Flames of Desire

No, it’s not the name of my new romance novel. It’s this…Flying Wish Paper by Hux Creative! Write a wish on the special paper, ignite it, and watch your wish float away, granted. Does this kit actually work? Or will the fickle realities of wish-granting manifest themselves? Our brave yet tempestuous heroine, Katie, tempted cruel fate and tested the kit in her dining room. Take it away Katie!


I have to admit, I was skeptical. When I read the instructions for the Flying Wish Paper and it specifically says “best used as an indoor product,” I wasn’t sure how it was going to work and not burn my house down. Armed with my kitchen fire extinguisher, I pulled my son away from his homework to be the official tester, and we got started making wishes.

flying wish paper kit contentsThe kit contains 15 sheets of Flying Wish Paper, 5 paper platforms for your wishes, a special mini pencil, and a set of instructions. It retails for $12 at our local Paper Source. The first part of the kit is easy enough. You think of a special wish and write it on the Flying Wish Paper, which closely resembles tissue paper. If you choose, you can slide the Wish Platform (more on that shortly) under your Wish Paper to help you write more easily. Our Wish Platform had a gorgeous picture of blossoming cherry trees on it, but there are many other images in different kits to choose from.

writing the wishOnce you have written your wish, crumble the Wish Paper into a ball about the size of a marble. Next, carefully unwrap and smooth out the paper so it is flat, albeit crinkled from being smashed into a ball.

wish paper crumbleOnce the paper is flat, roll it into a tube using the darkened circle on the Wish Platform as a guide. The tube needs to be open enough to allow the Wish Paper to easily burn, just like a chimney. Stand your Wish Paper upright on the Wish Platform and you are ready to send it to the heavens!

wish paper chimneyThis is when I became a little nervous. I was going to light paper on fire inside of my home. Rather, I was going to let my son (who was thrilled to have full parental permission to strike a match indoors) LIGHT PAPER ON FIRE INSIDE OUR HOUSE! It took a few tries to stand the Wish Paper on the Wish Platform without it toppling over, which also made me nervous.

My son very carefully lit a match and touched it to the Wish Paper, which instantly started to burn. When it was nearly done burning, the Wish Paper suddenly lifted off the Wish Platform and flew up to the ceiling, still slightly smoldering. Just before it hit the ceiling, the flame extinguished and the ashy Wish Paper floated slowly down into my son’s waiting hands. It actually worked! Color me surprised!


But wish-granting has its ugly realities. One of the problems we instantly encountered was the charred remains of the Wish Paper, which caused quite a mess of black ash over our hands and dining room table. Our mess was easily cleaned up with some damp paper towels and by washing our hands, but if you aren’t careful, the ashes could get everywhere and leave a dirty black trail behind.

wish paper ashI was also fearful the burning Wish Paper would fall over, (or off!) the Wish Platform. Well, it did fall over during one of our tests. It left a small burn mark on the Wish Platform, but thankfully nothing else happened.

wish paper burnFlying Wish Paper is a fun activity that my son and I thoroughly enjoyed doing together. There are numerous fire concerns and it is definitely something parents can’t let their children do on their own, but I highly recommend it. It’s a whimsical and thoughtful activity for kids to really think about what their deepest wishes may be. It would be awesome for magic spells at a Harry Potter program too (and so would this)! Just keep paper towels handy to clean up the ash.

As far as my wish coming true, only time will tell. All I have to say is my Mega Millions ticket is purchased, and I’m ready for the next lottery drawing.

The Reference Reptile

the reference reptileWow I hear that new librarian is a total dragon. Like…literally.

We read The Library Dragon, written by Carmen Agra Deedy, and illustrated by Michael P. White (Peachtree, 1994). Miss Lotta Scales, the new librarian at Sunrise Elementary School, is, in fact, a dragon. A dragon who takes her book-guarding duties very seriously. The students (and the staff) are all but exiled from the library, lest they face the wrath of Miss Scales and her fiery temper. Then one day, little Molly Brickmeyer wanders into the library, looking for her lost glasses. She happens across a book and starts reading aloud. Shocked but entranced, the other students gather in the library to listen. Mean Miss Scales moves in to grab the book…but then stops. Hmmm. The children appear to be enjoying themselves in the library. And the book is about a magic dragon so…Miss Scales finishes the story herself. And as she reads aloud, her formidable scales fall off, revealing Miss Lotty, the new, and very kid-friendly, librarian.

We transformed into dragons with wings, tails, and heads with crackling tissue paper flames that activated with a quick puff of air!

dragon in the libraryYou’ll need:

  • 1 box (mine was 4 ½” X 4 ½” x 9” – a large tissue box works too)
  • 1 dragon head left section template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ paper
  • 1 dragon head middle section template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ paper
  • 1 dragon head right section template, printed on 8.5 x 11″ paper
  • 2 sheets of green poster board
  • Dragon decorating supplies (more in this below)
  • 2-3 rectangles of orange & red tissue paper (approximately 4.5″ x 7.5″ each)
  • Hole punch
  • Green yarn
  • Scissors and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

First, cut the lid and tabs off one side of a box (or, if you’re using a large tissue box, just cut the entire top off). Set the box aside for a moment.

We spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to make the dragon head template fit easily over a box. The final template turned out to be over 22″ long, so I broke it into 3 separate pieces to create a printable template for you.

Print all 3 paper template pieces and cut them out. Place the middle section down first, then lay the left and right sections on top of it, using the curves of the dragon’s nose as guides. Secure the 3 template pieces together with tape.

assembled paper dragon templateNext, lay the paper template on a piece of poster board (we ultimately decided to use light green). Trace the template on the poster board, then cut the entire thing out as one big piece. You’ll notice that there are 2 dotted lines on the paper template. Fold the poster board template downwards along the dotted lines. Then slide the poster board template on top of the box, and hot glue the sides of the template to the sides of the box.

dragon head step 1Next, hot glue the middle section of the template to the top of the box.

dragon head step 2Trace the forehead template onto green poster board, and tape it to the front of the dragon’s head.

dragon head tapedNow decorate! We used markers to create spots, slivers of self-adhesive foam for nostrils, some embossed foil paper for hair, 2 sparkle stems for horns, gold mirror board pieces on the forehead, and a craft tie curly whisker. Our eyes were 2 jumbo pom-poms with self-adhesive foam pupils. You could also just use markers or construction paper to decorate the head.

decorated dragon headTo create flames, cut 2-3 rectangles of tissue paper into flame shapes, then staple them together. Hot glue (or tape) the flames to the underside of the nose. Make sure to attach the flames to the end of the poster board nose, not the end of the box. Otherwise, the flames won’t flutter properly. Here’s a shot of the underside of the box, so you can see where the flames are attached.

attached flamesTry your head on. If it’s a little loose, stuff the back and front of the box with sheets of tissue paper. To breath fire, simply blow upwards and outwards on the tissue paper flames!


Now for the wings and tail! Unfortunately, the templates for these were too big to fit on a printable page – you’ll have to freehand them. We drew half a wing, then traced it onto a folded piece of poster board. Unfolded, our wings were approximately 12″ x 22″. Bendy straws make awesome wing ribs, and so long strips of mirror board. Punch 4 holes in the wings and run yarn through them. Knot the yarn around your shoulders like backpack straps!

finished dragon wings with bendy strawsHere’s our dragon tail, which was roughly 6″ x 19″. We decorated ours with a couple pieces of mirror board (some kids went with drinking straws or just markers).

dragon tailYou’ll notice that the tail in the above photo has a 2.25″ fold at the top. The folded end tucks into the back of your pants (or, if you’re wearing a dress, punch a hole in the tail and run a yarn belt through it).

tail tucked in placeIf you’d like dragon claws (and some kids really liked this part), wrap a 3.5″ x 4″ piece of green paper around your finger, then secure the tube with tape. Wrap one end of the tube with green masking tape and cut the  masking tape into a point. Here’s Marissa modeling a fine set of claws and a truly awesome dragon onesie.

dragon clawsNow go forth dragon, and guard some books!