Baby Shower Snow Globe Invitations

Ever since Harleigh had a sleepover birthday party when she was in 2nd grade, I've put as much energy and creativity into the party invitation as I've put into the party itself. Amanda's shower, coming up in September, is no exception. Her nursery theme is so stinkin' cute, I have to keep pinching myself that I've got such inspiration. She's doing the little gal's room in jewel colors, with sort of an Indian/Moroccan feel.

For a work-related shower, it couldn't be easier to brainstorm out-of-the-box ideas. There's no USPS restrictions to worry about; delivery is as simple as plopping it on someone's desk. I don't know why, but lately I've had a hankering to make snow globes (must be the Pinterest inspiration), and so I coupled the idea of snow globes with the Indian/Moroccan/jewel-color theme and came up with making snow globes with jewel-colored lids and gold animals. Jessie, a designer at work, created the paper invite portion of the presentation — love it, especially that the back is just as pretty as the front!

All the office gals appreciated the invite effort. Co-worker Jenn and I made 14 globes, using all shapes and sizes of jars, and a menagerie of zoo and farm animals.

Some snow globe tips.

1)  I purchased glycerin, but it wasn't necessary to make the snow fall slower. The glitter I used seem to float down quite dreamily. To keep bacteria from forming, many sites recommend distilled water or adding a few drops of alcohol to tap water. I did neither and will keep an eye out to see how my globes age.

2)  Before beginning the project, fill all your jars with water, turn them upside down (since this is how they'll live once finished), and leave them overnite to make sure they don't leak.  We used one mason jar and I had to silicon the heck out of the two-part lid to keep it from leaking.

3)  Some websites said to use hot glue to adhere items to the lids. I've never trusted hot glue. Besides, we were using rocks in addition to the animals and plastic greenery, so I needed something super strong. Went with epoxy, which is a two-ingredient syringe-dispensed adhesive that, once dispensed, needs to be mixed. It was quite the mess (make sure you have a well-covered area, lots of plastic/paper plates to mix it on, a number of mixing sticks, and rubbing alcohol to wipe up excess), but the stuff worked like a champ.

4)  When you spray paint the lids, don't forget to turn them over and spray paint the under side. Remember that the lid will be on the bottom and so you'll want the lip to be painted as well.

5)  To be absolutely sure that the gold spray paint wouldn't come off into the water, I sprayed the animals with a protective clear coat.

6)  Remember that when filling the jar, the items on the lid will displace some of the water. I filled the jars about 3/4 of the way full, popped the lid on without screwing it on, then used a turkey baster to completely fill the jar.