9 Sweet Food Ideas That Glow In The Dark
by Ann Mifsud
Creating a mesmerizing effect at a neon glow party, involves crafting some captivating sweet food items that glow in the dark.
And by this we’re not referring to the use highlighter ingredients with colorful results in visibile light.
The 9 sweet food ideas that we are sharing with you here, do really glow when exposed to black light.
Go straight to any item by clicking on any below for a step by step description of how to prepare them.
Following these, we are giving out our neon drink recipes for children.
If you wish to learn about neon party savory food ideas that complimen these sweet items, go to the 7 Exclusive Neon Party Savory Food Ideas.
If you want to know all it takes to create a black light party at home, here’s The Ultimate Kids Glow Party Guide.
The Ultimate Kids Glow Party Guide: How To Create Magic
A significant milestone in your kid’s life may be approaching, and you’re eager to leave a lasting impression on them and their friends. Undoubtedly, hosting a kids glow party to celebrate in style is the perfect choice!
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Black light is needed for these food items to glow in the dark.
If you need to learn more on how to set up black light go here.
1. Neon Marshmellow Pops
You will get shiny marshmellow pops for the simple reason that white chocolate is one of the few ingredients that glows when exposed to black light. Check this full guide to learn on what makes food glow under UV light.
What you need
- Large white round marshmallows
- Cake pop sticks
- Melted white chocolate
- Colorful sprinkles
- Cake pop stand (optional)
How to prepare
- Insert pop stick in the middle of the marshmallow lengthwise, pushing is all the way down.
- Dip the marshmallow in melted white chocolate (see note below), making sure you coat it all around and drip off excess. (Since it was our first experience, we have only coated part of the marshmellow. Go ahead and cover all of it, because it is white chocolate that glows under UV light and not the marshmellows.)
- Dip the marshmellows in colorful sprinkles before the chocolate sets.
Melting the chocolate
For melting the white chocolate, use a bain-marie method by putting a small pan half-filled with water on the stove on low heat. Insert a bowl full of chocolate chips or broken pieces of chocolate into the pan. Make sure the water does not overflow into the bowl containing the chocolate. Within a few minutes, the chocolate should start to melt. Give it a whip and remove the pan from the stove.
How to serve
Serve the neon marshmallow pops in a mason jar or a cake pop stand.
Tag them as “Neon Marshmellow Pops”.
2. Glowing Oreo Pops
How to prepare
- Insert pop stick inside the oreo, gently pushing it whilst taking care not to break the cookie apart.
- Cover the cookies with melted white chocolate using a spoon. (See note on how to melt chocolate above.)
- Sprinkle some hundreds and thousands on top, before the chocolate sets.
- Put them in the freezer and take them out just before you serve them.
How to serve
Serve the glowing oreo pops on a highlighter plate or a cake pop stand.
Tag them as “Glowing Oreo Pops”.
Not all highlighter tableware glows in the dark. See our recommendations for tableware that reflects UV light, here.
3. Neon Glow Cupcakes
How to prepare
- Choose your favorite cupcakes and prepare them for decoration.
- Follow our original recipe to create UV reactive butter icing, here.
- Fill a piping bag with the neon butter icing and cover your cupcakes.
- If you’re not familiar with covering cupcakes with butter icing, you can follow this video…
How to serve
Scatter some colorful sprinkles on the butter icing and serve the neon glow cupcakes on a highlighter plate or a cupcake stand.
Tag them as “Neon Glow Cupcakes”.
Check our 5 Proven Ways To Make Food Glow In The Dark for more tips and recipes on how to make food and drinks glow when exposed to black light.
4. Glowing Jello
How to prepare
- Prepare the jello as per packet instructions.
- Add 2 teaspoons of vitamin B2 mix to the normal hot water needed to dissolve the jello powder. This is the secret of how to make normal jello glow in the dark when exposed to black light. Check how to make the vitamin B2 mixture, here.
- Pour into small individual clear cups or bowls, until they are half full.
- Set aside in the fridge for a few hours to set.
- Repeat the steps above, to make the second layer of jello in different color.
- This time round add a tip of a teaspoon of Leaf green (or any other light green) food color with the jello/B2 mix to get a shiny green layer.
- To get a gleaming red layer, add instead a teaspoon tip of Christmas red food color. Do not be tempted to add too much red color because it will turn into a dull red when exposed to UV light.
- Again set aside in the fridge for a few hours to set.
How to serve
Take the jello from the fridge just before you’ll be serving it. Each kid will end up with glowing jello in two shiny colors. How cool is that?
Tag this item as “Glowing Jello”.
5. Neon Popsicles
This recipe is super easy, but because you will be making it over a number of days, you would need to plan ahead. Each layer is prepared and frozen for at least 10-12 hours before the other layer can be poured over it, so this will take approximately 1 to 2 days to finish, even if it just takes a few minutes at every stage.
What you need
- Ice lolly or popsicle mold (see important note below)
- Bottle of Sprite
- Pitcher
- Vitamin B2 mixture (check our recipe here)
- Tonic water
Important note: Make sure the mold you choose for making these neon popsicles can be opened at the top after each stage. One like this should work well. If you do not have a similar mold, you can always use clear plastic cups and serve as iced granita instead. Remember to give the kids spoons so they can scrape this to eat.
How to prepare
- In a pitcher, mix 1 part Sprite with 1 part tonic water.
- Make enough of this blend to cover just one half of each of your popsicle molds. (You may need to calculate this beforehand or estimate on the spot).
- Then pour the mixture in the mold. This should only cover one half of each of your popsicles. Freeze for approximately 10-12 hours.
- Repeat these steps, using a mixture of Sprite (or any clear lemonade) with vitamin B2 mix in a pitcher. Mix 1 teaspoon of vitamin B2 mix with 100ml Sprite.
- Make sure the previous layer has been totally frozen before pouring the next.
Check our note on the safe of use of vitamin B2 and tonic water in party items, here.
How to serve
These cannot be nicely displayed beforehand as they melt quickly in the summer heat. So take them out when you are ready to serve.
6. Shiny Donuts
How to prepare
- Choose your favorite plain donuts and prepare them for decoration.
- Prepare your glow in the dark icing, by adding 4 teaspoons of vitamin B2 mix and 4 teaspoons of warm water to 1 cup (128g) icing.
- Mix all ingredients well by stirring vigorously. You may add more warm water if you see that the icing is not of the right consistency.
- Top your donuts with the glow in the dark icing and finish off with a drizzle of colorful sprinkles or other edible confetti of your choice.
How to serve
Display your donuts on a donut stand or a donut wall if you happen to have one. If not, place them nicely on a white or highlighter plate.
Tag as “Shiny Donuts”.
If you want to learn more about tableware and cutlery that glow when exposed to black light, click here.
7. Radiant White Ice-Cream
What you need
- White ice-cream
- Ice-cream cones or clear plastic cups
How to prepare
- The trick for this neon party sweet item is to buy the right vanilla ice-cream. This is because not all vanilla (panna or any other white) ice-creams glow when exposed to black light.
- Weird as it may sound, we took a UV flashlight when we went to buy white ice-cream for our neon party to check of the item did really reflect UV light.
How to serve
Serve the ice-cream either on ice-cream cones or in small ice-cream cups. Top off with colorful sprinkles an extra splash of color and a magical presentation.
8. Neon Cotton Candy
What you need
- Cotton candy
- Jumbo glow sticks
How to prepare
- Cotton candy (candy floss) can be tricky to include on your neon party list of sweets. On one hand, the overall visual effect when you hand out cotton candy that lights up, is fabulous.
- On the other hand, it might be a bit pricy to include it on your sweet menu. However, let’s share with you how it’s done…
- The secret behind neon cotton candy lies in replacing the normal plastic or wooden sticks with jumbo 10″ (25cm) glow sticks. Cotton candy in itself doesn’t reflect black light.
- We found these ready-made, Ligt Up Glow In The Dark Cotton Candy Favors. They look cute but cost around $10 each.
- It will come cheaper if you had to buy this lovely vintage cotton candy machine, especially if your kids are nuts over cotton candy!
9. Glow In The Dark Candy Selection
What you need
- Ready-bought candy that reflects UV light, which can be bought from your local store or confectioner’s. You might be amazed how many types of candy glow under black light. We found the flying saucers and sour worms (above) to glow really nicely. Just take the UV flashlight with you to check which kind of candy reflects UV light.
- Candy jar
How to serve
Place your reflective candy in glass jars and label them as “Glow (Flying Saucers or Sour Worms for example)”.
Neon Lemonade
What you need
- Bottle of Sprite (or any clear lemonade)
- Tonic water
- Clear glasses
- Glow in the dark straws
How to prepare
- Mix equal amounts of clear lemonade and tonic water and pour into clear glasses.
- Be aware that tonic water is a bit bitter to taste – it’s similar to bitter lemon. Some may want to add more clear lemonade to add to the sweetness. This however reduces the ability of the mixture to glow when exposed to black light.
How to serve
Serve in clear plastic (or glass) cups and put glow in the dark straws.
Glow In The Dark Punch
What you need
- Large pan
- 2 packets jello – you can choose any light color you like
- 1.5 cups (200g) sugar
- 4 cups (950ml) boiling water
- 12 cups (2l 800ml) cold water
- 8.5 pints (4l) tonic water
- Pedestal bowl
How to prepare
- Bring water to the boil in a pan and add jello and sugar.
- Stir continuously until all ingredients are completely dissolved.
- Now add the cold water.
- Freeze for 12-14 hours or overnight in the same pan or alternative container (you could even freeze in the display bowl if you like).
- Take out of the freezer and add the tonic water an hour or so before serving.
How to serve
Display in a large clear pedestal bowl made of glass or clear plastic. Then serve in small individual bowls or cups.
The bottom line…
If you’re searching for neon party sweet and drink ideas that glow in the dark, look no further because here we have great items to choose from to serve your guests with. You will also find all the steps you need to take to get to the final product.
If you’re interested in neon party savory food ideas that are complimentary to these sweet items, go to: 7 Exclusive Neon Party Savory Food Ideas.
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Hi I'm Ann
Mom to three kids, I am the proud co-founder of Easy Kids' Parties. After a career in journalism and education, I diverted my skills to creating this website, with the aim of helping all those parents out there who wish to organize amazing and memorable parties for their kids but feel overwhelmed at the idea. Discover more...
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