Today is the Chinese New Year 2012! Celebrate the day with some fun facts, handmade Chinese lanterns, and an egg-roll!
 
According to the Chinese calendar, it is year 4709, the year of the dragon. In Eastern tradition, the dragon is a divine beast and a symbol of good fortune and power.  Call up your niece or nephew and invite them over for a New Years 4709 party!
 
At your New Years bash, play authentic Chinese music and order Chinese food. Do not forget the fortune cookies! It is important to ring in the year of the dragon with lots of love and good luck.
 
This is a good opportunity to teach your niece or nephew about different cultures, or perhaps to engage him in his, her, or your own culture in a different way.

For the arts and crafts part of your celebration, You'll Need:

Paper lunch bags
Decorative punches (checks  your local scrapbooking store)
Scissors
Markers, crayons, etc.
Battery-operated votives (recommended) or regular candles
Sand, glass pebbles, coffee beans, etc. to use as weights

What To Do:

1. Before doing any cutting, decorate the outside of each bag.

2. Cut out designs. For younger children, using a decorative scrapbooking punch is preferable to allowing them to use scissors. (Safety scissors will be difficult to use for this project.)

Remember, the light will shine through any openings, just like jack-o-lanterns. The kids may want to include designs that reflect the new year animal (2011 is the year of the rabbit).

3. Place weights. Even if your lantern will be kept inside, you don't want it to be easily knocked over. Place glass pebbles, coffee beans, dry lentils or other similar materials in the bottom of each lantern to weigh it down.

4. Light the lights! Place a candle inside each lantern. We recommend using battery-operated votives, as they are safer to use with the paper lanterns and will not cause any injury or fire if knocked over. If you decide to use real candles, place the lanterns up high where they won't be bumped or otherwise bothered.

Published: January 23, 2012