Do you have a child or tween with a birthday coming up? Here's how to host a Glow in the Dark birthday party that kids will love!
How do you make a glow in the dark birthday party?
My son loves to build things and also thought a glow in the dark party would be fun! We decided to mash them together for a Glow in the Dark Glowcade (arcade that glows) making party.
Here's a quick overview of the birthday party plan and then I'll dive into more details in this post.
- Decorate the house with glow in the dark streamers and balloons.
- Invite the guests to wear things that glow.
- Play Glow in the Dark BINGO as guests arrive.
- Introduce the main event- making a GLOWCADE (Glow in the Dark arcade).
- Break into groups to start designing homemade glow in the dark arcade games.
- Make homemade pizzas and eat snacks and glow drinks.
- Try out everyone's glow in the dark arcade games.
- Send everyone home with birthday cookie cake and a cool glow in the dark party favor.
Scroll down for more details about each of these party activities and the supplies we needed for them.
Glow in the Dark Party Supplies
Want to host a glow in the dark birthday party? Here are some of the supplies we used for my son's Glow in the Dark birthday party. Party decorations and supplies don't have to be over the top to make the event feel special.
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Let's Glow Decor
Neon and anything glow in the dark is the best way to jazz up a Glow in the Dark party. I only used the pendants and "Let's Glow" banner.
Glow in the Dark Balloons
You could easily make your own with neon balloons and glow sticks, but we bought these ones to keep prep simple.
Glow tape
Glow tape was the best tool for decorating the glow in the dark arcade games that kids made! We bought one package for each group, but probably only used 3-4 packs with 24 kids. The green, yellow, pink, and orange tapes worked the best.
Glow Party Streamers
Streamers make every party more fun! We added these around the house as decorations and then kids also used them for their glow in the dark arcade games. The yellow and orange streamers glowed the best.
Glow sticks
You can't have a glow party without glow sticks. Kids used these for accessories to wear and also to help make their arcade games glow in the dark.
LED Black Lights
These black lights made the party so fun! We used four lights, one per room, where we were hosting our party.
Glow In the Dark Party Favor
These colorful glow in the dark party favors are fun to turn on and off and swing around.
Glow In the Dark Cups
Kids loved drinking from their glowing drink cups!
Neon straws
Neon straws were helpful when kids were designing their glow in the dark arcade games.
Neon party cups
Neon party cups work great for toss games and other simple arcade games! We had them on hand as a supply for kids while they were creating.
Neon paper
Scissors, tape, and neon paper can be used to decorate glow in the dark arcade games.
Glow in the Dark face paint
The kids had fun getting their faces decorated so that they could GLOW along with their arcade games.
Neon Highlighters
Neon highlighters make glow in the dark BINGO a success! Make sure you test out your highlighters with black light before your party starts!
Easy Do-able Glow in the Dark Party Ideas
Planning a GLOW party? Here are our favorite Glow in the Dark birthday party activities to use for an easy to set up celebration!!
Glow in the Dark Party Activities
Let's dive into each party activity and give you more details!
1. Play Glow in the Dark BINGO
We downloaded Bingo cards from Etsy with four per page. There are tons of Bingo board options to choose from.
Next we printed them out and gave each kid a neon highlighter and a metal pizza pan (from the Dollar store) to write on top of. We also turned OFF the lights and turned ON our black lights to make the ambiance extra fun.
We had my teenagers help lead Bingo while we waited for all the guests to arrive.
2. Introduce the GLOWCADE (Glow in the Dark arcade)
Once all the kids arrive, we let them know that they'd be working in team to make a Glow in the Dark arcade!
Next, we introduced the supplies that they'd have available for creating their arcade:
- Glow in the Dark tape
- Glow sticks
- Cardboard boxes (we got these at Home Depot and Ace Hardware- sizes XL and M)
- Neon Straws
- Neon cups
- Glow in the Dark streamers
- Neon paper
- Scissors
- Cardboard tubes
- Tape (we had clear packing tape and regular clear tape)
- Highlighters
3. Break into teams to make the glow in the dark arcade.
Next we broke the party guests into groups of 2-3 and we sent each group to a different part of the downstairs area. Each group was invited to send one person to come to grab supplies at the supplies table.
We didn't give them any examples or ideas, but you could show the kids a few minutes of this Cain's Arcade video as a quick example if you think your party guests might need ideas.
Each group was given two boxes, one XL and one medium along with whatever they wanted to select from the supply station.
4. Play the Arcade Games
After the party guests worked on building their arcade games with the lights on for about an hour and a half, we cleaned up and turned OFF all the lights, and turned ON the black lights.
Kids then roamed around and tried everyone's games for about 10-15 minutes.
They came up with so many great ideas!
5. Make and eat pizza
We didn't want to stop the arcade creating to eat dinner, so we had kids come in shifts of 3-4 to have snacks (chips & popcorn) and come make homemade pizza. Then kids ate their pizza and went back to creating their arcade games. There were always about 5-6 kids at the snack station throughout the party getting drinks and food when they needed it.
6. Eat Cookie Cake
Not everything at a Glow in the Dark party, needs to glow! My son wanted a basic chocolate chip cookie cake for his birthday treat! It was delicious.
If you want to make the cake match the theme, you could add Glow in the Dark frosting (just mix this into white buttercream frosting) or glow sprinkles.
We didn't have time to eat the cake at the party, so we sang Happy Birthday and then cut it up and sent pieces home with the kids when they left! The arcade games were too much fun to stop for treats!
7. Give out a Glow in the Dark party favor
Before the kids left, each one got a simple glow in the dark party favor as they walked out the door. It was hard to get the kids the leave, so it was nice to have something fun to hand them!
8. Dress up in neon or a glow in the dark outfit!
One final thing to mention is that we invited our party guests to wear their favorite neon or glow in the dark shirts and accessories.
We used Glow in the Dark tape to add the number 12 to my son's white t-shirt so that he looked festive for his 12 year old Glow in the Dark party! He also wore some glow stick accessories.
Glow Party Favor Idea
Party favor bags aren't necessary at a birthday party, but we had fun choosing one special glow in the dark party favorite for kids to take home!
These Glow Stick party favors were so cool!
More Glow in the Dark Party Ideas
Do you have more glow in the dark themed party ideas you can share with us? Tell us in the comments! This was such a fun party theme!
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