Outdoor games for youth groups can be tricky to pull off in these dark winter months. But playing outside doesn’t have to be done in the daytime. Once the sun has gone down and the dark sky dominates, there are still tons of great glow-in-the-dark outdoor games and activities that can be enjoyed by all ages.

The thought of competing in a glow-in-the-dark game, with no floodlights, sunlight or even torches to keep the shadows away, is a pretty cool thought for most people. And when there’s no strong light to guide you, you have to rely on other skills, like confidence, leadership, creativity, strategy and teamwork. Of course, a few light-up accessories will definitely help and add plenty of fun too.

If you’re a scout/guide group leader, youth club leader, or anyone in the care of a group of kids that might benefit from night sports and light-up outdoor games, the following suggestions will give you plenty of inspiration to get started:

Hide & Seek Glow-in-the-dark Paint

Hide and seek in the dark is fun, but it gets a bit trickier when you’re covered in glow-in-the-dark paint! In the light, children or adults can paint themselves with glow in the dark paint, to then play an epic game of hide and seek when it gets dark. The trick is to make sure all of your body is concealed and no glow in the dark paint is showing!

Glow-in-the-Dark Hoopla

This is an easy to organise game that’s ideal for parties. All you need to do is push some 12” glow sticks into your lawn (it’ll need to be slightly soft), and use glow bracelets to make the hoops. Use the glow bracelet connectors to connect several glow sticks together. Then you can adjust the size of the hoops to make it easier or more difficult. Our glow in the dark hoopla pack has everything you need to get started.

Glow-In-The-Dark Charades

Give your group a large box, full of glow in the dark accessories like glow sticks, glasses, hats, bunny ears and crowns. Get each person to act out a sport or activity with the accessories whilst everyone guesses what the activity or sport is. The person who guesses right gets a turn.

Glow-In-The-Dark Obstacle Course

A glow in the dark obstacle course will be challenging, but if it is done in a safe way, it will also be a lot of fun and completely different to anything your group will have done before. Use glow sticks to mark out sections, and include fun visual sections of the course, like raving with glow sticks for 30 seconds. To make it into a race, have two different colours of glow-in-the-dark paint, one for each team and have them paint their faces with it.

UV Easter Egg Hunt

This is the perfect game for little children, and works well as a daytime activity as well. During the day, little ones can paint eggs with UV paint, and then in a safe area at night after the adults have hidden them, can find them. Introduce a bit of healthy competition by offering a prize for the most eggs found. Remember, you’ll need a UV torch for the paint to show-up.

Glow In The Dark Tag

Tag in the dark is challenging, but easy to organise. Simply have one team wear glow bracelets of one colour, then the other team wear glow in the dark bracelets of another colour. Then, when the whistle is blown, one team has to tag the other team out.

Get organising some Glow-in-the-Dark Outdoor games with your Youth Group

Hopefully these ideas will help you feel inspired for your next evening session with your youth group. Remember, when it comes to glow in the dark accessories and sports, the limits are only held by your imagination. Get started by ordering our outdoor glow pack, which has everything you’ll need to glow have fun!

Apparently more and more people are getting married. Yay! (Cue confetti explosion).

Marriage is great because of the romance and the get together of friends and family, the dress, the food, the party! It is also great because of all the fun events leading up to it, like the hen party. We don’t want to glow over the top telling you how to glow about planning an amazing hen party of course… but if you do want to glow for it and have the most amazing time, you might appreciate our subtle nudge at the idea of using hen party glow sticks….

When has there ever been a hen party that doesn’t appreciate more sticks?

Here are six of our favourite hen party glow stick ideas for the ultimate lit hen party:

Bunny Boilers

Whether you’re looking to jazz up a playboy bunny look, or simply look cute as you hop around town, glow in the dark bunny ears are your number 1 accessory. Available in a wide variety of colours, you girls can boing around in the dark to your hearts content!

Glow Earring Bling

It’s not an 80’s themed hen party unless you have some epic accessories, and what better way to stand out than with glow in the dark hooped earrings? Pull those leg warmers up, fluff up your tutu and get ready to belt out ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ in style!

A Royal Affair

You might not be planning on acting like princesses by the end of the night, but you can at least start off regal with a glow in the dark tiara! The princes about town will be dazzled by your colourful royal adornments, putting their crown jewels to shame. Get that royal wave ready ladies. You’re so fancy.

Flashing Rabbits

It’s always best to keep flashing legal, so why not try it with some flashing LED bunny ears? Fluffy, sparkling and flashing with fun, these cute little accessories are ideal for a rabbit themed hen do, or just as an extra cute accessory for the group. They’re perfect for finding each other as well, should you all hop so enthusiastically on the dance floor you get separated!

Raving Balloonies

If you’re keeping your hen party antics indoors, but you still want to bring some raving fun to your party, LED balloons are the way to get glow in the dark fun in any room. Dance with them, put them up your t shirt, play games with them, these balloons are lit up for your entertainment! You could of course tie them to the bride to be and go out with them as well, just to subtly let people know she’s the hen!

Children Of The Night

If you’re the kind of group who likes to be subtle, to quietly celebrate, to shy away from the crowds and keep things ‘low key’ then you’re not going to appreciate these products at all! Loud and proud hens listen up, it’s time to decorate yourselves to stand out on your night out with some UV glow body paint! There’s paint for your face, your body, your clothes, your hair, nails, lips – there’s even UV glitter gel for the wannabe unicorns of the group. You could do 80’s style, tribal body patterns, you could even do a Trolls themed hen party and let your ‘true colours’ shine through (if you do can we come?!). Or check out these UV henna paint ideas for some inspiration.

Perfect for hen parties that really want to stand out!

Glow Crazy With Hen Party Glow Stick Products From Glowtopia

We hope we’ve given you the inspiration to glow forth and have the best hen party ever. Have fun!

Like many of us, you may have assumed one of the Kardashians would start 2017’s first big beauty trend. But forget Kim and her quirky style trends, the thing that everyone’s talking about at the moment is UV henna paint.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPDX-iYA9mZ/?tagged=uvhenna

The UV henna trend emerged from the middle-east where fashionistas have been embracing the typical henna culture with a twist, and wearing the same traditional trends with white ink instead of the orange effect that comes from traditional henna. This was noticed by fashionistas in the west, embraced and elaborated, into rainbow henna, monochrome henna, and of course, UV henna paint.

All Henna’s Style, Without The Waiting

To be clear, this new beauty trend only involves the style of traditional henna, not the ingredients needed to dye the skin. Traditional henna is made from the ground up henna plant, and bridal henna nights are still an important custom in many cultures. The problem is, dying the skin this way takes a long time (anything from an hour to overnight), doesn’t always show up that well on certain skin tones, and some people are allergic to it. UV henna paint, doesn’t cause those issues.

How To Enjoy UV Body Art Inspired By Henna

UV henna paint is really just UV body paint but you create the same patterns you would with henna. You prepare one piping cone, or multiple if you’re using many colours, and the thin applicator enables you to make intricate and beautiful henna designs. Traditional henna lasts a few weeks, white henna lasts a few days, and UV body paint used to create henna like patterns is simply wash off, so it’s extremely convenient, with no worry about signs of a weekend of partying showing on your hands at work on a Monday morning.

Where To Wear UV Henna Paint

As UV henna looks stunning in both daylight and at night, it has multiple applications such as:

• Hen Parties – It’s great fun for hen parties who want to stand out, and who love to be original on the town.
• Children’s Parties – It is a great idea for a children’s party where children can enjoy special ‘tattooes’ which are simply wash-off if the henna is created using body paint.
• Nights Out – Where a night out can become a bit of a standard affair, UV henna paint brings some colour and creativity to a run of the mill Saturday!
• Parties – Halloween parties, birthday parties, or specially themed glow in the dark parties are calling out for UV henna!
• Festivals – Millions of people attend festivals every single year, and there’s a lot of fun to be had with colourful wellies, denim shorts, flowery mac’s, braided hair and of course body paint! UV henna paint is set to be the big ‘thing’ at festivals this year.

Stand Out From The Crowd With UV Henna Paint

Ready to get on board with 2017’s UV Henna paint beauty craze? Download some free henna patterns for inspiration, make yourself a henna cone and order some Glowtopia UV henna paint to get started.

Forget toiling away at a sweaty treadmill for half an hour each day whilst you try not to think about that chocolate bar you left in the bottom of your gym bag. It’s time to get your glow sticks out and slap on some neon paint. Glow stick raves are the latest fitness craze!

What is glow stick fitness?

Think 90’s club minus the Alcopops. Glow stick fitness classes are energetic dance aerobic workouts to (mainly) club hits from the 90’s in a darkened room with disco lights. And the best bit… everyone gets glow-sticks.

It’s an exercise class that feels more like a night out. Or as one glow stick fitness enthusiast described it: “You know on a night out when your favourite song comes on and you think it’s the BEST THING EVER. It was like that, but for a whole hour”.

Sign me up!

And if that’s not enough to get you sprinting down to your nearest gym, check out these reasons why glow fitness is better than a night out clubbing.

What’s so appealing about these classes is not just the way they make exercising fun (you can burn up to 500 calories in an hour-long class), but also they way they allow people to really go for it. Exercising in the dark makes you feel a lot less self-conscious than being surrounded by Elle MacPherson lookalikes in a brightly-lit room.

Plus you can take it at your own pace. Whether you do all the moves full-out like a sweaty rave junkie hyped-up on caffeine, or take it easy, it’s up to you… No one will see you; you’re in a dark room.

Launching your own glow stick fitness class?

Glow stick fitness classes are popping up all over the country. And they’re insanely popular. If you’re starting your own glow fitness class, take a look at some of our most popular glow stick fitness products:

Premium 6” Glow Sticks – Our premium glow sticks provide an ultra-bright glow, which makes them perfect for when the lights go out, and the music starts going. Each glow stick comes with a lanyard so it can hang around your neck and cost as low as 28p each (when ordering a 2000 pack).

8” Glow Stick Bracelet – Our quality glow bracelet is easy to assemble and wrap around your wrist. It’s a great excuse to wave-your-hands-in-the-air-like-you-just-don’t-care.

22” Glow stick necklace – Get your head round this. Or rather, get this around your head. Our glow necklaces are made-up of three colours and come in packs of 50+. People have also been known to wrap these around their thighs, but it’s totally up to you.

Neon UV and Glow Body Paints – make sure your class can see you. Get creative with some glow-in-the-dark face paint or run some UV streaks through your hair. Our UV cosmetics glow intensely under a blacklight, and our glow paints are charged by natural light to glow in the dark.

We love a good glow stick, but it’s not the only thing we do, introducing light-up party accessories! From light-up bowler hats to inflatable saxophones, we’ve got a massive selection of party favourites to get you in the mood for celebrating. In fact, you might be surprised at what else we sell.

Here are a few of our favourite crowd pleasers as well some new light-up party accessories that we’ve just added to our collection:

LED Sound Activated Glasses

We’ve yet to meet someone who hasn’t been blown away by these LED glasses when we’ve worn them on a night out. Maybe that says something about the kind of company we keep, or maybe it’s because they’re just so darn cool! These glasses light-up in response to the rhythm of any music that’s being played. So whether you’re throwing some shapes at a festival or boogying on down at a disco, these light-up glasses are the perfect party accessory to compliment your killer dance moves.

Flashing LED Bowler Hat

I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse… Add a touch of glamour to your 1930s gangster look with this be-sequined, multi-coloured flashing bowler hat. It’s got a little button discretely hidden on the side that activates flashing red, blue and green LEDs. You’ll be the star of the show.

LED Light Sword

Move aside Luke Skywalker! The force will well and truly be with you with one of these LED lightsaber swords in your hands. I’m not sure there’s an adult or child in the world who couldn’t resist swinging one of these bad-boys around. They’re great for kids parties, fancy dress, or just for big kids wanting to re-enact their favourite Star Wars moments.

Hen night badges

Girls, make sure the bride-to-be gets noticed with this flashing, feathery hen night badge. Top it off with a pink feather bower and some LED bunny ears to complete the look. You could even get hold of one of our hen night party packs so that everyone in your squad looks the part.

Inflatable Saxophone

OK, so it doesn’t light-up. But, come on, what party is complete without an inflatable saxophone? They make a great little extra for events or work well as inexpensive party bag fillers. Just inflate and you’re ready to break-out your best jazz saxophone mime.

Light-up Balloons

Our bright and colourful light-up balloons are great for birthday parties and other celebrations. We’ve got lots of different colours and styles, including marble effect, stars, smiley faces and birthday balloons. Once activated, they last for 15 hours, so they’ll keep your party glowing well into the night.

We’re always updating our product range. So if there’s something you’re looking for that you can’t find here, give us a shout. We’d love to help!

Glow sticks are wonders of the universe aren’t they? Who cares about the great wall of China, the Horsehead Nebula, the Northern Lights or Donald Trump’s hair, when you’ve got glow sticks?

If you aren’t yet convinced that glow sticks are something that should definitely be discussed in a Brian Cox podcast, check out these 10 things you never knew about glow sticks to be amazed:

1. Glow sticks were a military tool first

In the 1960’s the Sailing Branch of the military started researching how different chemicals react to create a light source. The blended different chemicals to create a special reaction which brought glow sticks into fruition. They were developed for use in lots of different aspects of the military, from experimental bombs, to creating targets for airstrikes. They were also a much more safe alternative to the traditional flare.

2. Green & yellow glow sticks are used for emergencies

When glow sticks are used in emergency situations, green and yellow are the colours used because they give off the brightest light, this is closely followed by orange glow sticks which is the third brightest glow stick colour.

3. Glow sticks are the only safe light source to use in a catastrophe

Glow sticks are considered to be the only light source that is safe to use immediately following a catastrophe. That’s because they’re the only manmade light source that produces light without heat.

4. The way a glow stick gets its light is via a cool name

The chemical reaction that takes place in a glow stick tube is called Chemiluminescence. Pretty cool right

5. Glow sticks can have a shelf life of two years before they have to be used

How long a glow stick lasts on the shelf depends on how it is stored and how it is packaged. They are supposed to be kept in cool, dry conditions and if they aren’t, and are kept in say, a damp environment, they will go ‘out of date’ a lot quicker. Green glow sticks also have a longer shelf life than red glow sticks, but all tend to last up to two years if stored and packaged properly.

6. There is a dance associated with glow sticks called glowsticking!

Did you know that the special dance associated with glow sticks is called glowsticking? You can either do glowstringing (dancing with one or more glow sticks on a string) or freehand glowsticking. Check out this epic glowstringing:

7. A glow stick doesn’t get hot when it lights up

Hence the reason it is used as a safe alternative to heat-emitting forms of light.

8. Glow sticks are waterproof

So the safety uses of a glow stick extend far beyond land, hence why scuba divers use them.

9. There are tons of different uses for glow sticks

They are used in night time sports, they are used as emergency lighting in lots of situations, they are used for glow wars at festivals, as jewellery, to light walkways on temporary paths, as decorations – there’s always a new use for pretty lighting right?

10. You can speed up or slow down the effect of a glow stick

Any glow stick is affected by temperature. Chemiluminescence is sensitive to temperatures, and so your environment will affect how long your glow stick lasts. Higher temperatures cause the glow stick to brighten up, but last for a shorter period of time. Lower temperatures cause the glow stick to glow much less, but last a lot longer.

We hope you have been truly wowed and astonished by our magnificent glow stick facts. We hope to see you glowstringing soon!

We’ve all cracked a glow stick and waved it around at a party or a gig, but did you know that glow sticks weren’t originally invented for fun? Here are a few interesting nuggets about the history of glow sticks.

Who invented glow sticks?

Although glow sticks didn’t really hit mainstream culture until the 1980s, scientists first began investigating glow stick chemistry (or chemiluminescence) back in the 1960s.

Scientists were fascinated by bioluminescent light produced within nature by fireflies and other organisms. Research found that this natural ability to produce light without heat was made possible with a chemical compound called luciferin. Understanding the chemical components of luciferin enabled scientists to recreate this naturally occurring luminescence.

Edwin A. Chandross, a Brooklyn-born specialist in organic chemistry, is widely heralded as the original founding glow father. He happened across the chemical compound required to make glow sticks almost by accident when experimenting with luminol.

Whilst investigating luminol’s unusual quality of producing light rather than heat in chemical reactions, he discovered that peroxalate esters were vital to creating chemiluminescence. Over the course of just one day he carried-out experiments to establish exactly which compounds of chemicals would produce light most effectively. The winning combination was Hydrogen Peroxide coupled with oxalyl chloride and dye. This emitted a visible light, which glowed at just 0.1% of the strength of today’s glow sticks.

He didn’t realise it at the time, but Chandross had made a monumental discovery for chemical science. Any future experiments, patents and inventions around chemiluminescence were all based on Chandross’ initial discoveries.

When was the first glow stick made?

Although Chandross was the brains behind the whole operation, he did not patent the first glow stick.

Michael M. Rauhut of American Cyanamid, an industrial chemical manufacturer, developed Chandross’ findings to create chemical light products. His team at Stamford improved upon Chandross’ work to devise a new type of oxalate ester (Phenyl Oxalate) with increased glow power. They gave it the trademark, Cyalume.

Cyanamid eventually went on to sell this technology on to Omniglow, specialists in chemiluminescent products. Omniglow continued the research, using different combinations of dye to create chemiluminescence in various colours.

Various glow stick type devices were awarded US patents in the 1960s and 1970s, including:

– Packaged Chemiluminescent Material invented by Bernard Dubrow and Eugene Daniel Guth in June, 1965

– The Chemical Lighting Device invented by Clarence W. Gilliam, David Iba Sr, and Thomas N. Hall in October 1973

– A Chemiluminescent Device invented by Herbert P. Richter and Ruth E. Tedrick in June 1974.

– Chemiluminescent Signal Device invented by Vincent J. Esposito, Steven M. Little and John H. Lyons in January 1976. This is the first glow stick device to resemble glow sticks as we know them today. It had a glass ampoule inside a plastic tube filled with a second substance. When bent the glass ampoule released its contents and the tube was shaken to mix the two substances, initiating the chemical reaction that produces luminescence.

– Chemical Light Device invented by Richard Taylor Van Zandt in 1977.

How do glow sticks work?

All of these glow stick type devices used the same initial principle first discovered by Edwin Chandross. That is, they all mix two chemical compounds to produce light.

Glowsticks are essentially just a chemical reaction in a tube.  Inside the plastic casing of a glow stick is a floating glass tube containing hydrogen peroxide. This glass tube is then surrounded by fluorescent dye. When you snap a glowstick you break the internal glass tube which allows the chemicals to mix. It is this mixing which causes the glow through the process of chemiluminescence

The images below show the components that make-up a modern glow stick: a plastic tube containing peroxide mixture and a glass ampoule containing flurophore. When the peroxide and flurophore are mixed together they produce a glow.

What were glow sticks used for originally?

Interestingly, one of the first patents for a glow-stick-type device was awarded to the US Navy in 1973. They quickly became an essential piece of military equipment with a vast array of uses, including emergency lights, target markers, landing zone markers and parachute markers.

Glow sticks don’t require batteries, they’re cheap to make and easy to dispose-of. They have a long shelf life, tolerate high pressures, are waterproof and weatherproof, and are visible from a mile off in the right conditions. Glow sticks are also non-flammable and non-sparking which makes them the only source of light that is safe for use immediately after a catastrophic event.

So whilst glow sticks have gained universal-renown for lighting-up festivals and parties around the world, they still retain an important function within the military and emergency services today.

When were glow sticks first used for partying?

The story goes that glow sticks first emerged on the gig-scene back in 1971, introduced by the son of a factory worker whose company was hired by American Cyanamid to assemble glow sticks. He and his friends hauled backpacks filled with glow sticks to a Grateful Dead concert at the Yale Ball in New Haven, Connecticut.

A few songs in, they started cracking open the glow sticks and handing them out to people in the crowd. Chaos ensued as amazed fans started throwing these never-before-seen glowing sticks around in the dark. It brought the whole gig to a standstill!

And the rest, as they say, is history. With the arrival of acid house and the rave scene in the late ‘80s and ‘90s, glow sticks took off. So that’s the history of glow sticks, and now we’re using them at clubs, parties and festivals all over the world!