Add glow sticks to bathwater for psychedelic water play

Chris must have bathed my kids in a past life...they'd faint with happiness if I did this.

Toss a couple of glow sticks in the tub, and turn off the lights. Voila, a mutlicolored glow in the dark bath!

Related: Glow sticks last longer when stored in a Ziploc bag

Comments

[Elana]

Screw the kids. I'm doing this for my next bath (Sunday, perhaps? :-D)

[marykz]

just FYI- sometimes the plastic covering of these crack and leak whatever the goo is inside them. harmless, I think, but definitely weird: you could end up with glow in the dark splashes all over the walls..... my friend with "active" boys had glow in the dark kids b/c they were using the glow sticks like lightsabers/ swords and shaking them all over. the kids glowed, the kitchen glowed, and so did the couch. they didn't realize the goo had leaked until bedtime...

[Parent Hacks Editor]

Marykz: Glow-in-the-dark children? That's worth breaking the glow sticks on purpose.

[Jill]

What is the stuff, and IS it harmless for kids? I wore one as a necklace at a concert once and it cracked leaving me with a glow-in-the-dark chest for TWO days. I'm ok with glowing breasts for me (kinda kinky), but I'm not sure I'd want my kids glowing.

[Stephanie]

I am not sure if glow stick technology has changed since the late 70's but when I was a 11 or so, I cut open a green glow stick and got that stuff in my eyes. It burned more then I can even tell you. In a complete panic, I tried washing it out of my eyes on my own. I didn't want to tell my parents because I knew they would clobber me if (when) they found out I did something so stupid. Well, the burning wouldn't stop. I couldn't even open my eyes. My parents ended up rushing me to the emergency room where I had my eyes irrigated for what seemed like a century. It was so awful. Luckily no damage came to my eyes. Moral of the story; teach your kids not to mess around with things in ways they aren't intended for.

[Parent Hacks Editor]

I shouldn't have been so flippant in my earlier comment. Cool as it would be to see my kids glow in the dark, I can't say I'd feel great about having that stuff splashed on them.

[R-Bro]

Put 'em in one of those zip-lock snack bags. That should catch any leakage (and prevent the water from messing up the glow sticks in the first place).

[One Chic Mama]

My husband did some research on the safety of glow sticks and here's what he found: Are the chemical glow light products safe?

Yes. All our chemical glow light sticks and products come in a sealed plastic case. Even if the outer casing of the glow stick is somehow punctured or broken open, the chemical contents are non-toxic and non-flammable. But please never contact the liquid with eyes or ingesting the fluid because irritation will result. There is also the possibility of an allergic reaction. Please keep in mind that under normal use you will never come into contact with the fluid inside the glow light stick. And also, please never try to puncture the glow sticks.

[Stephanie]

I would like to add, while I was dumb enough to get glow stick ooze into my eyes as a kid, I will definitely try out glow sticks in the tub for my kid. Anything to get him into the bath tub. It's all about the adult supervision!

[Bjørn]

Some pictures of broken open light stick fluid in a toilet http://nuxx.net/gallery/v/random_stuff/lightsticks_in_toilet/?g2_page=2

[blipvert]

Just so you know, the capsules inside that you need to crack to activate the glow stick (by mixing the chemicals) is glass so the liquid inside will be full of tiny specks of broken glass. The chemical may not be harmful to your skin but rubbing broken glass all over it may kinda suck.