LIGHT IT
Lanterns-a-Go-Go
Convert electric Chinatown party lights
to battery power. BY MISTER JALOPY
Swanky picnics, exotic tailgate parties, or cherry blossom
backyard springtime wonderlands all benefit from a
set of Chinatown lanterns — but what if there’s not
an electrical outlet within extension cord reach? What if you
want your pup tent, phone booth, or shopping cart to look like
an opium den? Convert to battery power!

Photography by Mister Jalopy

RadioShack sells a battery for a remote control car and a connector repair kit that are perfect to convert a string of lanterns to be 100% mobile. Rather than soldering the whole mess together, use butt splice connectors that crimp the wires together with a single tool — a combo wire cutter, stripper, and crimper.

Will you install your lanterns as 70s-style lowrider headliner
pom-poms? I hope so. I did.