Image courtesy of Mark Rose Events.

Here at Luna Bazaar our sales team goes the mile to guide people through the process of choosing how many of which paper lanterns would best fit their vision, space and budget.  It’s time to take it to the next level with this go-to installation planning guide for ordering Paper Lanterns (and Pom Poms, too!).
“I’ve had requests from people wanting to cover an entire area to people wanting random bubbly clusters. I’ve always recommended drawing a small diagram or using graph paper to represent every foot or every 5 feet, depending on the style they want to go with, and then drawing circles to represent where the lanterns will be. That can give them a visual, and help them determine the sizes they need.” -Jodie
odie’s suggestion is a really great place to start. This gives you the opportunity to focus your vision and weigh all of your options. If you are working on a budget, clusters of lanterns and/or pom-poms in areas where people are likely to congregate, such as over the bar and dessert table, is a good way to tighten your purse strings without sacrificing the whimsy you’ve been dreaming of. Pom-poms are also great as table decor, puffed out so they are flat on one side & sit nicely on a flat surface. You can also integrate Paper Lanterns as a Centerpiece. This is an affordable, fun way to unify your ceiling scheme with your tablescapes.

Our Sales Manager, Amanda, has developed a formula to produce a general idea of how many Paper Lanterns would fill a given space:

First she determines the square footage of the area ~
Example: 40×40 space = 1600 square feet.
1600 / 12 = 133.33

If you would like to have a lantern hung every 2 feet then divide the resulting number by 2 {or by 3 if you want the lanterns spaced every 3 feet, etc.}~
Example: 133.33 / 2 = rounded up to 67 lanterns
133.33 / 3 = rounded to 44 lanterns

Using this formula you can get a general idea of how many Paper Lanterns {&/or Pom-Poms &/or Hanging Parasols} would cover an area. From here, you can do the math to determine whether this plan works for your budget, then play with spacing, sizes & clusters to adjust your total. Determining the sizes & shapes of the decor you would like to work with depends on the aesthetic you are going for, but also the height of your ceiling. The higher they are hung, the larger you may need to go, depending on the look you are going for.

Image courtesy of Doc Waldrop at Full Circle Lighting & Productions.

Image courtesy of Doc Waldrop at Full Circle Lighting & Productions.

Now that you have a sense of how many Paper Lanterns you need, how should you prepare to hang them? If you are not planning on using a cord & socket set to illuminate the lantern(s), and are hanging them with or without LED Lights, there are a variety of hanging alternatives. Many of our customers use fishing line or string, but you can also use pretty ribbons to mix & match with your color scheme.

Most of our Paper Lanterns come with an metal wire expander that is used to prop them open from the inside, and there is a hole at both the top and bottom of the lantern where the stiff wire runs across the diameter of each hole. You can simply tie your suspension of choice to the wire and voila! Now you can attach them to the ceiling with a small nail, screw eye or ceiling hook. For lighter lanterns (and short-term installations) you may use a thumb tack or even wall tacky (depending on size/weight of lantern).

Another idea is to string a line of wire, fishing line or string across the room and then attach lanterns to that line. Many of the suspension hardware (including various gauges of fishing line & wire) should be available at your local hardware store. Be aware that with heavier lanterns, fishing line has a tendency to stretch, which will lower the lanterns (sometimes to an undesirable height).

The Luna Bazaar Team & I will be updating this post over the next few weeks to bring you the best, most thorough guide for paper lantern planning & installation. We look forward to your comments, suggestions & insights. Happy Planning & Happy Shopping!