Choose artificial plants or live ones – just don’t forget to water them.

Fairy Lights

Some fairy or string lights look so pretty when displayed in a lantern.

Use wired string lights, or wrap normal string lights around an object.  Don’t forget to hide the battery compartment.

Fillers & Extra Decorations

Add extra decorations to your lantern such as foliage (greenery), figurines, flowers, coastal – shells, sand, starfish

Seasonal Decorations

Decorate with the seasons.  Add Christmas or Easter decorations, autumn leaves, spring flowers and other decorations to theme your lantern display.

The beautiful white lanterns I used in these photos are the Estate lanterns from Haven Inspired which are available from Bunnings Warehouse.

I'm Kylie, and I love to share practical home decorating and styling tips. I'm a qualified interior designer and self taught crafter and DIY'er. I'm addicted to decorating, and can't walk past a homewares shop without going in for a look. I live in a 1930's Queenslander in Brisbane's inner suburbs which I'm turning into a home one project at a time.