DIY snow globes @ anthropologie

yesterday i helped with a special arctic crafts for kids at anthropologie event at my store and it was such a blast!  we made snow globes out of mason jars and had coloring activities for the younger ones.  i had a lot of responses on my instagram image {believe it or not} on how to do this, so here's a little how-to to kick off the week.

we actually took this DIY from the queen – martha stewart – but i'll explain here what we did.

here are the materials you'll need:

• mason / canning jars {they seal tightly and are a good, heavy weight}

• centerpieces of your choice {we got trees + penguins}

• distilled water {you can buy by the gallon at a grocery store}

• glycerin {a small bottle should suffice unless you're making more than 25}

• hot glue or gorilla glue {something that's heavy duty + fast-drying}

• glitter! {any kind, any color}

my awesome manager who i worked with on the event went to local stores {like walmart, target, michael's, walgreens, toys 'r' us} in search of fun holiday things to put in the snow globes.  she chose these small christmas trees that came in a variety of colors and a bucket of small happy feet penguins, but you could use anything you want!

// step 1: pick out your centerpieces + hot glue to the jar lid {we did all the gluing for our kids, and you may want to as well especially if you go with gorilla glue}.  you want to make sure that your centerpieces will fit inside the rim of the mason jar top so you can still close the jar later.

// step 2: while the glue is drying, fill the mason jar to the rim with water and a dash of glycerin.

the glycerin gives the water more density so the snow gets that slow falling effect we all love.

{if you're using the quart size mason jar, about one squeeze will do.  for smaller sizes, i'd suggest half a squeeze.}

 then, add whatever glitter{s} you'd like to the water.

{you'll start to notice the glitter will "fall" from the surface of the water – stir it around until more falls to get an idea of how much snow you have.  it's really easy to end up with a 'blizzard', so start small}

// step 3: put the lid with your centerpieces on the jar as you would normally and seal tightly.  flip your mason jar over + shake!  you'll have a little winter wonderland in front of your eyes.  we watching many a kids' eye light up with delight when it began to snow, even many of the adults were even mesmerized and asked us how we did it.

we let the kids get creative – some chose to have a family of penguins in their snow globe instead of a tree, some kids mixed the colors of glitter we had available.  it really depends on how large the centerpieces are and how well they fit in the mason jar.  i hope you guys enjoyed this and will make snow globes of your own this season because it is so easy!

happy holidays!

xoxo, megan