Lantern Festival Packages — Custom Lantern Displays

Buying Guide

How a Turnkey Lantern Festival Package Is Put Together

A package is not a discount on a list of lanterns. It is a division of labour: the supplier takes on design, fabrication, logistics and installation, and the venue takes on the site. This guide sets out exactly where that line falls, so nothing is left to discover in the last week before opening.

What a Package Actually Includes

Five things, in order, and each one has a deliverable attached:

• Concept and layout. A 3D concept showing the pieces placed on your actual site plan, at the sizes they will be built, with the route drawn through them.
• Fabrication. Frames, covering, finishing and internal lighting, plus a trial assembly of anything too large to inspect in sections.
• Logistics. Crating, shipping, customs documentation and a delivery schedule that starts from your opening date and works backwards.
• Installation. Site crew, lifting, anchoring, wiring to your supply and a night test before handover.
• Handover. As-built drawings, the power plan, the dismantling sequence and a storage checklist for the following season.

A package that stops at fabrication is a supply contract, not a turnkey one. The difference shows up on site, not on paper — which is why the installation and handover items belong in the quotation, not in a later conversation.

Three Scales, Chosen by Route Length

Packages are usually sized by how far a visitor walks, not by how many pieces are ordered. A route needs something to see roughly every thirty to fifty metres, plus a landmark that pulls people in from the gate.

From Brief to Opening Night

The sequence is fixed; the duration is not, because it depends on how quickly drawings are approved and how much the theme has to be invented:

1. Brief and site survey. Route, power, access, ground conditions, opening date.
2. Concept. Pieces placed on your plan, at real scale, with alternates where a decision is needed.
3. Sign-off. The step that slips most often, and the one that pushes everything behind it.
4. Fabrication and trial assembly. With photography at each stage so approval does not require a flight.
5. Packing and shipping. Crate list matched to the installation sequence, not to the fabrication sequence.
6. Installation and night test. The display is checked after dark, with a clear day in hand to fix what the walk turns up.

The procurement documentation behind each stage is set out in our procurement guide, and the planning calendar in the festival planning checklist.

Who Supplies What

Site Readiness: Four Things That Stop an Install

Every one of these is cheap to solve in the planning stage and expensive on the day:

• Access. The route from the drop-off point to the install position, measured against the largest crate — not against a car.
• Ground. Level, drained and free of irrigation lines, cables and roots that cannot be crossed by a machine.
• Power. Available where the pieces stand, not at the far end of the site, with the distribution agreed before the crew arrives.
• Storage. Dry space for the empty crates, because the take-down uses them again.

Package or Individual Pieces?

A package makes sense when there is a fixed opening date and no internal production team — the fewer interfaces you own, the lower the risk. Individual pieces make sense when you already have a route, a rigging contractor and a design team, and only need specific artwork.

A useful middle path: take the package for the landmark and the corridors, and buy atmosphere pieces individually. Those are the parts that repeat, ship easily and can be topped up in later seasons without re-planning the whole site. Existing turnkey programmes are shown in our delivered projects, and single pieces can be picked from festival lantern scenes.

Lantern Festival Package FAQs

Does a package include the theme and the storyline?

Yes. The concept stage covers theme, sequence and the subject of each zone. If you already have a story or a sponsor requirement, that becomes the starting point rather than something we invent.

Can we add pieces in the second season?

That is the normal pattern. Packages are designed so a venue can extend the route later without rebuilding what is already there, and the original drawings are kept for that purpose.

Who is responsible if something is damaged in transit?

Freight terms are agreed before shipping and stated in the contract. What matters practically is that crates are opened and inspected in the presence of the receiving party, with photographs taken at that moment rather than a week later.

Do we need our own electrician on site?

The supply to site is normally the venue's responsibility, and it has to be signed off before installation starts. Our crew connects to that supply; we do not certify your distribution board.

What is handed over at the end?

As-built drawings, the power plan, the dismantling sequence, a storage checklist and a small spares kit for the pieces most likely to need attention during the season.