Buying a lantern for camping or replacing an old, outdated one is expensive. Even if you are an RV camper, lanterns are a tremendous asset when the sun goes down. When you make your own, you can tailor it to how you want it and you save an arm and a leg in cash.One variation of the homemade lantern is to use mason jars, pint sized, and pop a candle of choice into the bottom. Wind a wire handle around the top so that it is secure and can be carried without getting burned. When choosing a candle, you can use the battery operated tealights, a regular tealight or votive, or citronella to help keep bugs away. These lanterns are simple enough and inexpensive enough that you can make a lot of them and put the around camp or if you are using the battery operated tealights, you could hang them in the trees around camp or make pathways to the tents.
Another is to take a clean peanut butter jar, mayonnaise jar, or other plastic jar and keep the lid. You will also need another lid from the same type of container. (They look better when the lids match) Make sure all the sticky residue is off of the surface. It should look like glass all the way around. Now use waxed paper to measure the inside of the jar and cut three pieces to fit, all the same. Using a glue stick, glue all three sheets together to make a tube and then secure the ends, overlapping ¼". Now drop the tube of waxed paper into the container. This should make the glass appear frosty. Nice touch, right? With one of the lids, drill two holes right across from each other for the handle. It is okay to drill through the threads. Now apply the handle, heavy wire, an old hanger, rope, your choice. Just make sure it is secure and won't come out of the holes. The other lid needs a hole in the lid itself. Then, line up the battery operated tealight's on/off switch with the hole in the lid and glue it down with a hot glue gun. When you need to replace the tealight or the battery, just pry off the tealight's casing and then re-glue. Using the hot glue again, glue the handle to the "bottom" of the jar. Now, screw the tealight lid into place. Flip the switch on the bottom of the lantern and you have light!
There are other lanterns out there that use olive oil and LED lights. These are just a couple of ideas that take little money and effort with great results. After spending some time with your RV dealer and a week of work, a little RV vacation will be high on the list. Why spend more than you really have to? Use the items you already have at home to heighten your experience. Buying brand new items to enjoy your campout can be overrated.