Light it Up! { Fun DIY Light }

Winter seems to be fast approaching these days and with the arrival of winter, it gets dark a whole lot earlier. And, with darkness and kiddies still awake, it makes for a fantastic opportunity to shed some light in a more fun (and DIY) way.

So, today, I’ll be sharing an idea I came across the other day on how to make your own DIY light that is fun for the kids and for you and will give you something to do on an evening when you are looking for a fun activity to do with your kids!

You will need:

• Balloons – you can choose the colour and number of balloons you would like.
• Stockings – yes, I’m afraid Mom will have to give up a few pairs for this DIY project, but it will be worth the smiles! The number of stockings to use would be equivalent to the number of balloons / 2, so one pair of stocking will yield 2 lights.
• Glow Sticks – the number of balloon lights you would like to make is the number of glow sticks you will need.
• Water

Now, for the fun part!

• Separate your pair of stockings into 2 separate pieces. If only making one light, store the second piece somewhere safe for use another evening you need to make a light. Could come in handy if load-shedding takes place.
• Fill up balloon with water.
• Drop / slide a glow stick into the balloon.
• Tie the balloon closed.
• Slide the balloon into the stocking.
• Head on outside and tie the stocking to a tree or branch or high-ish fixture and voila! You have light and I’m sure a great deal of excitement from the little ones.

Alternative ideas:

• If you aren’t really keen on sacrificing your stockings, don’t worry! Ignore the stocking steps above and use the balloons as is. Place somewhere in a dark room or even better, in the bath when lights are off so they can float around or place outside in the pool.
• Instead of using a stocking to hang from a tree or high fixture, tie a piece of string to the balloon and use the string to tie it to the tree, branch and / or high fixture – this works just as well!
• If not keen on using a string or stocking, you can always consider hanging the pools with pegs (carefully) to the washline.
• Roll them around your house (make 100% sure they are tied well) and be prepared for the odd mishap, so have a towel handy in case a balloon pops.
• Try balloons with different patterns on them – this creates some variety and different effects which, let’s be honest, is pretty cool!

Side Note

• This is a fun activity for young and old. It works well even as a party trick or activity when you have guests around with kids for dinner i.e. it’s a fantastic way to keep kids busy and having fun.
• Get creative with this project. Use different colours balloons or white balloons with different coloured glow sticks and turn your garden, home, bathroom, etc into a glowing area of colours!
• Don’t overfill the balloons with water. If not keen on using water or you would prefer to make the balloon a bit lighter, you can opt on blowing the balloon up first and pushing the glow stick through – it may take a few tries, but will work well too.