Family Friendly Glow Party Ideas: Be a Light in the Dark

Oh, the family fun you can create with a few glow products: games, costumes, decor, entertainment and more!  

Over the last five years we have had a rather large GLOW NIGHT event at our Awana Club. (Which is a childrens ministry) Our club typically has 200-400 kids who attend every Wednesday night. This is our BIG outreach event where everyone is encouraged to bring a friend. The kids always have such a GLOWTASTIC blast! It is definitely one of the highlights of the year. 

Whether you are looking to create a simple family fun night, or a large party for the masses, these ideas can be incorporated to bring some serious glow fun! 

Getting GLOW in the atmosphere is easy-peasy. Water bottles (water still in) and glow sticks make a very simple and inexpensive glow light that can be used for decor, or as boundary markers, game pieces, cones, etc. They would also make great bowling pins. The other items in the photo above are upside down glow in the dark dessert bowls. (see below) In addition to decor these could be used for a ball tossing game, with a glow in the dark bouncy ball. 

{source: windy city novelties}

They also have straws, cups and other items available for tableware.

These are probably my VERY MOST favorite glow products that I know of. GLOW CIRCLES. They have a peel n' stick bottom. They come in several colors. They typically run between .50 - 1.00 a piece. Typically the more you purchase the cheaper you can get them. These have a great glow to them, not to mention the endless ways they can be used: name badges,  making glow in the dark words, creating game areas & marking boundaries, establishing a finish line, and so much more.

{source: windy city novelties}

We use these to outline our Awana Game Circles. It is so simple, pop the glow tube in the disk, shake, peel the back off and stick them down on the proper color quadrant. Each quarter of the circle is then glowing in the proper Awana color: Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. 

To create team color pins we use 2 liter soda bottles filled with water and drop in 2 coordinating colored glow sticks. These are then used as their team pin on the circle. We also use a water bottle {smaller bottle than the 2 liter) with one glow stick for the winning team pin in the center square and a 2 liter filled with all four of the teams color in it to replace the orange pin placed in the very center of the circle. For those of you who don't know Awana Games don't even try to wrap your brain around what I just explained. Haha. It is almost a foreign language until you play a game.

Family Glow Game Ideas:

Bowling

Relay Races

{Source: Glow Products}

Glow Golf, Soccer, Badminton, Football, Volleyball 

For relay batons we use Foam LED Lumiton products. They are really inexpensive and are really durable.They have an on / off button. We have used the same ones annually for the last 3 or 4 years. We had a few die last year - so we re-stocked this year.  They run about a $1 a piece now - so super cheap.

{source: windy city novelties}

You can find all sorts of glow costume gear online now- from mohawks to tube wigs, glasses to shoelaces. The list increases daily. It can be a bit shocking what can show up in a glow google search - so if kiddos are looking, you may want to find the safe sites for them first. Eek.

We used EL Wire (see example below) and clear packing tape to create our glow over our black hoodies and pants. We were able to purchase our EL Wire at a pretty low cost - check around before you buy, AND make sure you are comparing the same items, they come in many lengths and color options.

{source: glowsource}

For our glow dance outfits we each used 2- 12' lengths. It ended up being WAY cheaper than buying one 20' long el wire. Like I mentioned earlier, make sure and check around for prices, you just never know.

Watch glow dance video

Our family had so much fun performing this dance video. With more time for planning we could have made it a bit more complicated - although we think it turned out pretty darn cute. Our little guy was  center stage and he will be the first to tell you he has stage fright. As you can imagine this stretched his comfort level a bit. 

My hubby was the guy in all black (you'll see him when those stinkers in the crowd shine their lights on the stage in the middle of the song). The all black outfit kept him hidden most of the time so as he was flipping Nate around in the air it appeared as if he was floating. Now you see why we needed our little guy to be the center stage performer...am I right?

The song we used was a zippy re-make of "This little light of mine" by Rapture Ruckus. We thought it spoke the exact we were trying to encourage share with the kids. SHINE bright out there - be a light in the dark. People are attracted to light - they find it beautifully captivating. 

I know I would love to be found beautifully captivating to others. You know that kind of captivating that isn't prideful, or shallow, but that deep, rich, safe harbor type of captivating. Not me, myself, but Jesus in me shining for others to see. I am also learning I already am beautifully captivating to my Abba Father - no matter how good I am at allowing his light to shine in all the areas of my life. He delights in me. I need to work on living that out and letting it shine. 

"Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful." -2 Corinth. 4:5-6

-Simply Sublime

Family Christmas Countdown Party Series {2}: The Santa Claus Movie Theme Night

This week's theme was picked by my dear Husband. There are a couple actors out there that make him laugh pretty much non-stop - those being Tim Allen and Will Farrell. He laughs so much at their goofy humor, which in turn leaves me cracking up at his cracking up. Good times!

Seeing as how we had already watched Elf the week before he felt the next best watch would be Disney's The Santa Claus starring Tim Allen. I wasn't super-duper inspired with creativity for this one plus we had a packed-out week leaving little preparation time. So here came Friday, our movie night was ON and I needed a plan, STAT! 

I stopped at Target and picked up a few goodies to encourage some creative fun with the kiddos. This night was going to consist of simple fun. All I needed was...

• strawberries
• bananas
• can of real whipping cream
• Wilton Candy Eyeballs
• Christmas colored Hershey Kisses
• marshmallows
• (and brownies - I made from scratch but could use a store bought)

Once I got home I whipped up a big pan of brownies  - if you can call them that. This new recipe I was trying (and doubling I might add) turned out more like brownie slop. Flat and VERY gooey - but it had amazing flavor. I think because the recipe claimed to be light on flour it had the perfect combination of ingredients to create such divine slop...haha. So what do you do with a big 'ole pan of brownie fail? Plop it on plates and make it the perfect base for the kids creative juices to start building with. 

I wish I would have taken a couple quick pics of the set up for this - I simply took a bunch of clear glass bowls and filled them with the items I purchased.  So Simple. So FUN!

The kids had a smashing good time. Aren't their creations Oh.So.CUTE?? 

I also had made up a bunch of the cutsie Strawberry Santa's that have been all over pinterest. 

{foodista.com}

Here are some added ideas if you want to pump it up a notch:

Smashed Peas and Carrots has an adorable kids Santa Disguise photo prop project. Hop on over and check it out. How adorable would it be to snap some fun family photos? Too cute!

{smashed peas and carrots blog}

It would also be a great opportunity to write a letter to Santa. Here is a link to a cute free printable.

{my frugal adventures}

As you can see it really doesn't take a lot to pull of a family fun movie night. This one was so very simple and just as much fun as our Elf Theme Night. The kids have been filled with anticipation wondering what the next movie theme night is going to feature. Only time will tell...cuz I sure am not going to. 

-Simply Sublime

Family Christmas Countdown Party Series: Elf Movie Theme Night

Let me just tell ya' - this was one LAST MINUTE, thrown together festivity. Usually I would have a few more decorations to deck the halls, activities for the wee hands to stay busy and yeah, we might of even had some costume pieces. Although, I feel really good about the fact that I have learned something over the years...rather then letting lack of time stop you, sometimes when the mood strikes you have to just go for it, run with whatever you can grab along the way to get where you are headed. Tonight's family party is just that. So bear with me as you read through this post, knowing there is MUCH room for you to expand the theme into. 

World's best cup of coffee

Here is the evidence of just how planned out this party was...

• 11:30 am we decided a homemade pizza party with movie would be fun with the cousins. 
• 12:30 pm we decided to expand it into a theme party.
• 1:00 pm We had Elf on the brain
• 1:30 pm Internet searching begins for some ideas
• 2:00 pm Menu is planned: Spaghetti w/syrup, cupcakes w/elf toppings & World's Best Coffee
• 2:15 pm Activities planned: Elf craft, Paper Cut out Snowflakes, Decorate Cupcakes
• 2:30 pm grocery list for dear hubby to stop on way home from work completed 
• 3:00 pm Tori making cupcakes from scratch for candy-licous toppings Elf-style activity
• 3:30 pm pizza dough rising
• 4:00 pm elf craft printed & ready to go
• 4:30 pm "World's Best Cup of Coffee" labels designed,  printed and glued on to-go cups 
• 5:30 pm Dear Hub arrives and candy toppings are dished up, pasta is cooked.
• 6:30 pm we are cranking up the Christmas tune "Baby, it's cold outside" and yelling for the clan to arrive as we dance our way into the start of a fun-filled party.

As the night proceeded I thought of a few more ditty's that would have been fun - like who wouldn't want to have a 2-liter of soda for each person to chug down in one sitting with a burp contest at the end? Or maybe a Santa coming to visit that smells like beef n' cheese?

Here are a few quotes from the movie that could be used to decorate or for a trivia game:

• The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear
• Why don't you just say it? I'm the worst toymaker in the world! I'm a cotton-headed ninny-muggins.
• Sounds like somebody needs to sing a Christmas carol
• Is syrup made of sugar? Then yes
• We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup
• Did you see these toilets they're ginormous
• You smell like beef and cheese, you don't smell like Santa!
• What's a Christmas-gram? I WANT ONE!
• He's an angry elf

Here is the cute little Elf craft I found over at DLTK's Craft for Kids. 

craft by DLTK

Didn't they turn out oh-so cute?

You may have noticed that I mentioned a quickly designed  "World's Best Cup of Coffee" label which was glued on to some to-go cups we had picked up already. Well I did a redesign after watching the movie and I have made up a graphic that you are free to use if you would like to.

For the kiddos we made what I like to call "Coccee" which is Cocoa and a tiddle-bit of coffee. That way it REALLY was the World's Best Cup of Coffee for them, wink-wink. For me, bring on the full fledged coffee. YUM! BTW... Isn't my Mom so cute? I want to be like her when I grow up.

yep, the first label design

Here is one of the cousins decorating his cupcake with all of the yummy sugary elf-must-eats. After all,  it is 3 of their 4 main food groups for ELVES right there in one little entree.

This guy is dishing up the fant-elf-isc spaghetti with syrup and pop tart crumbled topping. Oh yeah BABY! It is hard to believe now, isn't it? I'll admit, I skipped the pasta and stuck with the homemade pizza we had alongside our de-elf-ish spread. The kids really did have a lot of fun eating all this crazy, funny food though.

Once we finished dining and crafting it was time to snuggle up and watch Elf. I think my very favorite moment was hearing all the kids singing along during the songs and quoting the Elf-isms. 

After such a rolling good time we have decided to make this a weekly countdown party to Christmas. So each week we will pick a movie that we can create crafts, food and decor from. I would so love to hear your thoughts on great Christmas Movies we could make a theme party out of. This year is going to be SO.MUCH.FUN!

More than anything I want to encourage you to just make the most you can out of the moments you have before you. Time is slipping by so quickly. I look at my older kids and I can't believe that 2 decades have flown by before my very eyes. My prayer for each of you is that you would not let getting it perfect hold you back from just throwing some fun out there. Pieces here, a morsel there, just go for it. I think Pinterest is great for inspiration but I fear with these gorgeous photos of perfection it will leave tired Mama's feeling discouraged when reality doesn't show up the same way they dreamed it would with expectation. True character & joy comes with fingerprints, smudges and mistakes. Enjoy them Mama's! Treasure each one and be present in the moment they are created. You have been made for such a time as this... You go girl!

2014 UPDATE - this year our family decided to create an ELF Gingerbread Scene for a competition we were in. It turned out pretty great. I will post a picture here as well, but make sure and check out my blog post on it.

-Simply Sublime