Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Today is the start of the five day event, the Henley Royal Regatta. This is a rowing event that occurs on the River Thames . The entire course is a little over 2,000 metres and is a head to head competition. Two crews of rowers compete with one advancing and the loser eliminated. Each team qualifies first to make sure the event is filled with the finest rowers across England. Of you are going to attend the event, this is the perfect time to bring your sky lanterns to launch in support of your favourite rowing team. For those at home following the results of the races, you can launch sky lanterns at home in support of your favourite rowing team.

Personalise your paper lanterns to support your favourite rowing team

In ancient times Chinese lanterns were used to send prayers and well wished up to the sky so the gods could better hear them. Today this tradition can be continued by using sky lanterns to send well wishes to your favourite rowing team. You can write the names of all the rowers in the crew or you can write a saying or prayer by using a sharpie marker. Children will really enjoy this part of the process. You can have them draw pictures of the rowers while you tell them the history of the Henley Royal Regatta and about rowing in general. You may even spark an interest for rowing in your kids. Using the paper lanterns as craft projects or creative projects will get you started in the sky lantern fun.

Plan a Henley Royal Regatta party at home

Having a Henley Royal Regatta party is a great way to celebrate the event at home. You can have your own races in your back yard. If you have a pool you can hold some fun mini rowing races or water races. But even if you do not have a pool, you can pretend with some land races that are rowing themed. Just use your imagination. As with any party or get together sky lanterns are the perfect addition. Use the coloured sky lanterns found at http://www.nightskylanterns.co.uk/sky-lanterns/coloured-traditional-sky-lanterns/prod_9.html for a slash of colour across the night sky. Lanterns are a great way to add a festive spirit to any gathering.

For those attending the sky lantern packages are the perfect addition

If you are lucky enough to personally attend the Henley Royal Regatta, you may want to choose the coloured lantern package of sky lanterns found at http://www.nightskylanterns.co.uk/lantern-packs/coloured-lantern-packages/prod_18.html. These packages give you an assortment of coloured paper lanterns all in one convenient package. These are perfect for taking to festivals and launching in celebration of the winners of the event.

Sky lanterns are a great addition to any event both to celebrate and to send well wishes to your favourite rowers. For those who follow the regatta, wish your favourites good luck in placing and when they win celebrate in grand style by releasing sky lanterns in honour of the win.

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Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Everyone loves family time, especially when you have children. It is a great time to combine fun with an opportunity to learn. Using flying lanterns is the ideal way to incorporate both fun and education. You can discuss how sky lanterns work and also about safety precautions. But one of the most enjoyable aspects of launching Chinese lanterns is watching the beautiful display in the night sky. This gives you an incredible opportunity to discuss space, planets and stars with your children. When you have an event or just want to spend time with the family, launching Chinese flying lanterns is a great way to incorporate learning with a fun adventure.

Safety first when using paper lanterns with children

One of the most important aspects to using paper lanterns around children is to make sure they are supervised and never left alone with them. Although sky lanterns are safe, they do use flame and this should be used alone with children. So, make sure you supervise and assist your children whenever you use them and go over proper safety precautions with them first so they respect the process and now how to safely use them. Make sure they know that paper lanterns should not be used near obstructions nor when the weather is windy or rainy.

Get creative with children and personalise your sky lanterns

Individual sky lanterns such as the ones found at http://www.nightskylanterns.co.uk/sky-lanterns/individual-sky-lanterns/prod_36.html can be purchased in different colours singly. This is a great way to purchase one or two lanterns or to add to a set. They come in pink, yellow, blue, red, orange and traditional white. You can have children personalise these by drawing a picture, writing a story or poem with a sharpie pen before launching them into the night sky. Lanterns can be a great creative art project before sending them off.

Learn about the environment with eco lanterns

One of the products we have that we are especially proud of is our eco lanterns found at http://www.nightskylanterns.co.uk/eco-lanterns/eco-lanterns-no-wire-/prod_33.html. All our lanterns are biodegradable but the eco lanterns contain no wire whatsoever so biodegrade at an even faster rate. Using these lanterns is a particularly good opening to teach children about the environment and what can be done to be eco friendly and “go green”.

Children can learn about planets, stars and space with paper lanterns

The best time to launch sky lanterns is at night when you can see the warm glow in the night sky that can be seen for many kilometres. This is a wondrous site for children and a great opportunity to discuss all you see in the night sky. You can discuss the moon, stars, planets and other space related topics. You never know where the conversation can go and it is a great way to get kids interested in the world around them. Don’t worry if your kids ask you a question you do not know the answer to. That’s a great way for you both to learn and a perfect time to go researching on the Internet to get the answer. Use sky lanterns the next time you want to have some family time and incorporate paper lantern fun with a learning experience.

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Monday, June 28th, 2010

England’s fall to Germany yesterday in the World Cup was a blow to all of us here in the UK. The reality is that the game, much like the 2-2 tie the US had against Slovenia, was changed by the way the field judges handled themselves and because of this, this game will be a sore spot for a long time to come. Germany argues that the one score did not make a difference; however, football fans around England are going to argue right back that it changed the pace of the game and demoralized the English team, causing the 2 goals in only a couple minutes later on in the game. No matter how you slice it, the World Cup is over for England though and sky lanterns are a great way to help ease the World Cup woes.

A Twist on the Traditional Use

One of the most common uses of traditional Chinese lanterns is to send up prayers to the heavens. The prayer can be one to hope the players, especially the original goalie for England, to console themselves and start moving on from their mistakes. On the flip side, there could be a prayer sent up that the lying German goalie will get what he is due and the sooner the better. Either type of prayer can easily be written in sharpie marker on our traditional white lanterns. We stock the markers as well as the lanterns to help make the process of getting a prayer into the sky as easy as possible.

For this with a little more vindictive streak, a bigger lantern is better, taking the simple prayer one step further. Rather than writing a prayer that is mostly a personal thing, taking one of our cylindrical lanterns and drawing a quick effigy of your least favourite referee or player is a great way to express your frustration in a manner that people from miles around will be able to easily see.

Sky Lanterns are Soothing

For many, England’s loss yesterday was something that was frustrating but they do not hold ill will against anyone involved. The nature of the sport always yields bad calls and there are simply too few official eyes on the field to see everything, not to mention the sport is played by men that are not perfect. For them, sending sky lanterns into the night sky is more about doing something relaxing after a couple weeks of extra stress due to the World Cup being played, not to mention the hours spent not working while the games were on. Floating lanterns offer a tranquillity and serene night time activity. As the lanterns float away, so does one’s stress and concerns making the rest of the evening more peaceful. Using our novelty football lanterns, available here: http://www.nightskylanterns.co.uk/novelty-sky-lanterns/football-sky-lanterns/prod_26.html becomes a metaphor for the excitement of World Cup Football being over for another four years and as the sky lantern floats off, hope for a better turn out (and better officiating!) next time can go with it.

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