Winter Lantern Festival

Winter Lantern Festival

Jax, Danielle, and Pahl at the dragon archway. Jax asked a nice family to take this photo.

The second time we dressed up in January 2025 was to attend the Winter Lantern Festival held at Lyman Orchards. The Winter Lantern Festival was a celebration for the Chinese Lunar New Year. Not only were there beautifully designed intricate but also large sculptural lanterns and walkways to pass through, but there was also entertainment from an acrobat troupe as well as live music. I knew it was something I wanted to attend and opened up to a meeting with my fashion community. A few people bowed out last minute...I mean 18 degrees Fahrenheit with a windchill is just not comfortable, even with thermals, thick wool and polyester fabrics, and strategically placed Hot Hands in your shoes. Jax was the only brave soul outside of Pahl and I. They had an adorable sweet style outfit on with a matching gingerbread house back pack. I wish I remembered more of their outfit, but it was so cold and I only have this one picture of all of us and well...it looks good for scale purposes, but the details are lost.  

Pahl near the entrance with hot cocoa

We learned our lesson about surviving in the cold outside at the Mystic Aquarium Home for the Holidays event in December, so we made sure we got ourselves hot beverages right away. At Lyman Orchards, you could get shots of alcohol added, but we had ours plain. It was a really excellent hot chocolate that cooled down way too fast. We decided to walk over to the entertainment tent before doing the official walkabout while we were waiting for Jax to arrive. 

Lady with hair lights

You had to follow a lit up path with different robots and when you got to this sculpture of the woman with wavy hair, you hung a right. This brought you up to the back side of the 1741 Pub & Grill, which we had attended a Bridgerton themed Brunch at the year before. However, we were still outside the entire time. They did have some gas fire places to stand around, upon which we huddled around near the performance stage. The acrobats were really impressive. First a woman dressed in a panda onesie came out and did various balancing on a see-saw barrel while stacking bowls on her head. Then the clowns came out and did various stacking and spinning of plates. Each performer took turns a few times, but the entire act must have been a good 15-20 minutes. I loved it and was so impressed that they were even performing at all in the cold with the wind. They noticed my admiration and insisted that I take this cute bunny balloon as a souvenir.

The bunny has fallen asleep while eating his tray of food and is drooling a bit in a star shaped wand. Weird at the time, but it really hits the week after Daylight Savings Time.

They gave balloon swords to the children, but they insisted that I should take the tired bunny star wand. They didn't offer one to Jax or Pahl. I still have it and it's March. It's still fine and has all its air. It must be a magic wand. 

Frost Fairy; Jax took this photo

After the performances, we decided to go on the lantern walk together. This was pretty much a field with the most intricate and largest fantastical sculptures. There was a foam square walkway all around the perimeter. I briefly attempted to go off trail to try to stand closer to this frost fairy whom I loved so much, but there was a ton of ice and mud and holes in an uneven field, and I almost tripped and landed on my face somewhere near some electrical cords. 

Mystical Antelope with Eye in Shoulder; Jax took this picture

Arctic Kitsune (although I only count 8 tails, not 9). Photo by Jax

Star Eye; My favorite lantern

Our Outfits

Hey! We matched each other this time!

Pahl was going for a more tailored version of the captain look he had when we went to Mystic Aquarium, (the big difference is that he shaved). This time he wore a deep navy and black waist coat, black jeans, black shoes, and a black tail coat. He is wearing a purple paisley cravat, another one of the birthday gifts I gave him. 

​I am debuting a deep blue velvet dress from Canadian designer Gloomth. Gloomth coins itself as "Victorian Grunge" and "Modern Mourning Attire", and this is the first of three designs that I own from the brand to appear in this blog. This dress in fact, was my Christmas gift from Pahl. You never need to worry about finding me a gift. I'll tell you exactly what I want and expect you to buy it for me. This is the "Dauphine" Blue Velvet Gothic Party Dress and what I love about Gloomth designs is not only the piece itself, but the various ways that she styles each piece. Each dress will have at least 20 different photos and poses with different models and accessories. 

As far as my own accessories I am wearing the blue, silver and pearl Luxmira eye necklacewith dangling blue and silver heart made and designed by Minori (who is a Japanese fashion designer and model). I found the earrings at a thrift store and I had the hat custom made on Etsy for me last year. It looks gray or white sometimes, but it's actually off white with light brown and black streaks. It is fully lined with fleece and is faux fur. I get a lot of compliments on it wherever I go and due to its height, it helps keep in heat very well. I was also wearing thermals and lined boots, but that was more of a survival choice rather than a fashionable one.

Detail closeup of makeup and accessories

It was a novel idea to try to dress up to go to an outdoor winter lantern festival, but if I were to do it again, I'd definitely follow the lead of the acrobat and start with my fleece parakeet animal onesie as my base layer and add leg warmers, a heavy coat, and a hat. It was a really fun event, but I kind of wish it had been like 20 degrees warmer. 38 degrees Fahrenheit would have been amazing. But it was very much winter in Connecticut and that just doesn't happen until late spring.