We recently returned from a family vacation, and it was the first time our three-year-old understand the concept. Watching her joy as the plane took off, hearing her squeals as she splashed around in the ocean and pool with her dad, and helping her pick out her little outfits for our activities was so much fun. And for our infant, it was a week full of firsts — first time at the beach, first night sleeping in a crib (!), first bites of fresh seafood caught that day. I wish I could bottle up this family trip and hold onto it forever.
Seeking ways to honor the memories and turn them into something beautiful, I hit Pinterest. Scrapbooks and journals are great, but I wanted to make something extra special with our preschooler — something she could be proud of and that would bring back awesome memories from our vacation every time we looked at it.
That’s when I realized that we could combine another project I’ve been wanting to do — glitter jars — with a vacation keepsake. These shimmering, pretty time capsules are more fun than a photo book or other traditional medium for preserving memories. They’ll be a part of daily play and routine, even doubling as a calm-down measure in place of time-out for toddlers or for older kids to ease anxiety.
We are big collectors in our family and typically after a vacation, I spend weeks moving bits and bobs of memorabilia from one corner of the house to another. These jars are a great way to harness all of these found objects and put them to use preserving your vacation memories.
You’ll Need:
- Glitter glue
- Water
- Food coloring (optional)
- Mason jar or other clear container with a seal-tight lid
- Loose glitter and sequins
- Trinkets from your vacation
- Labels and a marker
Directions:
- Fill jar halfway with warm water and squeeze in a generous amount of glitter glue on top. (Make sure your glue is open and ready to go; it mixes best when water is still quite warm).
- Add food coloring to desired saturation and stir. If you prefer not to have colored water obstructing the view of the items inside, you can skip this step.
- Drop in your seashells, sand, room key, etc. Add loose glitter or sequins on top. For a super-sparkly, extra-glittery effect, skip sequins and add a hefty dose of fine glitter. We opted to use just sequins to keep the water more clear.
- Fill the rest of the jar nearly to the top with more warm water; add more glitter glue if desired.
- Add a label with the year or vacation destination.
- Seal, shake, and enjoy!
