Thursday, October 20, 2011

Brighten The Night With Light Up Costumes

By Jurinsthea Smith


Make sure your child shows up in the dark while trick-or-treating. Even make a splash in an adult setting. Light up costumes make a decorative impact that is also a great safety measure.

A number of measures lend themselves to lighting up your child (or especially enthusiastic adult). These include glow-in-the-dark paint. Consider electroluminescent wire (el wire). Even opt for tiny LED, battery operated lights. They come in many styles and colors to match whatever your imagination has in mind for design.

Before ordering or creating your costume consider where you want to wear it. A costume for just one night hardly justifies spending too much. Then again, for something you plan to wear more than once, hand down or adjust to create something different for another year, extra cost may be worth your while for high quality and stunning presentation. Do you plan to wear your garment in the dark, at a party, or a bit of both?

If lighting is especially important to the costume, glow-in-the-dark paint does no good at an indoor party or during the school day. With luminous paint, glue and other glowing materials their only impact is during nighttime trick-or-treating. Still, the effect can be eerie if your child goes out dressed as an alien or some kind of deep-sea jellyfish.

The great thing about battery operated lights is that you can turn them off to conserve batteries. Spend a bit extra and you could benefit from long-life versions that last the duration of one Halloween season and perhaps another (if turned off).

Lighting up a fairy outfit seems the obvious next step after you put together the cute dress. In books they often fly around with accompanying sparkle. Why not make your child look even more fairy-like? Sew or glue really small LED lights in one of several shapes and almost any color onto the costume, being sure not to weigh the material down. This could cause damage to the costume. Fixing them onto something firm and secure also reduces the risk of ripping. Stick lights into hair baubles and shoes so the shimmering seems to come from everywhere. LED lights look wonderfully like jewels when fastened to a crown or tiara.

LED lights in a spray formation make wonderful additions to any flowery costume. Dress yourself or your child as a colorful bouquet. Add the lighting to a bouquet carried by your make-believe bride. They also make for edgy looking hair extensions.

Electroluminescent wire lends itself neatly to wings. This goes for angels, fairies, birds and bugs. Even antennae and halos will look especially wonderful with this addition.




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