If you’re like me, you are so freaking excited about the eclipse that you’ve been planning it for months! Yes, I knew it was coming a while ago, because when i first heard about it, I noticed it fell on our 13th wedding anniversary! I felt like it was a lucky day for sure! But not only for that reason, but also because I’m a proud nerd!

I took astronomy in college as my science and I love to go to planetariums! We even had an outer space theme for one of Bella’s birthday parties, where I hung the solar system from our living room ceiling! So yes, I’m excited about this once in a lifetime thing (and by lifetime, I mean a TOTAL eclipse from a location I can actually get to)! It’s totally (pun intended) fine if you couldn’t care less about it, but no need to knock the people who are truly intrigued and excited about it 🙂

However, as we get closer to the big day, more and more info is coming out about the risks of watching the eclipse. Now, I’m not trying to give you a ‘what’s an eclipse’ lesson, but the nuts and bolts of it are this…IT’S DANGEROUS TO LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. We all know this and have been told this our entire lives, right? So here’s the deal, where I live (Charlotte, NC) is going to experience a 98% eclipse, which means, there will still be 2% of the sun visible…thus, you must keep your solar glasses on the entire time if you are going to stare at the sun! But, we’re going to Columbia, SC (to my SIL’s house) because she is in the path of totality, which means when the moon completely covers the sun, we can remove our glasses and look at it and be fine!

If you want to see what the percentage will be where you are located, click on this LINK, and type in your city!

Let me reiterate…the sun is no different on Monday than it has ever been any other day of your life. But because of the partial eclipse (depending on where you’re located), you’re going to get darkness, and there may be a false sense of ‘it’s okay to look up and stare’…and this is why eye doctors are worried about your eyes! However, if you don’t plan on looking at the sun (like just about every other day of your existence), then you don’t need any protection. You can be outside, and doing your normal life stuff, and just not look up!

But if you do plan to take in the eclipse, and especially if you plan on having your kids experience it, then you may be concerned about them keeping their glasses on. Let’s face it, the glasses are one size, but they don’t fit all 🙂 And on little kids/people with smaller heads, there’s lot of room to look up, down and around. So I created a video to show you how to make solar glasses “protectors” out of paper plates and a piece of elastic cording! You’ll just need a pair of sharp scissors and a pencil or pen, and you’ll be good to go!

I had my daughters, Isabella (10) and Lillian (8), join me on the project! They’re so cute and funny, and I loved having their help! If you have any questions, let me know!

The video is 10 minutes long, but that’s as long it will take you to make these, so it’s super fast and easy! I threw this one together, so forgive the quality, and overall haphazardness of it! You’ll at least get the gist, AND you’ll see my precious minis 🙂

Here’s the LINK to the video tutorial on You Tube!!!

Are you excited about the eclipse?! If so, where are you watching it from, and what’s your percentage of totality?!!! Leave me a comment below! Oh, and subscribe to my you tube channel if you end up like the video we made!