We Build the LEGO Trotting Lantern, a 2025 Lunar New Year Celebration

LEGO celebrates the Lunar New Year annually with themed sets. The 2021 (Year of the Ox) featured a Spring Festival scene in a traditional garden, while 2024 (Year of the Dragon) offered the LEGO Auspicious Dragon, a bronze statue replica. 2025, the Year of the Snake, brings three new sets: a Lucky Cat, a Good Fortune set featuring Chinese iconography (decorative fan, calligraphy tools, and gold ingots), and the magnificent Trotting Lantern, reviewed here.

LEGO Spring Festival Trotting Lantern

$129.95 at Amazon
$129.99 at LEGO Store

This intricate Trotting Lantern is far more than meets the eye. Its exterior is exquisitely detailed, boasting red lanterns, gold accents, and beautifully rendered sky and cloud scenes on the walls.

Building the lantern is a layered experience, adding details upon details, much like the now-retired LEGO Carousel. This creates a delightful anticipation of the next decorative element.

Historically, trotting lanterns, dating back to the Han Dynasty, used oil lamps to project silhouettes. LEGO cleverly replicates this with a light brick and rotating image, though the projected image onto a wall is less effective than advertised.

The lantern's upper section opens to reveal three charming dioramas: a dumpling stall, a decorations stall, and a shadow puppet theater. This clever design adds a delightful surprise element. The set includes five minifigures (one with a snake costume), dumplings, a red envelope, a shadow puppet, and chopsticks.

The set's value depends on your priorities. While the light-up, rotating mechanism is interesting, it might not justify the price for some. However, the aesthetic beauty and the hidden dioramas within the intricately detailed lantern make it a stunning Lunar New Year celebration. Rated for ages 9+, its complexity suggests a more mature building experience.

For more LEGO options, explore our selections of the best LEGO sets, best Marvel LEGO sets, and most expensive LEGO sets.

LEGO Trotting Lantern, Set #80116, retails for $129.99 and contains 1295 pieces. It is available now at Amazon and the LEGO Store.