I love these snowy days of winter. When we get more than 3-4 inches we often have school delays. It is such a great feeling to just turn off the alarm and snooze for an extra hour or two. We got a school delay recently and as soon as I got up I was so excited to make these ice lanterns. They are a fun easy activity to do with the kiddos. We put them in the fridge in the morning so they would be all ready to go at night.
We had some leftover balloons from a party this summer and I had found some flameless LED tea candles on sale after Christmas for only $.99.
It is so much easier to fill up your balloons if you have a water balloon filler. Mine came with the set of balloons that I bought. Just hook it up to the faucet and fill the balloons. If you want colored ice lanterns you will want to add a drop of dye before you fill them with water. Then tie them off when you get to the size you want.
I made two smaller balloons and two medium-sized balloons. I then placed the balloons into cups. This helps them to stay round on the top. I placed the cups in the freezer for the day.
Once they have frozen you can pull them out. The balloons had already popped on most of mine. They just slid right off.
Just drop the battery powered tea light in the snow and then put the ice on top of it.
We made these after it snowed, but before it turned really cold. It was so much fun to play outside at night and have the lanterns glowing. My dogs were fascinated by the lanterns. It made a cold snowy night so much fun.
After about two hours I brought in my tea lights, but left the ice outside. I can't wait to use the ice lanterns again.
