Centrepieces nightmare!

I have no idea about water beads & I'm not very good at this kind of thing but the first idea that popped into my head was that stuff that looks like thin, swirly strips of sweet wrapper. It's used to pad out nice gifts. Do you know what I mean?! Shall I just shut up?! LOL

Water beads hold water and if they are in contact with dry air, they shrivel up (as the water evaporates). I'm not sure this would be great for a battery pack, but that's just my feeling. Water doesn't leak or pour out of them, if you see what I mean?

Your best bet might be eBay for some cheap acrylic beads.

Sarah - Are you thinking of the film sort of wrapping paper stuff? My sister suggested sticking that coloured hay stuff that florists use in them but i'm thinking it'll catch fire with the heat from the lights?

Fortheloveof - Yeah thats what I was thinking water and electric big no no. I'll have a look for some acrylic beads see what I can find. Thanks for the suggestion.

Yes but shredded! I just thought that it will look pretty & the lights will shine through it.

What about just putting some purple sand in the bottom to bury the battery pack but then the lights won't be affected? And sand is fire proof!!

Christmas sales might yield purple baubles and funky decorations that you can stuff in vases!

What about those little stones that you put in a fish tank or the glass nuggets you also put in a fish tank (no idea why fish tanks have come into my head!)

Don't know if you've got one near you, but I saw some fairy lights in The Range that work in water. They even had them in a vase full of water to demonstrate it...

Never mind, I just re-read your post and realised that wasn't what you were asking... sorry!

My cousin recently had vases with the water bead things in and he had the candle/light under them the beads soak in the water and there's no water floating in the vase the beads just feel slimy

Hi,

We used them in tall lily vases with roses and it looked stunning. We used floralites, which are submersable tealights, which once activated last about 48hrs. We had the flowers all ready to pop in the vases on the wedding morning. Then filled the vases with the soaked gel balls( they have to be soaked for a few days beforehand) and one floralite in each vase. As the room dimmed a little in the evening they glowed nicely on the tables. They were not too expensive, from an ebay shop.

Hope this helps

Lynne

www.weddingfascinator.co.uk

Thanks for all your replies ladies. Really helpful. I decided to go down the ebay arcylic route and ordered 5 bags of 800+ beads. Turned out wasn't enough so have ended up buying some christmas beads (the ones you put on the tree) and have spent hours cutting them off lol. Cheap and cheerful xx