DIY Mom Crafts

DIY FLYING WISH PAPER: WOW YOUR KIDS WITH THIS FUN NEW YEAR’S EVE ACTIVITY

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Looking for a fun New Year’s Eve tradition for kids that doesn’t totally suck and is sure to wow your kids? Prepare to have your mind blown with this DIY for flying wish paper that is sure to get some ooh’s and ahhh’s from everyone involved. Bonus: This how-to involves zero kazoos or noise making of any sort.

Forget those yawn-worthy New Year’s Eve resolutions and make some wishes. Wishes are magical af.

DIY Flying Wish Paper for New Year's Eve a fun tradition for kids by Mommy Cusses Pinterest

I’ve wanted to try flying wish paper for a while now. If you don’t know what flying wishing paper is, they’re pieces of paper with beautifully printed designs that you write a wish on, roll up into a cylinder, light on fire, and then watch them float up into the air as they burn.

Why buy when you can DIY? [insert bad infomercial automated audience hand clapping and cheering]

Here’s what you’ll need to make this shiz:

What you need to make your own DIY flying wish paper

Tea bags
Washable markers
Flathead screwdriver or staple remover
OPTIONAL food color
OPTIONAL small bowl of water
OPTIONAL paint brush

Making flying wish paper yourself is fun because you can get the kids involved from start to finish by having a little decorating party before actually lighting them. That’s where the markers, and food colors come in.

How to make this shiz:

1.Grab your tea bag and, using your flathead screwdriver or staple remover or object you can stick underneath – just don’t use your friggen teeth or fingernail because OUCH! – gently pry the staple towards the top of the tea bag loose and remove it and the attached string. NOTE: I’ve tried this with a coffee filter cut into a square and then loosely rolled into a tube and it does not work. The material is heavier than a tea bag.

2. Unfold the tea bag and empty out the tea leaves. You can throw the leaves away, save them for later to drink or perform weird rituals, I think there’s even a way to do fortune telling with tea leaves? I really don’t care what you do just get them all out of the bag, mmkay?

3. If you want to leave your wish paper barren of color and pizzazz, you can skip to #5. If you want to be too legit to quit (hey, heyyyy!) you can decorate your wish paper by drawing on it with washable markers or coloring it with food coloring like I did. I did this by putting my tea bag on some paper towels and putting just a dab of food color directly onto the bag, then dipping a brush into a bowl of water and smearing the drop of food color around as if I were watercoloring. If you get too much food color on your paper, you can use some paper towel and press down on the bag to lift some of it off.

Here’s how mine turned out!

DIY flying wish paper for a fun New Year's Eve kids tradition or birthday activity.

4. Let your wish paper dry completely.

5. Write your wish (or wishes if you’re stingy) on the paper.

6. It’s time to light some shert on fire! NOTE: PLEASE PRACTICE COMMON SENSE AND FIRE SAFETY. DO NOT BURN DOWN YOUR HOUSE ON THE EVE OF A NEW YEAR, THAT IS VERY BAD LUCK AND SUPERSTITIONERY.

At midnight, noon, or whenever the eff you want – set your tube of flying wish paper vertically on a plate. You can do this inside, just make sure you have at least 7 feet of clearance above the paper. I did this on a plate on my kitchen counter where there was NOT 7 feet of clearance and had a miniature freak out for about 5 seconds as burning ash floated around my ceiling. To be safer, I’d burn these outside.

7. Light any spot of the top of the upright cylinder.

8. Watch the paper burn for about a minute. And burn. And burn some more. Omg, this was all a giant waste of time, nothing is happening. That woman lied to me on her blog, wait – THERE IT GOES!

Don’t forget Step 9. Take a moment to look around at all the adorable little faces after this DIY is complete and burn their smiles into your mom brain. Happy New Year! I hope this is a new tradition that you and your family continue to do every year.

Here’s a video so you know what to expect.