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Christmas and New Year Deliveries 2022

This year we will be open throughout the festive period processing orders. You may well be aware that this year due to the Royal Mail strikes the courier networks are under significant pressures. We are unable to absolutely guarantee any delivery times and all delivery times stated are an estimate.

Last recommended posting date for Christmas: Order before 2pm on Wednesday 21st December and select DPD as the delivery option. (Please note this excludes a limited number of postcodes for which the last posting date via DPD is 19th December – the list of these can be found here: https://www.dpd.co.uk/pdf/lsd-pd-1.1.pdf)

Last recommended posting date for New Year: Order before 2pm on Wednesday 28th December and select DPD as the delivery option.

We are continuing to process orders as normal as long as it is a working day and you order before 2pm the order will  be dispatched on the same day. Our Christmas opening times are:

  • Monday 19th December: 9am – 4pm
  • Tuesday 20th December: 9am – 4pm
  • Wednesday 21st December: 9am – 4pm
  • Thursday 22nd December: 9am – Midday (Closed afternoon for Staff Christmas Lunch, however all orders placed before 2pm will still be dispatched same day)
  • Friday 23rd December: 10am – 3pm
  • Monday 26th December: Closed (Bank Holiday)
  • Tuesday 27th December: Closed (Bank Holiday)
  • Wednesday 28th December: 9am – 3pm
  • Thursday 29th December: 9am – 3pm
  • Friday 30th December: Midday – 3pm
  • Monday 2nd January: Closed (Bank Holiday)
  • Tuesday 3rd January: Return to normal hours
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General Update

Christmas is coming quicker than Santa going down every chimney across the world!

Firstly, seasons greetings from all of us here at Glowtopia. The holidays are approaching, and the mulled wine is almost ready to hit the pan. With that in mind, we wanted to give you an update in regards to our opening hours across the Christmas Period, and the final order deadlines.

Our Christmas Opening Hours are as follows:

23rd December – Open 

24th, 25th, 26th, 27th December – Closed

28th, 29th, 30th December – Open

31st December – Closed

1st, 2nd January – Closed

Re-open for business as usual from 3rd January 2023

Last Order Dates:

21st December is the last recommended date for Christmas orders. We are open on 22nd and 23rd December for dispatching orders.

Royal Mail Deliveries:

Wherever possible we would currently recommend avoiding selecting Royal Mail as your delivery option unless you don’t require your order before Christmas. We are seeing considerable delays in their service with the ongoing industrial action taking place.

We would recommend using either DX, or DPD for prompt delivery, however, we cannot guarantee delivery before Christmas.

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Update On Royal Mail Strikes

Recently,  the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on its members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters for Royal Mail to take strike action on the following dates:

  • 13th, 20th, 25th October 2022
  • 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 28th, 30th November 2022
  • 1st & 2nd December 2022

This will mean some deliveries may be delayed over this period. If you require your order urgently, please consider selecting a different shipping option such as DX or DPD at our checkout page in order to reduce chance of disruption to the delivery of your order. Please note we are unable to guarantee any Royal Mail delivery times over this period and you may need to allow up to 14 days for delivery of orders via Royal Mail.

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Passing of Her Majesty The Queen

All the team at Glowtopia are deeply saddened by the death of Her Majesty The Queen. Our thoughts and condolences are with the Royal Family at this sad time.

Our warehouse will be closed on the day of her funeral, Monday 19th September. Any orders placed after 2pm on Friday 16th September will not be dispatched until Tuesday 20th. Also please be aware our couriers will not be making any deliveries on Monday 19th September.

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Royal Mail Strikes

As you may have seen in the news, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on its members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters for Royal Mail to take strike action on 26 and 31 August and the 8 and 9 September 2022.

This will mean some deliveries may be delayed over this period. If you require your order urgently, please consider selecting a different shipping option such as DX or DPD at our checkout page in order to reduce chance of disruption to the delivery of your order. Please note we are unable to guarantee any Royal Mail delivery times over this period and you may need to allow up to 14 days for delivery of orders via Royal Mail.

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Christmas and New Year Deliveries 2021

We will be open until Wednesday 22nd December before Christmas and also open on Wednesday 29th December to process any orders placed for New Years.

Any orders placed after 1pm on Wednesday 29th December will not be dispatched until Tuesday 4th Jan.

Wednesday 22nd December: Order by 1pm for dispatch before Christmas
(warehouse open 12pm-4pm)
Thursday 23rd December: Closed
Friday 24th December: Closed (Christmas Eve)
Monday 27th December: Closed (Bank Holiday)
Tuesday 28th December: Closed (Bank Holiday)
Wednesday 29th December: Order by 1pm for dispatch before New Year (warehouse open 11am-4pm)
Thursday 30th December: Closed
Friday 31st December: Closed (New Years Eve)
Monday 3rd Jan: Closed (Bank Holiday)
Tuesday 4th Jan: Re-open as normal (warehouse open 9am-5pm)

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Glow Party Games

Thanks to the wonderful resources over at Pinterest, we have put together our top 5 glowing DIY Party games and activities to keep you and your family entertained.

We love anything we can add a bit of glow power to, and we especially love getting creative with the kids, recycling household items and keeping the whole family entertained as we make and play, spending quality time together and using our dexterity and hand-eye coordination skills, giving little minds a much needed break from the digital and technological world.

So if you find yourself with some spare time and a heap of glow sticks, check out the following ideas:

Dazzle.com

Shout out to Dazzle.com for some really wonderful kiddie crafts, and this one is one of our favourites - so simple to do that even toddlers can take part in setting up the game. Its great for parties, and all you need is some 8 inch Glow Stick Bracelets and some empty plastic bottles. Mix it up with a variety of different sized bottles to add a tricky twist to the game. You can add a prize too... maybe pop a sweet next to the bottle as an incentive to hook it, or give a small prize for 3 winning hooks.

Craft Noel Magazine

Who doesn't love Tic Tac Toe? Probably one of the most popular quick games you can play - and yes, you've guessed it.... you can make it glow with glow sticks!

We found a lovely little post on Pinterest - you can use our 22 inch Glow Stick Necklaces to make the grid, or connect 2 or 3 of our 8 inch Bracelets to make a longer stick, and use two different coloured glow stick bracelets to make the counters. Easy Peasy!

myunitedlife.com

Who doesn't love Tic Tac Toe? Probably one of the most popular quick games you can play - and yes, you've guessed it.... you can make it glow with glow sticks!

We found a lovely little post on Pinterest - you can use our 22 inch Glow Stick Necklaces to make the grid, or connect 2 or 3 of our 8 inch Bracelets to make a longer stick, and use two different coloured glow stick bracelets to make the counters. Easy Peasy!

DIYadulation.com

This is a great, novel idea and its a brand new one to us! All you need to take part is a bundle of glow stick bracelets, a large space like a back garden or a park, and the dark (not too dark!). You can either can follow the these guys' tutorial here or you can play the traditional game of tag, with all players wearing 2 or 3 glow stick bracelets - and when the person who is "it" tags a person, they give the person who was tagged one of their bracelets and that person it "it". The winner is the first one to run out of Bracelets. Alternatively you can add your own spin on it and make up your own winning rules and tactics.

thescrapshoppeblog.com

With this idea you can create other games and activities to extend the fun. Yes, you can just go all out with an evening water fight (wellies and waterproofs are a good idea if the evenings are still a bit chilly), or how about setting up a stocks for an evening charity fundraiser? If you want to have a bit of good old fashioned fun with the kids, you can make your self a target board, and use the water balloons to hit the target - this is a perfect game for the garden and camping. We are sure there are loads of ways you can have fun with this idea as the sun starts to set on warm Summer evenings.

We hope that this fun, quick and simple glowing crafts will help bring a bit of fun to your evenings and beat the boredom while the kids are of school over Easter and the Summer holidays, or just to bring some family and friends quality time together. These ideas can be adapted for children's parties, adults parties, garden parties and beach parties.

Have fun!!

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Easter Garden Kerplunk Style Game

GIVE THIS TRADITIONAL GAME A GLOWING MAKEOVER FOR SOME EGG-CELLENT FUN THIS EASTER!

Spring is here and the sun has just started shining here in Dorset, so it got us thinking of new ways to enjoy our glow sticks in the garden. Being that Easter is just around the corner, we wanted to add an Easter twist on some outdoor family games, after all, who doesn't like a cracking good garden game?

And so we have taken a break from the ordinary office work to build our very own "Kerplunk" style game.... and we are so glad we did!!

It is surprisingly easy to construct, inexpensive (it can be made from general garden materials that you may have stashed in a corner of your shed) and with a quick trip to a local pound store you are ready to go. Obviously, we can't help but add a glowing spin on everything we do, so if like us you still want to play this game when the sun goes down, we have everything you need to show it the glow.

What you will need...

Most of the things you will need you may have lurking in your shed or garage, or can be acquired cheaply from a DIY store or garden centre. Maybe even try a local search on gumtree or freecycle to get a bargain. Here's what to look out for:

Galvanised Wire Mesh (square)  approximately 1 metre length.
Wood - we chopped up some pallets we had in the warehouse and this worked great, but any type of reclaimed wood, paneling, planks or timber off cuts would work.
Some garden sticks OR make it glow with our 22 inch Glow Stick Necklaces!!!! 
A whole heap of fillable plastic eggs (check out your local pound shops and craft shops as well as online)
And if you want to make your eggs glow too, pop some of our best value 1.5 inch Glow Sticks in your Glowtopia shopping basket to fill those eggs.

You'll also need 8 x 50mm nails, pieces of wire or cable ties, wire cutters, a saw, measuring tape, set square or mitre and a hammer.

Reclaimed wood pallets

Mesh Wire & Garden Sticks

22 inch Glow Necklaces

Plastic Easter Eggs

8 inch Glow Bracelets

Instructions

Take a look at our quick and easy how to picture guide to build this game.

Step 1

Step 3

Step 5

Step 2

Step 4

How to Play

We had such a laugh playing this game, it's great family fun as even the youngest of kiddies can pull out the sticks. We used 30 plastic eggs and 25 glow sticks for this game as a family of 6. The glow sticks were still glowing bright after several hours so you can always come back to the game later, and with our packs of 50 necklaces you would be able to play this game on 2 separate nights.

It would be a great game for adult garden parties if you're having an Easter get together... you could play it for hours, long after the sun first goes down.  If you're going camping this Easter, try and make room for this game too, it is a great game to play by the tent, and will add a cool light feature for your camp, we bet you will draw a crowd and be the most popular campers in the field! And of course not forgetting our friends at all the kids clubs and PTAs!! If you are planning an Easter party, how about including this in your party games? The kids will absolutely love to play and you can make the game last much longer by doubling up the sticks and eggs.

Trust us... this game will be an egg-sploding hit this Easter!

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Mother’s Day Glow Stick Crafts

Mother's Day is fast approaching, so if you're looking for inspiration to brighten up your Mother's Day bouquet, then we have the perfect solution. Replace the standard florist message card and holder with a glowing message stick. All you need is a printer, a hole punch and an 8 inch Glow Stick Bracelet! You could get even more creative.... why not make your mum a candy bouquet instead and use our glowing message sticks in the same way? Or hold a high tea or dinner and display a whole bunch of these in a vase on the table with their connectors so everyone can glow? You can hide one in a box of chocolates or in a gift box, stick it to a card, or simply hand one to your mum with a big hug!

Our free Mother's Day Glow Stick Templates are quick and simple to use - just print them, cut them out, and use a hole punch to make a couple of holes at the top and bottom. Pop an 8 inch glow stick bracelet through the holes and they are ready to go. The templates are pdf files with 4 or 6 cards per sheet. If you are a nursery group, childminder, school or club, these are a great, easy and cost effective craft idea that your children can do themselves so they can make a gift to take home for their mum.

 

hole punch mothers day glow stick craft
mothers day glow stick craft
mothers day glow stick craft

Click on the links below to download one of 4 free templates.

Perfect for nurseries and play groups, school crafts and children's groups that are making gifts for Mother's Day.