Celebrat e the Year of the Ox with Chinese New Year party decorations you make yourself. Homemade decorations for a Chinese New Year party are a fun craft project and will liven up your festivities, whether your theme is the color red for good luck, an ox for 2009, dragons, lanterns or firecrackers.
Red Means Good Luck
Red is the color of good luck and is found throughout Chinese New Year celebrations in vibrant crimson and cherry red, from tablecloths to Chinese lanterns. Give your party a coat of red with red streamers, red scarves or fabric draped over the doorway, red plates and napkins, and bright red Chinese take-out boxes for party favors.
Firecracker Strings
A traditional Chinese New Year decoration is a string of red firecrackers. Pretend firecrackers are easy to make with red construction paper, toilet paper tubes, a glitter pen and yarn.
Wrap red construction paper around four or five toilet paper tubes, tape the sides and tuck in the ends. Using a gold glitter pen, or a glue pen and glitter, make sparkly decorations on the outside of the tubes. Attach a piece of yarn to the inside of each tube, using tape. Gather the yarn ends together so that some are higher than others in the grouping. Tie the yarn ends together.
Firecracker strings can be hung from chandeliers, attached to curtain rods, hung over door knobs or used as a centerpiece and then handed out to guests as party favors.
Kaboose has instructions and photos for making firecracker strings.
Chinese Lanterns
Chinese New Year ends with a lantern festival. People hang and carry glowing lanterns under the light of the full moon, which marks the end of the new year celebration.
To make a simple Chinese paper lantern, fold red construction paper lengthwise and cut fringe about 1-inch wide on the folded edge. Unfold and wrap it around a shorter tube you've made from another sheet of paper. The red, cut paper will bow out to form a lantern shape. Punch two holes in the top and hang with string.
Watch this video of Martha Stewart making various types of paper lanterns with just a few supplies.
Chinese Dragon
The dragon is a traditional symbol of Chinese New Year. The colorful, friendly-faced dragon is the center attraction at parades and festivals.
Use your imagination to make a Chinese dragon out of paper. All it needs to be a Chinese dragon symbol is a long, colorful tail and a dragon face. Topmarks has instructions and photographs for making a beautiful, colorful Chinese dragon. However you make your dragon, remember to give it a long, winding body and a fringy tail.
The Year of the Ox
This year, 2009, is the Year of the Ox. Decorate your Chinese New Year party with oxen. Topmarks shows how to make an ox puppet and craftideas.info has instructions for making an ox wall hanging out of fun foam.
More Chinese New Year articles:
Chinese New Year Party Recipes
