I jumped on the Mad Scientist bandwagon and created this colorful buffet setting for a family birthday dinner for eleven year old Noah.

I gathered various glass cylinders and vases and filled them with colored water. Some vases held Aqua Gems purchased from JoAnn Fabrics. After reconstituting the polymer beads I strained away the excess water and put them in a glass cylinder. Then I stirred in the desired food coloring. If you leave the excess water in the container you won’t see the individual marble shape of the gems.

You can purchase the aqua beads in various colors and avoid the food color but it is more economical to purchase the larger bag of clear beads and add the various food colors desired.

 

I constructed the molecules (I use the term loosely) from smooth 2 inch and 1 1/2 inch styrofoam balls hot glued to neon chenille stems. I just had fun putting together interesting configurations. I didn’t worry about how “real” they looked. Science is not my forte!

 The plastic beakers seen above were ordered from amazon.com.

 

 

I found the radioactive symbol by doing a Google image search. I copied and pasted the image into Corel Draw.

 To save time I printed the radioactive symbols on full sheet labels, then punched them out with a 3 inch circle punch.
The petri dishes and glow sticks came from amazon.com

 

 

Don’t forget to look UP when decorating for an event. Dangling decor from the ceiling or anything overhead such as a chandelier will add another dimension to your party decor.

A search on Pinterest led me to this giant hula hoop “atom”. Original credit goes to Creative Juice I believe. I happened to already have the wire wreath form and hula hoop on hand. I used giant pom poms in place of styrofoam balls. It looked fabulous hanging from the chandelier. The neon molecules dangle from the chandelier as well.

  The glass beakers and plastic test tubes came from amazon.com
The paper goods are from Hobby Lobby’s Bright Ideas Collection which thankfully is available year round now.
The test tube holders were purchased from a brick and mortar US Toy Store here in Denver.

The narrow scientific cylinders were another US Toy Store purchase.

 

The lime green paper bags are from Hobby Lobby. I’m not sure I could live without Hobby Lobby!

 

 

I made slime for another favor which is in the bags labeled ‘Toxic Slime’. I found the recipe in several places online. Here is one of them:

Slime Recipe

• Mix 1 teaspoon borax in 1 cup of water. Stir until the borax is dissolved.

• In a separate container, mix 1/2 cup (4 oz) white glue with 1/2 cup water. Add food coloring, if desired.

• Mix 1 teaspoon borax in 1 cup of water. Stir until the borax is dissolved.

• In a separate container, mix 1/2 cup (4 oz) white glue with 1/2 cup water. Add food coloring, if desired.

The slime will become hard to stir after you mix the borax and glue solutions. Try to mix it up as much as you can, then remove it from the bowl and finish mixing it by hand. It’s okay if there is some colored water remaining in the bowl.

The slime will start out as a highly flexible polymer. You can stretch it and watch it flow. As you work it more, the slime will become stiffer and more like putty. Then you can shape it and mold it, though it will lose its shape over time. Don’t eat your slime and don’t leave it on surfaces that could be stained by the food coloring.

Store your slime in a sealed ziplock bag, preferably in the refrigerator. Insect pests will leave slime alone because borax is a natural pesticide, but you’ll want to chill the slime to prevent mold growth if you live in an area with high mold count. The main danger to your slime is evaporation, so keep it sealed when you’re not using it.

It is important to add the food coloring to the glue mixture. If you add the coloring to the borax mixture you will not get much color in the slime.

 

At some point I will list the signs and labels that I designed on Etsy.

I welcome your feed back, questions and comments!