Paper candles are a brilliant idea for parties, not just for children, but adults alike. You can get the spooky effect of a candle but without the safety concerns of having lots of lit candles about.
They are very easy to make and use very little materials.
You will simply need some card, glue or double-sided tape and some form of thick paint.
Cut a rectangle out of the card and roll into a tube shape. I used double sided tape to adhere the edges, however glue would work just as well.
Draw around your tube and then add another circle around that slightly larger. Cut around the larger circle and then add little snips going inwards towards the smaller circle. You will also need to cut a cross slit into the centre of the circle, this will be important when adding your flames.
Cutting the little snips all around the circle will allow you to fold in the edges so that you can stick this circle inside of your tube to ‘seal’ one end.
Cut out two flame shapes out of red/orange/yellow card or even using the same colour card as you have been working in and then paint them orange/yellow/red afterwards. Cut a slit in the top of one of the flames down the middle and a slit from the bottom down the middle in the other. You can then slot those together and push the base of the flame through the slit you originally made in the top of your candle.
Once everything is put together you could leave it like this, however I added some Tulip paint over the top of the candle and dribbling down the sides to give the candle a bit more of a realistic look. You could use thick acrylic paint or even a glue gun and once the glue is dry you can then colour over it.
If you really want to achieve a realistic looking candle we would suggest buying some battery powered, plastic tea lights and then sticking those in the top of your tube instead of the extra card and card flames. You would still be able to use tulip or thick paint to cover the top of it to look like wax and you would then have a proper light inside your candle.