Add Animated Lunar New Year Lanterns With CSS

The lanterns at the top of my site are built from ordinary HTML elements and CSS. You can add the same decorative effect to a seasonal page without downloading an image.

Add the CSS

Put the styles in a stylesheet loaded by your page, or inside a style element in the head. The original class names are retained so the HTML below matches.

.deng-box1 {
    position: fixed;
    top: -30px;
    left: 5px;
    z-index: 9999;
    pointer-events: none;
}

.deng {
    position: relative;
    width: 120px;
    height: 90px;
    margin: 50px;
    background: #d8000f;
    background: rgba(216, 0, 15, 0.8);
    border-radius: 50% 50%;
    transform-origin: 50% -100px;
    animation: swing 3s infinite ease-in-out;
    box-shadow: -5px 5px 50px 4px rgba(250, 108, 0, 1);
}

.deng::before {
    position: absolute;
    top: -7px;
    left: 29px;
    height: 12px;
    width: 60px;
    content: " ";
    display: block;
    z-index: 999;
    border-radius: 5px 5px 0 0;
    border: solid 1px #dc8f03;
    background: #ffa500;
    background: linear-gradient(to right, #dc8f03, #ffa500, #dc8f03, #ffa500, #dc8f03);
}

.xian {
    position: absolute;
    top: -20px;
    left: 60px;
    width: 2px;
    height: 20px;
    background: #dc8f03;
}

.deng-box1 {
    pointer-events: none;
}

.deng-a {
    width: 100px;
    height: 90px;
    background: #d8000f;
    background: rgba(216, 0, 15, 0.1);
    margin: 12px 8px 8px 10px;
    border-radius: 50% 50%;
    border: 2px solid #dc8f03;
}

.deng-b {
    width: 45px;
    height: 90px;
    background: #d8000f;
    background: rgba(216, 0, 15, 0.1);
    margin: -2px 8px 8px 26px;
    border-radius: 50% 50%;
    border: 2px solid #dc8f03;
}

.deng-t {
    font-family: "STXingkai",Arial,Lucida Grande,Tahoma,sans-serif;
    font-size: 1.5rem;
    color: #ffa500;
    font-weight: bold;
    line-height: 42px;
    text-align: center;
    width: 25px;
    margin: 0 auto;
}

.shui-a {
    position: relative;
    width: 5px;
    height: 20px;
    margin: -5px 0 0 59px;
    animation: swing 4s infinite ease-in-out;
    transform-origin: 50% -45px;
    background: #ffa500;
    border-radius: 0 0 5px 5px;
}

.shui-c {
    position: absolute;
    top: 18px;
    left: -2px;
    width: 10px;
    height: 35px;
    background: #ffa500;
    border-radius: 0 0 0 5px;
}

.shui-b {
    position: absolute;
    top: 14px;
    left: -2px;
    width: 10px;
    height: 10px;
    background: #dc8f03;
    border-radius: 50%;
}

.deng::after {
    position: absolute;
    bottom: -7px;
    left: 10px;
    height: 12px;
    width: 60px;
    content: " ";
    display: block;
    margin-left: 20px;
    border-radius: 0 0 5px 5px;
    border: solid 1px #dc8f03;
    background: #ffa500;
    background: linear-gradient(to right, #dc8f03, #ffa500, #dc8f03, #ffa500, #dc8f03);
}

.deng-box2 {
    position: fixed;
    top: -30px;
    right: 5px;
    z-index: 9999;
    pointer-events: none;
}

.deng-box2 .deng {
    position: relative;
    width: 120px;
    height: 90px;
    margin: 50px;
    background: #d8000f;
    background: rgba(216, 0, 15, 0.8);
    border-radius: 50% 50%;
    transform-origin: 50% -100px;
    animation: swing 5s infinite ease-in-out;
    box-shadow: -5px 5px 30px 4px rgba(252, 144, 61, 1);
}

.deng-box2 {
    pointer-events: none;
}

@keyframes swing {
    0% {
        transform: rotate(-10deg)
    }

    50% {
        transform: rotate(10deg)
    }

    100% {
        transform: rotate(-10deg)
    }
}

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  .deng, .deng-box2 .deng, .shui-a { animation: none; }
}

Add the HTML

Place this markup inside the body. The original Chinese text says “Happy New Year” across the two lanterns. It is kept as part of the decoration; you can replace it with another short greeting.

<div class="deng-box1" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="deng"> <div class="xian"></div> <div class="deng-a"> <div class="deng-b"><div class="deng-t">新年</div></div> </div> <div class="shui shui-a"><div class="shui-c"></div><div class="shui-b"></div></div> </div> </div>
<div class="deng-box2" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="deng"> <div class="xian"></div> <div class="deng-a"> <div class="deng-b"><div class="deng-t">快乐</div></div> </div> <div class="shui shui-a"><div class="shui-c"></div><div class="shui-b"></div></div> </div> </div>

The lantern wrappers are marked decorative with aria-hidden. If the greeting is meaningful page content, include an ordinary visible text greeting elsewhere. The reduced-motion rule disables swinging for visitors who request less animation.

Reload the page after saving, using a hard refresh if the old stylesheet is cached. Adjust the colors, dimensions, and corner offsets to fit your layout. Fixed decorations can overlap navigation on a small screen, so check the page at phone widths and reduce or hide them when necessary.

Adapted from the original Chinese article, published on January 17, 2025.