Saturday, July 7, 2012

Light Up the Night

A week ago, our city banned fireworks and all open fires.  Dakota was pretty bummed. The kid LOVES fireworks.  She has been talking about them for months.  So I came up with an idea to keep the 4th special without the big bang.
Glow in the Dark Party {Invitation}
I whipped up a this little invite using the My Memories Software.  The best part?  I didn't pay a dime for the cute graphics.  They were part of a free kit on mymemories.com
I sent them out to my lovely family via facebook, so no fee for printing, either.

We were excitedly getting ready for our big night when...
The Quail fire started 2 blocks from our house.  That was Tuesday afternoon.  At 7:30 that evening, a police officer came by the house and told us that we were on evacuation warning.  And with 2 little kids with severe asthma, this was the last straw.  We loaded up and headed to my mom's for the night.  Our prayers were answered and the fire moved away from our home.  We were able to get back home yesterday morning, and we were back on for our party.  Yay!
We started out with some good food 
Then we threw on our suits and went for a dip 
 When the sun went down, the real fun began.
Glow in the Dark Party {ring toss}
 After I took this picture, we taped 2 rings together.  That gave them a little more weight and make it easier to get it on the pole. (I found the glow bracelets at Hobby Lobby 15/$.99)
Glow in the Dark Party {glowing treasure dig}
 I filled the tub with beans and glow in the dark prizes.
When I do this next year, we will do this while it is still light so that the toys can charge in the sun.
By the time the kids went digging, the toys weren't glowing anymore and we had to shine a light on the bucket so they could find them.
(All items in the bucket were from the Target $ Spot.  If you can't find them in the front dollar section, ask an employee if they have a $ spot somewhere else in the store.  Mine has another one in the far back corner.)
Glow in the Dark Party {hop scotch}

Glow in the Dark Party {photo tips}
We took pictures with all our fun glow in the dark goodies.
(The middle picture is what the fire looked like from my backyard in the dark.  The middle-right is the fire in the background.)
Tips for taking pictures of glow sticks:
*Turn off your flash
*Change your focus to manual
This makes it so that your shutter will stay open and you don't have to wait for the camera to try to focus in the dark.
Glow in the Dark Party

We had a few other glow in the dark toys that we didn't get pictures of:
*Beach ball with glow bracelets inside for Volleyball (I put 5 bracelets inside before blowing it up)
*Glow balls for the pool (found by the pool toys at Walmart.  They were $2.50/each and have replaceable batteries.)
*Punch balloons with glow bracelets inside (worked best with 2 in each balloon.  I bought the balloons at Walmart in the party favor aisle.)
*Glow Straws (found at Walmart in the party favor aisle.  They come in a pack of 8 for $2-3 )
*Glow necklaces (bought on Halloween clearance at Walmart, but they carry them year round in the party favor aisle.)

This party was SO MUCH FUN!  And more little-kid friendly than fireworks.  Not to mention a lot cheaper than an extravagant firework show.  We will definitely be making this an annual tradition!
We may just break out the leftover glow sticks and play again on Pioneer Day.
How about all my Utah friends out there?  What are your plans for Pioneer Day?
Are fireworks banned in your area?

22 comments:

  1. Oh my, my breath caught in my throat when I saw the first bit of this post!

    Glad to see you were able to enjoy your party afterall - we're big glowstick fans in this house, my son's favourite is to link up loads of them and try to hulahoop in the dark!

    Thanks for linking up to the Sunday Showcase - hope to see you there again next week!

    Charlotte
    makedoandfriend.com

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  2. So happy you were able to have the party afterall...what a scary situation. Prayers that it's all under control. Loving the idea for this party. The games are FABULOUS!! My kids go nuts for glowsticks...this could even be a cool bday party theme!! Love the photography tips, too...great ideas! Would be super delighted if you could link up with us over at Mop It Up Mondays: http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2012/07/mop-it-up-mondays-24.html.
    Thanks so much!

    {HUGS},
    kristi

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  3. How creative. I especially love the ring toss and hopscotch. Way to make it work! Jodi @ www.meaningfulmama.com

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  4. Such a fun and creative idea! Thanks for sharing. Newest follower from Keeping it Simple. Love for you to stop by and return the follow. I am hosting Mom's Monday MIngle now. Over 150 mom blogs so far. Love for you to join and meet some new friends.
    www.thenaptimereview.com

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  5. What a great idea. Lovely post. I would love for you to visit me at My Dream Canvas.Have a great week.

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  6. WOW- glad everyone is ok-- and how scary with that fire being so close! The Glow sticks are a HIT what a fun fun party! Saw you linked up of at Tip Junkie- thank you for sharing!!
    -Jen

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  7. Hey... I used your awesome ring toss idea at my daughter's 7th birthday party! It was FUN!!! I'm putting a link to this post on my blog!

    Kristy
    TheMessExposed.blogspot.com

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  8. Love these Glow in the dark ideas...will absolutely use these this summer.
    Robyn
    http://robynsperfectlife.blogspot.com/

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  9. I love the Ring Toss! I posted a link to this on my blog about how to “Spend New Years Eve with Your Kids” It gives ideas for crafts, games, and activities to countdown to the new year. Thanks!
    http://www.cindyscreativecuts.com/spend-new-years-eve-kids/

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  10. Hi,
    Loved the post. We played glow ring toss this summer and my kids had a great time with it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi,

    Hi,

    Good one!!
    I am also one of glow sticks lover. I love to read about glow sticks . I goggled and landed in your blog, enjoyed your posts.

    Keep it on with this kind of posts

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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