Snow Globe SUCCESS!

We had Miss M's birthday party today and it was a roaring (if exhausting for Mama) success. I'm especially pleased that the snow globes worked out properly :-)

Each kid got to choose one (or more if they would fit) plastic creatures to place in their bottle.

Next they chose their glitter and glass, and poured it in. I had opalescent stars, big blue glitter bits, silver glitter bits, blue and silver stars. I also had "sea" glass in clear and aqua.

I added about a teaspoon of Glycerin [after a long hunt we finally found it at our local craft store in the baking department -- drug stores do not carry this in the US anymore], and filled the bottles to the rim with water. For the kids who chose creatures that needed to be hot-glued to the lid, rather than swimmers, I filled the bottles a bit less than full.

To seal the bottles I squeezed out a ribbon of hot glue all the way around the inside of the lids before sealing tightly. A few of the snow globes didn't seal as well as expected (I called these The Leakers), so I sealed the outer rim of the lid with another ribbon of hot glue. This isn't as pretty, but it works.

I'd done a trial run a few days ago that didn't go as well. If you want to know what not to do, read this.

>> Update Nov.30th, 2006: The folks at Kiddley have posted a slightly different take on this today. I like the idea of trying superglue instead of using the ol' hot glue gun.

>> Update Dec.5th, 2007: Martha Stewart also has this project up online with a Christmas theme.

>> Update Nov. 22nd, 2008: Gretchen over at Cocktail Mom's had the inspired idea to use Aquarium sealer with great success. I'm going to try that next time because I think that will have a more permanent seal.

Comments

[Stephanie]

Way cool! My daughter would love that project for her birthday - Thanks for sharing!
Stephanie of
Forks and Chopsticks
The Written Word and now
Me So Crafty

[Erin]

I agree - what a fun idea! I've passed this on to my sister, who's an elementary teacher. This could make a great holiday project for her glass!

[Chelsea]

This is great! I just stumbled upon your "How not to make a snowglobe" entry and it made me laugh! And I love glitter too, for no real reason. Maybe I was a crow or something in a past life. But anyways, I'm off to make my own last minute snowglobes for Christmas, and your tutorial is oh so helpful. Happy Holidays!

[CrankMama]

Hi There,
I just found your site and LOVE it!! I'm blogging this piece at Stroller Derby tomorrow. Check it out...

Http://www.strollerderby.com

Thanks!
RAchael

[madparkermom]

Hi! I love this idea and am planning to supervise this for my daughter's 3rd grade class for an upcoming holiday craft activity; but help! Every time I try to add the glitter and a drop or two of baby oil to the water so the 'snow will fall slower' the glitter clumps! Would glycerin versus baby oil affect this better? I've read that some people have used distilled water--is this and possibly the temperature of the water more likely to reduce clumping? I'm using baby food jars that have been thoroughly cleaned, but I keep running into this problem despite trying different water temperatures.Please email me with any suggestions! Thanks!

[Veronique]

Glycerine is what worked for us. Drugstores don't sell it anymore, so check with your local crafts store. Baby oil will end up just floating if you are adding it to the water (think vinaigrette).

Good luck!

[Laurie]

Great tutorial and idea. I featured it on Tip Junkie today! Thanks for the inspiration.

[Gretchen Skovron]

I recently made these myself and used aquarium sealer.
http://cocktailmoms.blogspot.com/2008/11/snow-globes.html

[Jean]

I'm going to try using polyseamseal. It's used for caulking and is available at hardware stores. I think it'll work really well.