Ah Wimbledon! There’s nothing more British than stocking up on Strawberries and Pimms, gathering your friends and relatives and getting cosy round the TV to engross yourselves in the competitive ‘Loves’ and ‘Duces’ on centre court!

But have you heard of a Go Glow for Wimbledon party? You’re going to love it! A Pop-up Bar in London are throwing a UV Ping-Pong party in honour!

So why don’t you set up your own at home? Wow your friends and do something out of the ordinary to celebrate a great British Tradition. You can still supply Pimms & Strawberries of course! As soon as it starts to get dark, everyone’s feeling a bit jolly after an overload of daytime Pimms drinking, you can invite everyone outside for a cheeky game of ‘Glow in the Dark Ping-Pong’ (obviously!).

So.. How do you do it?

Ok so, there’s two ways of going about creating your own Glow in the Dark Ping-Pong.. One way is the; UV way. There are specific paints that only light up under a Ultra Violet Light. So if you’re going to go about it this way, you’ll need to be able to change your light bulbs to specific UV light bulbs. This could still take place outside, using the outside lighting or inside. UV Light Bulbs are pretty inexpensive to buy so it won’t blow the budget too much, and pretty easy to source via Ebay or Amazon.

Once you’ve changed the light bulbs over, the fun starts! Make sure you remove any valuables if you’re doing it inside, you don’t want a rogue flying ping pong ball smashing your precious vase! If you have an actual Table Tennis table then go for it, if not then you’ll need a big table with lots of space around it.

You can either use paper, bits of card or fabric for this next part. Cut out the outline of the Table Tennis table, something like the picture here. Now this may get a little messy. If you’ve opted for the UV version, then you’ll need to grab some UV Paint to start painting your chosen material. If you’re just going for the normal Glow in the Dark option, then you’ll need some normal Glow in the Dark Paint. It’s probably a job better done outside, so if I were you I’d lay some Newspaper down so you don’t make too much of a mess! Now paint over the cut outs you’ve made. Make sure you layer it on quite thick, as you won’t be able to see the paint when it comes out, you’ll only be able to see it working in the dark or under the UV Light.

Once you’ve left the paint to dry, you’re ready to properly turn an empty, dull, lifeless table into a work of Glowing awesomeness! So grab yourself some sticky tape, and stick down your Table Tennis outline. You don’t have to go and splash out on a fancy Table Tennis net either, just tape down some more Glow in the Dark tape like before, and voila!

Now for the bats, go for the same method as before; cut an outline in your chosen material and paint over it using either the UV Paint or the Glow in the Dark Paint. And as for the Ping Pong Ball, well they come pretty cheap so I’m sure it won’t break the bank if you cover this one in a load of paint. So just pick your colour and coat it in the paint! Simple!

You could go old school and grab a black board and with some funky chalks keep a track of the scores!

How about.. Glow in the Dark Pimms Pong!

So of course, you’ve all heard of the infamous ‘Beer Pong’. We’ve all seen it, and shamelessly played it but have you tried it with a twist? Well firstly, let’s make it a little classier by changing the name from Beer Pong, to Pimms Pong. Has a ring to it doesn’t it?.. To start with you need to grab a load of plastic cups, you could opt for all the same size, or make it a little trickier and go for a variation in sizes. Now using some of the Glow Bracelets, connect one together using a plastic connector and place them at the bottom of the cups. The tubes of 50 or 100 Bracelets come in a variety of colours so you could make things a little more competitive and colour code the game,  so that different colours mean different points. Now paint your Ping Pong ball in UV Paint, or Glow in the dark paint and Bobs your uncle, Glow in the Dark Beer Pong is underway!

You could even cheat and save the hassle of connecting Glow Sticks, and just go straight for the glow with some funky Glow in the Dark cups. Just simply push the button and away you go, you’ve got yourself a funky, flashing LED Glow in the Dark Cup. If you want to make it into a full Glow in the Dark Bonanza, why not go the full hog and ensure everybody’s drinking through a Glow in the Dark straw, with a nice cooling LED Ice cube to top it off!

So get your Tennis Whites on (they’ll really glow under a UV light!) and get playing!

The end of the school year is approaching, the kids are all excitable at the thought of the Summer Hols, and you’re probably looking forward to the break also! But before everybody ventures off on their holidays it’s time to celebrate the end of term with a bang!

Licensing

All schools will have a Centre for Education and Finance Management license which will cover the school for all of their curricular activities. However, as the disco will be outside of curriculum hours the school will need to hold a Music license, many schools do have this so just do a little check and make sure. This particular license covers the school for all played music outside of the curriculum hours, so for example if you’re planning on holding a school fete, fundraising event, future discos, after-school clubs that run later so if you’re school doesn’t have one of these licenses it may be worth enquiring to get your school one as they’re pretty beneficial.

Booking A Venue

Ideally you’d most likely want to hold the disco on school premises, it will save a lot of time, hassle and expense. So just check the licensing for your school as previously stated. If not, then have a search around your local area for venues, there’s bound to be plenty of sports halls, church halls, community halls in your local area that are available to be booked out for a one-off evening. The price will be reasonably cheap too, most places will offer discount if you state it’s a fundraising event.

Booking A DJ

Make sure you book your DJ well in advance, bare in mind the time of year you’re planning on holding the Disco. If it’s nearing the Christmas period, a lot of DJ’s will be booked up, and for example the summer season, tends to be wedding season, as well there being lots of festivals, and music gigs going on. A good website to check out local DJ’s in your area is Netmums You can select your area, and sift through the hundreds of DJ’s, kids entertainers etc. Finding a DJ specific to the kind of party you want to throw is vital, make sure they specialise in kids parties and kids discos, they’ll know the deal in regards to music, games, and creating a fun, exciting atmosphere for the kids!

Marketing & Tickets

Creating marketing material can be a tricky one, especially if you haven’t done it before. A great website to use is Canva It’s really simple and easy to use, they also provide lots of templates and a step-by-step guide on how to use everything. Just make sure the posters are really bright, colourful and to the point, you’ve got an easy target audience who will get excited by anything that looks outrageously bright and appealing! You could encourage the teachers to give mentions about the disco in morning registration, and maybe even get out and speak to the parents when they come to collect their kids for home time. If the kids are too young to handle money, it’s probably an idea to encourage the parents to come in to the Office and purchase a ticket on behalf of their little ones. It’ll save the lose of tickets, money and upset children!

It’s best to get kids to buy their tickets in advance, then you can monitor how many people need to be staffing the event. When tickets are purchased, make sure a parent or guardians contact details are taken. And when the kids arrive at the disco, they’re tickets are collected, and they sign in.

One suggestion is to include something in the ticket price, maybe a free glow stick or glow novelty, food or drink. It’ll make it more value for money, and the kids will get excited at the thought of a ‘free’ Glow Stick!

Decorating the Venue

The opportunities are endless when it comes to using Glow Sticks to decorate a venue. Start by blackening the room as much as possible; switch off the lights, close all the curtains. (Just make sure you can still see what you’re doing!). You could decorate the room using these flashing LED Balloons, tie a bundle of balloons together to make a cluster of colour to hang in the corners of the room. You could even make a flashing LED Balloon entrance to hang over the doorway, for when all the kids arrive. Or how about making a flashing LED Balloon walkway leading to the hall or venue, just tie some string to the balloons and hang them from the trees leading up the pathway.

Another idea is an old simple favourite. Remember making Paper chains, cutting out the bits of paper, gluing them together and making the longest chain humanly possible. It used to look really effective! What about swapping the paper for Glow Sticks, it’s a much simpler way and far less time-consuming. The Glow bracelets come with little connectors, so all you need to do is link the bracelets, and pop the connectors on to secure them! Hang them around the room to create a really effective glow!

Tuck Shops OR a ‘Healthy Food’ Tuck Shop

If there’s one thing that’s certain, kids love a Tuck shop, all that fizzy pop and sugar, but you know what that inevitably means? Hyper, crazy kids. Yes it’s a Disco, and if kids can’t run wild at a Disco, then when can they? However, the World is becoming more and more health-conscious than ever so why not set up a ‘Healthy Food’ Tuck Shop. Trying to get the little ones to eat Fruit is a lot harder than getting them to devour a bag of Marsh mellows, however it’s all in the disguising ;).

Serving fruit on little BBQ style skewers is one option, or you could even arrange some fruit in little cupcake cases. Or how about ice cream cones without the ice cream! Just fill the cones with lots of yummy fresh strawberries, and maybe a teeny tiny sprinkle of chocolate. They won’t even notice the difference! And of course, all that dancing and running around, they’ll certainly be gasping for a nice cool refreshing drink! Cranberry Juice Sangria (non-alcoholic of course) is a great healthy alternative to fizzy, sugar filled drinks. Just throw a load of Cranberry Juice and big chunky bits of fruit into a jug, and there you have it! You could even serve the Sangria with some Glow in the Dark straws or Glow in the Dark Ice Cubes, a novelty the kids will love!

Click here to check out some more healthy treats!

Goodies

So you’ve set up your Tuck shop, be it healthy or not! What about if the kids are too young to handle money? One idea is to include a free drink and snack of their choice from the Tuck shop. You could also include a free Glow novelty or Glow stick when the kids arrive. Just make the cost of the entry fee a little bit more expensive to cover the costs. Glow Sticks are cheap and cheerful, and kids go absolutely crazy for them. If the kids are old enough to handle money, you could have a little Glow novelty stall, selling all kinds of funky, glowing fun; Glow Caps, Glow Tiaras etc..

Glow sticks and Glow novelties are a great way to make a little bit more profit to add to the fundraising.

Lucky Dip

As well as having a Glow Novelty stall, you could include a ‘Lucky Dip’ bucket. So just source a big bucket or container, wrap up various different Glow products in some funky wrapping paper, or you could get savvy and use Newspaper, and then just fill the container full with lots of wrapped up goodies. The kids will love the suspense of not knowing what prize they’re going to get, and then the surprise of getting something awesome like a Glow Cap, Tiara or Glasses!

Dance Competitions

What better way is there to get the kids moving and grooving than a Dance competition? For example; Musical Statues is always a winner, or you could even set up a Dance-off. Just make sure it doesn’t get too competitive, you don’t want unhappy children! You could include glow stick prizes for each children that takes part to keep it fair. If you’ve hired a DJ that specifically hosts kids parties and discos, they’ll know the score in regards to what gets the kids grooving! Take a look at one of our previous blog posts; Glow in the Dark Games, for some more glow in the dark party games and ideas.

So there you have it, everything you need to know about hosting a School Disco. We hope you’ve found it helpful.

Happy Disco Planning!

Back in the 1960’s,  a Glow Sticks original purpose was to benefit the Sailing Branch of the Military for Experimental Bombs, and creating targets for airstrikes. As well as being a much safer alternative to the traditional flare. The 60’s was clearly a bright decade, as it was also around the time the LED or Light Emitting Diode was discovered by James R Biard and Gary Pittman. Because of the expense of the LED, they were only used in highly professional laboratory equipment, but since the 70’s, the price has dropped dramatically, and LED’s have slowly found their way into a heap of different things; flash lights, office lamps, giant advertising signs, Christmas Lights etc.

Nowadays Glow Sticks are typically used for Music Concerts, Festivals, Discos, Parties, Night Time Fundraising Events, 90’s Raves the list could go on and on. And it’s not all about the bog standard Glow Stick anymore either, oh no! There’s tons of variations on the standard Glow Stick, Glow Stick Caps, Glow Stick Glasses, Glow Stick Tiaras, Glow Stick Ear Rings.. And as for LED’s, they’ve found their way into all sorts of kids toys and novelties.

But have you ever thought about getting savvy, and jazzing up or should I say glowing up your house? What about a bit of Glow in the Dark Interior Design. It’s pretty effective you know!

How about creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere for the evening with some Glow in the Dark Balls. Just dim the lights, and place a few around the room. They’re really effective, and even glow for up to 12 hours.

These LED Fibre Optic Wands, are the perfect centrepiece for you’re Dinner Party. Just simply press the button to change between six modes, including colour-changing slow wave, flashing and intense static colours. So one suggestion you could do is grab a handful of the Optic Wands, place them all in a nice vase, set them to the static colour theme of your Dinner Party, and there you have a perfect, eye-catching centre-piece!

As well as the Fibre Optic table-pieces, you could also decorate the table with some LED Tea lights. The base is finished in a stylish glitter effect in either Gold, Silver or Red and when activated the LED golden flame flickers gently and looks amazing in the dark. The Tea Lights remain cool to the touch, so if you’ve got any little one’s running around and causing chaos, you don’t need to worry about the possibility of burnt hands!

Why not bring a little ‘Beauty and the Beast’ into your home, and decorate your living space, or dining area with these funky free standing, metal effect base and wax-look candle. The strong LED flickers gently, and looks incredibly realistic. It also remains cool to the touch, so it’s family friendly!

You could even subtly decorate the room with a few LED iLLoom Balloons. In particular the white balloons would make for a really effective look to help brighten up the room and create a delicate atmosphere. The iLLooms are super easy to inflate, and batteries are included.

We hope we’ve given you a few ideas to get creative and brighten up your home.

These Glow Novelties won’t break the bank, and it’s a super effective way of creating a welcoming and warm atmosphere, especially if you’re planning on hosting a Dinner party for the evening.

Enjoy!

It’s that time of year where we celebrate those special men in our lives. Sunday 18th June is of course Father’s Day! That’s this weekend, so If you’re running a bit behind and haven’t managed to pick up a pair of socks or a card for your Pa, we’ve got you covered! We’ve put together this simple Fathers Day Glow Stick craft to really show your Dad how much he means to you! Nothing shows you’re love and appreciation like a home-made gift.

All you need to do is to get hold of a template and print it out. You could design your own by hand, on the computer or you’re welcome to download our free printable version.

Dig out a hole punch and make a hole in the top and the bottom. Snap a Glow Stick to get that glow, and pop it through the holes. Don’t forget to write your message on the back. And there it is! A simple, original Father’s Day Glow Stick craft that anyone can make.

You could even present your craft alongside treating your Dad to a nice cooked breakfast in bed, he’d definitely appreciate that!

We’d love to see some of your home-made designs, upload your images along with a special shout-out to your Pa to one of our Social Media channels, via our Facebook page or Instagram and Twitter just use #Glowtopia.

P.S. Did we mention that we can arrange same-day dispatch if you order some Glow Sticks before 2pm? No order is too big or too small.

Happy Crafting!

The School Summer Holidays are fast approaching, and we’re hoping for a warm and sunny one this year! It’s time to dig out those old camping chairs, the whistling kettle, plastic forks and get on down to the coast for some good old fashioned back to nature, outdoorsy, typically English holiday!

We think there’s nothing better than bundling a load of essentials into the boot of your car and setting off for a weekend of walking, swimming, hiking and being at one with nature and the great outdoors.

We want to make sure your all kitted out for your camping excursion, so we’ve come up with a list of 10 absolutely essential Glow Stick hacks for your expedition!

Glow in the Dark Tent Pegs

As soon as the sun goes down, it gets a little scary out there, trying to locate the toilet, whilst ensuring to not trip up over your own tent pegs and lines. We’ve got the perfect solution. Our 4” Glow sticks last for 12-24 hours, they’re perfect little tools for you to stick into the ground around your tent pegs, and even hang across the doorway to your tent so you can find your way back in! Here’s another little hack, if you’ve got a few empty beer bottles from last night’s BBQ, place the glow stick inside one of these, it will really help it make the most of its glow.

Glow Stick Walkway

You could get the kids involved in creating a Glow Stick lit walkway to and from the toilet, so at night time they feel at little more at ease. You could also use Glow sticks to set boundaries around your campsite so the kids don’t go wondering off too far, or around the campfire to make sure they don’t get too close!

Mystical Fire Sachets

So you’ve spent the entire day venturing, and exploring, the sunlight’s starting to fade, it’s getting a little cooler outside and the kids are getting hungry! It’s time to get the fire going. But… Have you ever seen a fire burn vibrant colours of blue, green, purple and red before? You must! These Mystical Fire dust sachets create a vibrant colourful blend in the flames of your log fire, camp-fire, pit or BBQ. If used outside on wood burning fires, it has an attractive slow burn that lasts up to an hour. Who needs a TV? That’ll keep the kids entertained whilst the dinners on the go! Just make sure you use it safely and cautiously. You’ll certainly be the talk of the campsite.

Glow in the Dark Balls

Purely because they look pretty, these Glow in the Dark Balls are perfect for jazzing up your campsite, place them on the ground around some tables and chairs to create the ambiance for the evening.

Campsite games

Get everyone working up a real appetite with some fun Glow in the Dark Outdoor Games. Glow in the Dark Hoopla is great for everyone. You can either use our 12” Glow sticks as targets or you can really be inventive, so firstly get everyone out on a scout for some big old sticks, (or small ones if you want the game to be a little more challenging), push them into the ground standing up right. Now attach some of our 8″ Glow Bracelets together using the connectors, to make it a little easier you can connect two or three glow sticks together. You can also set the ‘throwing line’ boundaries using some glow sticks. Away you go! Our Glow in the Dark Hoopla Pack has everything you need to get going!

 LED Tea Lights

So the BBQ’s cranked up, and you’re cooking up a storm. Our LED Tea Lights are the perfect meal time addition. They look realistic, and you don’t have to have any worries if the kids are running around a little crazy, these LED Tea Lights remain cool to the touch, so there’s no danger of any little mishaps! Even the base is finished in a stylish glitter effect in Gold, Silver or Red! Because they’re LED they can be used inside or outside so it’s great for mealtimes with the family, or for a romantic evening in just the two of you!

Glow Stick Candles

As an alternative to the LED Tea Lights are these funky Glow Stick Candles. Similar to your standard Glow stick these candles are so simple to use, just snap and shake! They come in Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow and Pink, so you can take your pick. Place them around the campfire and get everyone involved in a good old fashioned campfire singalong!

Glow in the Dark Ice Cubes

Make your refreshing beverage a little jazzier with these vibrant Glow in the Dark Blue Ice Cubes. You can place them straight into your drink, or make up a big bowl of tasty punch (alcoholic or non-alcoholic!). You could even grab a few and throw them into an Ice cooler of Wine or Beer, they’ll definitely brighten up the campsite!

Glow in the Dark Cups

And what better accomplice to some Glow in the Dark Ice cubes than a Glow in the Dark Cup! Just simply push the button and away you go, you’ve got yourself a funky, flashing LED Glow in the Dark Cup. You could even grab a few, and start up a game of Glow in the Dark Beer pong. Or if you’re feeling mighty creative, you could even create your own Beer Pong using Glow Sticks. Just grab some ordinary plastic cups and some of our 8” Glow Bracelets, snap them, link them together and either place them at the bottom of the cup, or wrap around the rim of the cup. Bobs your uncle, Glow in the Dark Beer Pong is underway!

Glow in the Dark Straws

We really have got your covered when it comes to brightening up your drink! Add one of these cool Glow Straws to any drink, they’re sold in packs of six, and available in mixed colours so there’s enough to go around the whole family. They even last for up to six hours.

Be the talking point of the Campsite!

We hope we’ve given you some ideas and inspired you to venture out on your next camping expedition. Have fun!

The Full Moon Party first began on Koh Phangan Island in the early 80’s.

There’s no actual factual proof of how it all began, just word of mouth. It’s been heard through the grapevine that a bunch of hippies gathered around a campfire on Haad Rin Beach, singing, drinking and not really taking life too seriously, this carried on until the early hours.

For some reason, news spread about this ‘meeting of travellers’, and gradually year by year more and more travellers began to surface and gather on Haad Rin Beach.

The local people decided to take advantage of this influx of hungry and thirsty travelers, so they made it a commercialized event, opening up local businesses, such as bars, cafes, shops and restaurants all across the 20km strip.

People now travel from across the globe to Koh Phangan for this multicultural event, as well as other related events; Half Moon, Quarter Moon etc. Nowadays there’s approximately 5,000–30,000 visitors every full moon evening. Many travelers will predominantly base their trip to South-East Asia around this spectacle.

But if you’re not really overly keen on hopping on a flight across the globe just for one evening of celebrations, we’ve come up with a way you and the kids can celebrate the full moon!

So How Can We Celebrate The Full Moon?

The next Full Moon falls on 9th June 2017, and following on from that on 24th June is the New Moon..

So why should the all the party fuelled travellers of Thailand get all the fun,  we want in too!

An Open Air Swimming Pool in Yorkshire is celebrating the New Moon by keeping the pool open until midnight, and offering late night swims! But guess what the added bonus is? There’s Glow Sticks! What a fantastic way to keep fit this summer, keep the kids entertained for hours it’s great for all the family too. It’s okay if they have one late night this summer isn’t it?

We think it’s a great idea, and we hope the word will spread just like the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan!

But don’t let the kids be too disheartened if you’re local swimming pool hasn’t cottoned on yet. Just take a leap out of Kanye West’s book you can bring the pool to you! Just run the little ones a warm bath , and throw some Glow Sticks in! Perfect! There’s no better way to get them more enthused about Bath time!

If you’re more outdoorsy, and looking forward to spending more time outside this Summer, you could always put that paddling pool that’s been cooped up in the Garage collecting cobwebs to good use! You can even get even more Glow Sticky.. and kit yourself out with all the gear, Glow Necklaces, Glow Bracelets, Glow Ear Rings.. The opportunities are endless!

Happy Splashing!

Here at Glowtopia, we’re all about that festival glow stick fun, and we know you are as well. To make sure that you feel a constant flow of glow in the dark inspiration wafting through your pleasure centre, we’re here to flood you with the most epic inspiration, so that your festival experience this year, can be bigger, better, and glowier! Bet you never knew that was a word….

So now you’re totally stoked about your upcoming bigger, better and glowier festival experience this year, we’d better tell you how to make that happen!

Here are Glowtopia’s favourite festival accessories…

Glow stick bracelets

If there’s one thing that is a priority at festivals, it’s holding one, two or five drinks (lemonade of course) at a time, and keeping them safe until you drink them. Your hands are so important, for this exact reason. So that means that there isn’t necessarily a hand free for a fun glow in the dark accessory. The solution? Glow stick bracelets! They’ll hang around your wrist looking super cool so you can do what you want with your hands! Awesome right?

Glow candles

Real life candles just don’t have it in them to survive the glorious British summer weather (all of the rain) that usually blesses festivals. That makes finding your way around a dark campsite at night, or fumbling around for those all important wet wipes in your tent, really tricky. Sure there’s torches, but they cost a ton of money and they’re not nearly as fun as glow stick candles!

Glow necklaces

If there’s one thing you need at festivals, it’s your head. Right? To talk, and laugh and sing and all that jazz. So, why not give that whole neck/ face area a bit of bling and wear loads of glow stick necklaces? Your head deserves it really.

Glow in the dark glasses

Planning a ‘school’ themed night out at the festival? You can’t be a geek without glasses! And only the best geeks wear glow in the dark glasses! Alternatively, wear them to help you see the acts better. We can’t in any way guarantee this will work but, you’ll look great while you’re trying!

Glow straws

When the pre-party or after party begins back at the tent, your priority is being able to see your drinks, above anything else. What better way to do that than with glow straws!

Glow in the dark ball

Glow in the dark bowling, football, catch and of course down on one knee – perfect festival games for you and your friends to enjoy to make the most of the fun nighttime atmosphere.

LED Sound Reactive Glases

If there’s one place that LED sound reactive glasses are going to work perfectly, it is at a festival. They flash along to any music beat, so whether you’re bopping to Beyonce or twerking to Tinie Tempah, your glasses are guaranteed to be dancing right there with you.

LED Flashing Tambourine

Clearly, festivals are all about getting back to your ancestral roots, being at one with the earth, knitting your own happiness etc etc. So, get involved with the rhythm of life with an LED flashing tambourine, just like your ancestors did (honestly they did).

LED Mini Fan

We don’t want to get your hopes up and suggest it might be a dry hot summer full of festivals where, short shorts are justified and you might even… get too hot (optimism guys!) but it might happen. If it does, and you’re standing there sweating between other festival goers waiting for your favourite act to come on, then how are you going to find your mini fan to cool you down? There’s no way you could find it with your hands, but if its LED…. you can see it! This is total adulting. Hi five!

UV Paints

If you’re going to a festival that has a ton of black lights, then you kind of have to wear UV paints. It’s, kind of festival law. So, you’ll want to stock up on some good quality UV paints to get yourself ready to light up the tent under those black lights.

We have:

UV face and body paint

UV hair streaks

UV fabric paint

UV lipstick

UV glitter body gel

UV mascara

UV nail paint

UV hair chalk

And more…. So your look can be completely UV ready if you want it to be. Maybe you’ll go tribal, perhaps animal is more your thing, or maybe even UV zombie! Whatever UV look you choose, we’ve absolutely got you covered with our UV paints and festival accessories.

Glow Paints

Glow paints glow without UV lights and react under UV lights as well, so there’s no black light needed for you to stand out with our glow paints. We have glow paint, glow nail polish and glow hair gel, so you can light up the exciting dark festival nights in whatever way you want to! It will easily wet wipe off the next day as well, if you want it to that is!

Festival Glow Pack

If you want all your glow in the dark fun ready and set up for you, and you want it at a crazy low price for four people, then you need to take advantage of our festival glow pack. You get:

10 X 12 inch mega glow batons

4 X glow caps

4 X glow glasses

50 X glow bracelets

2 X glow paint sticks

2 X glow hair gel

If that isn’t enough to get you and your friends completely set up for a festival, then nothing ever will be. This is the ultimate pack for a bigger, better, glowier festival experience guys, don’t miss out!

Hopefully you are feeling totally inspired by our incredible list of some of our favourite festival accessories. From UV glasses, to brilliant glow bracelets, there’s loads of choice to help make your festival bigger, better and glowier! You just have to glow for it now!

Glowsticking is a form of dance where the performer uses glow sticks, or LED sticks to enhance their performance. Think of fire eating, ribbon dancing or poi but with glow sticks.

There are two different types of glowsticking, stringed or non-stringed.

Stringed Glowsticking

Stringed glowsticking is where the performer dances with a glow stick or glow sticks attached to strings, allowing a wider range of movement and expression. The wide range of movements, styles and concepts have a lot in common with other arts that involve stringing, such as yo-yoing, martial arts and rope darts which are all performed with an instrument at the end of a string. Some people use handles to greater increase the range of movement available.

One of the trickiest things to learn if you get into stringed glowsticking is how to tie your strings. This video tutorial goes into more depth about how to get it right.

Freehand Glowsticking

Freehand glowsticking can often be confused with things like juggling. But if someone chose to juggle with glow sticks you may be tempted to call it glowsticking – but that wouldn’t be correct. Only when glow sticks relate to dancing, is the act considered to be glow sticking. Freehand glowsticking doesn’t involve strings and there are lots of movements and concepts involved in the art. Terms you might come across in relation to freehand glowsticking are:

• Tracing (where the person runs the glow sticks along their body)
• Taps
• Tossing
• Stalls
• Threading
• Figure-Eight

Check out these incredible examples of glowsticking:

The History of Glowsticking

Glowsticking is said to have started out in the 80’s in New York and in the UK. In the 90’s it became more widespread and popular in the rave scene, although glow sticks were also used for glow wars many years before. Since then, it has become most common at festivals and in the electronic dance scene.

Some claim that glowsticking is the ancient cultural art of poi but with added glow sticks, suggest that glowsticking actually has roots going hundreds of years back into New Zealand history.

The truth is that glow sticking did originate from the poi art form, because those practising poi performed at raves using glow sticks and many poi moves are used. But, glow sticking purists will say there are specific movements that only come from the art form. Whilst a performer might integrate some poi techniques, glowsticking is an art form stands in its own right, with its own set of moves and rules.

The art of glow sticking continues to grow and be enjoyed by many people in many different settings and cultures. If you’re interested in learning the art yourself, you can find a lot of tips at www.glowsticking.com. Or simply checkout the many glowsticking videos available on Youtube, which are super fun to watch, even if you don’t fancy having a go yourself.

Buy glowsticks for glowsticking here

Yoga is fabulous for you, which is why the practice gets recreated in so many different ways. You can do hot yoga, aerial yoga, goat yoga (yes really!) and of course, glow stick yoga. Operating just like normal yoga, but with a touch of glow in the dark fun, this practise will have you positively desperate to do your vinyasa in combination with the latest yoga trend.

First Things First, Why Is Yoga Good For You?

Yoga comes in many forms, and there are many different yoga practises, all of which are great for your body in different ways. In the past, a person would dedicate themselves to becoming a yogi, learning the lifestyle and culture of a yogi and committing to the philosophy. As a general rule, each yoga pose has a different name and will include things like twists, backbends, postures and movements. Every posture and movement is said to have a benefit, and the practise is always related to breathing techniques and meditation.

There are many benefits to yoga. Here are just some of them:

Calms The Mind & Boosts The Mood

Yoga is deeply related to meditation and breathing, and is known to lower your stress levels and boost your mood. During a yoga session you should be able to dull a busy mind. Deep stretch yoga leaves you feeling like you have had a deep tissue massage, of both the body and the soul.

Improves Confidence

Meditation improves the connection you have with your mind and body, boosting your mood and your confidence. The idea relates to a deeper connection with yourself and others which in turn gives you a higher appreciation of yourself and others.

Low Risk For Injuries

Yoga is all about building strength and lengthening the muscles, it isn’t designed to be high impact so performing yoga isn’t high risk for most people. It also builds strength so it builds your ability to avoid injury in everyday life.

Improves Muscle Tone & Strength

Yoga is designed to strengthen and lengthen all the muscles in your body. Throughout each pose and vinyasa you are encouraged to always keep every single part of your body engaged in your practise.

The Benefits Of Glow Stick Yoga

Now you know why yoga is so good for you, you can get excited about glow in the dark yoga! Aptly named ‘Glowga’, the practice involves a yoga class being taken under neon and black lights with participants and teachers wearing UV body paint, and glow stick bracelets and accessories, not to mention awesome glow in the dark leggings.

Take a look at #glowga on IG and you will instantly see why it is such a hit (and probably find yourself searching for the nearest class where you are). Some classes even put on music to enhance the atmosphere.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQYQW3oD_1f/?tagged=glowga

The benefits of doing yoga this way (apart from the fact it looks super cool) are far reaching. You get all the benefits of yoga plus, there’s the extra sensory stimulation of practising in the dark, so your awareness of your surroundings change. All of your senses are heightened and the glow from the bracelets and glow in the dark paint adds an extra surreal and almost dream like element to the practice, as well as a connection with the meditative theme of the flow.

Add Glow To Your Flow

Why not give glow stick yoga a go? At the very least you’ll get to experience a brand new way of enjoying yoga, and at the most, you’ll have a revitalised love for the practise. Namaste! 

Festival body paint is always fun to use, and it looks great as well. These days you can’t go to a festival without seeing all kinds of creative looks using glow in the dark body paint. People covered in pretty pink UV flowers, animal prints, multicoloured tribal looks and everything weird and wonderful in between.

If you’ve always been curious about blinging up your skin with UV festival paint, then this short guide on how to wear it will have you well prepared to ‘glow wild’ with glow in the dark body paint at your next festival.

What Is UV Body Paint?

UV body paint is paint containing skin-friendly ingredients, so it is safe for use on the skin, although you should always eyes and broken skin. The body paint is also made to be sweat-resistant and to remain durable whilst you dance the night away.

Although it is durable, you should expect to be able to wash the festival body paint off easily when you want to take it off your skin. Warm water, or a moist wet wipe should remove it effectively.

UV body paint will often come in a wide range of colours, and of course it is designed to glow in the dark, or glow under UV lighting. The most common UV paint colours are yellow, pink, green, blue and orange.

Preparing For Application

It’s a good idea to create an area for application where things like soft furnishings are protected. Most UV body paint does wash out of clothing but, it might be trickier to get out of things you can’t wash, like the sofa. Ideally, you’ll be in a lovely field alongside your tent and friends, sun shining, epic lineup beckoning… (can we come?!).

Planning A Look

You could of course, get a mirror and get creative with your UV body paint application. Or, you could even paint each other if you’re with friends. If they paint something on you you don’t want, you can easily wet wipe their ‘art’ off and reapply. You might also want to do a bit of research and plan a ‘look’ for the group. Ideas for glow in the dark body paint could be:

• Animals
• Tribal
• Flower power
• Mexican Day Of The Dead
• Stars
• UV Henna
• Hawaian
• Jungle

You might be tempted to match your UV body paint with an outfit, which is a great idea, just remember that in the dark the only parts of your ‘look’ that will be visible will be the glow in the dark bits. So if you want your rabbit ears to go with your UV body paint, you need to make sure those ears are glow in the dark as well. With UV body paint, you can go really wild, as subtle just doesn’t work with this kind of body art, you really do need to just ‘glow for it’!.

Now It’s Time To Have Fun!

Now you’ve prepped your application area, and planned your look, you can enjoy applying your UV body paint!