Fairy Party: DIY Magical Twinkling Beverages

Submitted by nicole on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 08:12

Let the DIY festival begin!

One of my favorite elements of the party--and something I made up myself, and have never seen anywhere else--was the submersible lighting I added to the punch to give the drinks a twinkling, magical effect. It worked spectacularly, and was quite a hit of the party!

It's incredibly easy to get this effect. I simply used AquaBrites waterproof floral lights. They're designed for florists to put them in glass-vased flower arrangements to add light and flash. I don't see that brand for sale any more, but these would work similarly.

I bought mine from Save-on-Crafts.com. Only $8.50 for a set of 5, and you can bet I'm going to find more ways to use these babies!

The bubbles in the punch made some of the lights float for a while, but if you want them to be suspended at different levels all night long, hang the lights on mono-filament. There's a handy little place where you can tie the string, as you can see in the image above.

Fairy party? Definitely. But how about on a steady glow in a green punch for Halloween?? I'm already planning on using them in an icy blue colored Glacial Punch for a Winter Wonderland birthday I'm working on. The possibilities are endless!

One note--I would only put these in an enclosed punch dispenser with a spigot, like the ones pictured above, not a punch bowl or pitcher. The kids loved the lights a little too much, and there was one three year old at the party who was sorely disappointed that the glow didn't dispense into her cup. With a punch ladle, I think you'd likely lose your AquaBrites, and they could be a choking hazard.

Edit and update: It's been four years since this party, I've used these lights multiple times every year (and usually forget to turn them off until the next day) and they still haven't run out of batteries!