Travel & Shipping

How to Fold, Pack and Ship a Hoi An Lantern Home

Updated June 2026 · By the LongDenViet workshop, Ho Chi Minh City

The traditional Hoi An lantern is collapsible by design. The bamboo ribs are hinged at the top and bottom rings. Press the top ring gently inward — you will feel it give — and the whole lantern compresses down to the size of a dinner plate. The silk gathers cleanly around the frame. Nothing bends that is not meant to bend.

To open it again, stand it upright, hold the bottom ring and let the top ring rise. The ribs spring out and lock into shape. The whole operation takes under a minute. You do not need tools, pins or any special technique. If it was made with dry, seasoned bamboo — the kind that stays rigid and straight — it will do this hundreds of times without losing its shape.

This is the single design feature that makes shipping a Hoi An lantern home practical at all. A classic Chinese paper lantern on a wire hoop cannot do this — it stays roughly its open size whether you want it to or not, which is exactly why so few travellers bring one home in a suitcase. The hinged bamboo frame is a specifically Vietnamese engineering solution to a very practical problem: how do you sell something the size of a beach ball to someone flying home with 23 kg of checked baggage allowance?

Folded weight by size — what you are actually carrying

Weight is almost never the issue with these lanterns. Even a 60 cm piece comes in well under 600 grams folded. The table and chart below show what to expect across the common sizes.

The rim — the outer circumference of the top and bottom rings — is the only part that can be damaged in transit. It is rigid bamboo and does not like being squeezed from the side. The silk and the ribs are flexible and forgiving. Keep that in mind and packing is straightforward.

1. Fold the lantern flat using the top-ring method above. It should sit smooth and even, with no rib poking out.
2. Slip it into a fabric bag or a pillowcase — the original bag from the shop works perfectly. This protects the silk from snagging on clothing zips or rough surfaces.
3. Place it flat against a rigid side of your bag. The back of a suitcase, laid against a stiff panel, is ideal. A laptop sleeve in a backpack also works well for the smaller sizes.
4. Pack soft items — clothes, a rolled-up jumper — on top. Avoid placing it between two hard objects like a shoe and a toiletries bag. The rim will be fine with gentle pressure from soft fabric, but not from a corner.
5. If you are packing more than one, stack them flat. Two 40 cm lanterns folded together are still only a few centimetres thick and weigh under 800 g combined.

Carry-on works fine for any lantern up to about 40–45 cm, assuming it fits within your airline size limit. Larger pieces or sets of several go more comfortably in a checked bag. Weight is rarely an issue — six 30 cm lanterns weigh under 1.7 kg together.

A question that comes up often at the workshop counter: does it matter which airline, or which route? Not for the lantern itself. Every commercial airline treats a folded fabric-and-bamboo object the same way it treats any soft, light item in luggage — there is nothing about the material or shape that triggers special handling. What does vary slightly is cabin baggage dimensions between airlines and fare classes, so it is worth checking your specific carry-on allowance rather than assuming a universal size, particularly on budget carriers within Asia that sometimes run smaller cabin bag limits than long-haul international routes.

If you are travelling with several lanterns and connecting through more than one flight, keep them together in one bag rather than splitting the set across carry-on and checked luggage. It is a small thing, but a set that separates during a tight connection is far more common than a lantern being damaged in transit — and reuniting a set that arrived on different flights is more hassle than it sounds when you land somewhere unfamiliar late at night.

Plenty of customers — interior designers, restaurant owners, wedding planners, people who simply cannot stop once they have seen the full range — want more pieces than fit in any suitcase. Shipping directly from our workshop in Ho Chi Minh City is the practical answer.

How international shipping works

We dispatch via DHL and FedEx. Because every lantern folds flat, we can pack a surprisingly large order into a compact parcel — a box of twenty 30 cm lanterns takes up roughly the same space as three thick art books stacked together, and the whole box still weighs only about 5.5 kg.

That combination — flat pack, low weight — keeps freight costs reasonable even for international delivery. Courier cost is paid separately by the buyer at the prevailing DHL or FedEx rate to your destination. We will quote the shipping cost alongside the product price so you see the full amount before confirming. Payment is by bank transfer (TT) or PayPal. Browse our full range to decide on sizes and colours, then message us on WhatsApp with your order and delivery address for a complete quote.

What ships well versus what to carry

• Ship: orders of five or more, larger sizes (45 cm and above), fragile hand-painted or embroidered pieces you would rather not risk in checked luggage.
• Carry: one or two small to medium pieces (10–40 cm) that fold flat and fit easily against the back of a suitcase or in a backpack.
• Either: sets of 30–35 cm lanterns in matching colours — light enough to carry but perfectly safe to ship if the quantity exceeds what fits comfortably.

Lead time from order confirmation to dispatch is typically three to five working days. Express courier to most destinations in Europe, North America or Australia usually arrives within about a week on top of that.

Customers order from all over the world — the United States, the United Kingdom and continental Europe, Australia, and Singapore and the wider region are the most common destinations we ship to. The courier process is the same wherever the parcel is going: we dispatch via DHL or FedEx, and because every lantern folds flat, the parcel is compact and light for its contents, which keeps the cost more reasonable than a box of rigid, non-folding decor would be.

What changes by destination is the courier rate and the transit time, and those are quoted to your exact address rather than estimated in general terms — DHL and FedEx price by weight, dimensions and destination zone, so a quote for New York will differ from one for Sydney or London. We always confirm that figure on WhatsApp before you pay anything, so the total you see is the total you pay.

Customs handling also varies by country — some destinations clear parcels quickly, others apply local import duty depending on declared value and local thresholds. We declare shipments accurately and can answer questions about the paperwork, but the duty itself, if any applies, is set by your country's customs authority, not by us.

A common question from first-time international buyers is whether a small order is even worth shipping compared with waiting to visit in person. For a single lantern, carrying it home almost always makes more sense — there is no courier cost at all, and the fold-flat design means it barely takes up luggage space. Shipping earns its keep once the order grows past what comfortably fits in a suitcase, or once hand-painted and embroidered pieces are involved that you would rather see boxed properly than jammed between clothes.

Documentation and declared value

Every parcel we send travels with a commercial invoice showing the declared value of the goods, which is what your country's customs authority uses to assess whether duty applies. We declare the actual sale price — not an artificially low figure — because inaccurate declarations are the single most common cause of a parcel getting held at customs for review, which costs far more time than any duty saved. If your order is for a business (a restaurant, hotel or event company importing lanterns for resale or fit-out), let us know when ordering; we can prepare the paperwork accordingly and you may be able to reclaim import VAT depending on your country's rules for commercial imports.

A real silk lantern with aged bamboo ribs will hold its shape and colour for years — but silk does have two clear enemies: water and prolonged strong sun. Neither is difficult to avoid.

• Dust dry only. Use a feather duster or a handheld vacuum on its lowest setting held a few centimetres from the surface. Never wipe with a damp cloth. Water softens and warps the bamboo rings and leaves tide marks on the silk that do not come out.
• No water washing. This applies even to light dirt. If a stain does not brush off dry, leave it. A small mark on a traditional lantern is far less conspicuous than a water ring across the entire face.
• Keep it out of direct sun for long periods. A lantern hung near a south-facing window will fade within months. Indirect light and indoor positions are fine indefinitely.
• Rain and humidity. Our outdoor range uses an iron powder-coated frame and tighter-weave fabric designed for humid conditions. Standard silk lanterns are for indoor use. If you want one for a terrace, ask us for the outdoor version when ordering.
• Storing long-term. Fold it flat, slip it back into its bag, and add a small desiccant sachet (the kind that comes with shoes or electronics). Store upright or flat — not on its side where the rim could take a long-term bend.

That is genuinely all there is to it. Treated bamboo does not attract insects, real silk does not rot in normal indoor conditions, and the folding mechanism does not wear out with gentle use. The lanterns in our workshop that have been opened and closed most often are also the ones that have been handled most carefully.

We are LongDenViet, a lantern workshop based in Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City. We have been making traditional bamboo-and-silk lanterns since 2016 — eight shapes, fourteen silk colours, and sizes from 10 cm to over a metre. The ribs are aged bamboo (three to five years, insect-treated). The fabric is real silk, brocade, or glossy fabric depending on the style. For outdoor use we make an iron powder-coated frame version built to handle weather.

Every order ships folded flat via DHL or FedEx. For retail customers travelling or sending a set as a gift, payment is by PayPal. For wholesale and trade orders, bank transfer (TT). Browse our lanterns on the English page to see the full range, or message us directly on WhatsApp with the size, colour and quantity you need and we will come back with a price and shipping estimate within one business day. And if your trip does take you through Vietnam, you can even make your own lantern in our hands-on class and carry it home in your suitcase.

Most first-time buyers reach out with a photo of a lantern they saw somewhere — Hoi An's old town, a restaurant abroad, a friend's living room — rather than a fixed idea of size and colour. That is a perfectly good place to start. Send us the photo on WhatsApp along with roughly where you plan to hang it, and we can match it to the closest shape and colour in our range, or suggest sizing based on the ceiling height and room in the picture. Most questions get a reply within a few hours during Vietnam business hours, and always within one business day.

Frequently asked questions

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