Glow Up With Glow Sticks

The Humble Glow Stick

Soothing, soft and subtle, glow sticks illuminate with a pleasing luminescence that's never piercing or harsh. Create a magical and dreamlike theme after the sun goes down for parties, costumes or celebrations with the help of the humble glow stick. Ready when you are, they can be stored easily and wait for your next blowout birthday bash or New Year's Eve party. Kids will love wearing or decorating with them, inspiring endlessly creative forays into illuminated play and design. They're perfect for creating a sleek and sophisticated tone for adult parties when using a single shade, such as icy blue, to illuminate dinnerware or champagne bottles.

Alchemy or Chemistry?

There's a bit of alchemy that happens to get your glow sticks glowing. A glass ampoule housed inside the thick plastic casing separates a chemical from the substance that surrounds it. By firmly bending the plastic case, the glass within breaks, releasing its chemical and creating a mixture that when combined, creates a chemical light. Once initiated, it cannot be turned off and will glow until the reaction no longer sustains itself. How long this lasts depends upon the temperature, age of the glow stick and chemical makeup, although it should last for several hours.

Glow Parties

Glow sticks seem to have been designed especially for parties. From decorations to gift bags to setting the very theme of the party itself, they're a quick and inexpensive way to create a big impact. You can place a handful of long glow sticks upright in a vase for an instant and eye-catching party centerpiece. Create place settings by using necklace-sized glow sticks to circle around plates, while the smaller bracelets can circle the base of a glass. Order bulk glow sticks and embellish your guests with luminescent jewelry as they walk through the door, turning them into living decorations that last throughout the party. If you've got ceiling fans, place some glow sticks on the blades before turning them on to create mesmerizing circles of light.

Glow Versatility

Hang dozens of glow sticks from a circular piece of wire to create a unique multicolored chandelier that will become a focal point for the whole room. You can also intertwine dozens of bracelet glow sticks to create a beautifully glowing wreath to hang on your door for welcoming guests to your glow party. With their long, straight edges, especially in the necklace size, glow sticks make excellent raw materials to create messages that can look exactly like neon signs. Design a welcome sign to greet guests or to celebrate a special occasion.

Glow Utensils

You should never ingest the contents of a glow stick, but that doesn't mean they can't be used to decorate your treat table. When serving treats like cotton candy, place a glow stick inside the candy's paper stick to illuminate the spun sugar, transforming it into a cloud of light. Wrap glow stick necklaces or bracelets around bottles or the stems of glasses to perk up your open bar. If you've got a clear acrylic bowl of the right size, place a few blue glow sticks in the bottom, cover them with ice and use this to chill your drinks in glowing style. Take two clear plastic cups, placing a glow stick bracelet in the bottom of the first one before setting the second one inside of it. Fill the second cup with your drink of choice for a beautifully glowing beverage.

Glow Games

You can even use glow sticks as an element in your party games. Construct a ring toss using glow stick necklaces as the rings or increase the challenge by using the bracelets instead. Place glow sticks in plastic bottles to transform them instantly into eye-catching bowling pins for a game after dark. If you're having a pool party, float some glow sticks in the pool itself or have a glowing water balloon fight when you place small glow sticks inside the balloons. String several necklaces together to create hula hoops and have a contest to see who can dance the longest.

Glow Music

Forget lighting up lighters or illuminating phones at concerts; wear glow sticks integrated into your outfit to glow the night away. Because they last for hours and don't require any upkeep once you initiate the chemical reaction, glow sticks make the perfect rainbow array of light to wear when if you want to stand out in the crowd while enjoying the music of your favorite band.

Whether it's dress-up day at school or you're feeling festive and want to embellish an outfit for a holiday or parade, glow sticks represent the perfect portable and lightweight light source that's waterproof and lasts for hours under its own power. Their versatility of shape lends them easily to use inside masks for a creepy glow or worked into the design of the costume itself. Wear a black leotard and attach glow sticks to it in the shape of a stick figure for an instant after-dark costume that's brilliantly brilliant. You can also line the edges of your jacket, pants, hat, purse or other accessories you're wearing or carrying to create an artistic, cartoon-like effect. Dress up as a jellyfish and give yourself an bioluminescent glow or illuminate a set of fairy or butterfly wings to elevate your costume above the ordinary.

Halloween Glow

While glow sticks are a natural match for Halloween costumes and can also perfectly answer the need to be visible after dark when trick-or-treating from house to house, there's a whole range of spooky Halloween crafts that can be transformed with the use of glow sticks. Create a terrifying cemetery scene with a few fake gravestones and a plastic skull exuding eerie green light from its eye sockets thanks to a glow stick hidden strategically inside. Make glowing spiders using Styrofoam balls for the body and long glow sticks for the legs. Place them around your porch to light the way to your front door. If you're carving pumpkins, use glow sticks in a range of colors to illuminate your creepy carvings instead of using candles.

Emergency Glow Sticks

While most uses for glow sticks center around their ability to enhance the atmosphere with a bit of glowing fun, there's also a practical use for glow sticks. Lightweight, waterproof, self-powering and inert for several years until snapped, glow sticks make excellent additions to emergency kits for your home, backpack or car due to their portability and long shelf life. Remain visible at the scene of a car accident or use glow sticks when camping or as a muted light source that doesn't require batteries when you're without power.

Camping Glow Sticks

If you want to use glow sticks as a source of light while camping, pick colors like green, yellow or blue, which will typically produce a brighter light than red or orange. You can mark the perimeter of your campsite or light the way to the latrine. Hang some from your tent's ceiling to provide a nightlight for orienting yourself if you wake up in the dark. Your glow sticks will burn brighter but have a shorter duration if you use them during warmer weather. Cold weather extends the lifespan of a glow stick, but they won't burn as brightly.

Whether you plan to use them for celebrations or as an integral part of your emergency preparation, glow sticks make an efficient and instantaneous source of light with a decent shelf life and a convenient size. Keep them on hand for emergencies of all kinds, whether a storm knocks out your power or you need a last-minute costume, and you'll always be ready for what comes your way.