White Nocturne

Imagine

You're out for a walk in the woods on a snowy evening with a friend. She comments on how beautiful the snow is in the moonlight. "Want to see something crazy?" you ask. You tell her to scoop up some snow and place it in your empty, cupped hands where you form it into a ball. Your hands are legitimately empty except for the snowball. You ask her to concentrate on the snowball, or send positive thoughts into the snowball, or imagine the captured moonlight within the snow covering this field, or whatever your thing is. Soon the snow starts glowing bright white, like a little lamp illuminating the two of you. After a few moments you squeeze the snowball and it crumbles to the ground, the light vanishing as it goes. You take her hand and continue down the wooded path.

Method

Just by describing this effect, I have probably given the method away to most of you. So the only thing to say is, yes, it works, and it actually looks better than you think it might.

You've probably put all the pieces together already, but if not, here are the steps.

You need a white D'lite in your pocket where you can get to it easily.

Ask your friend to pick up some snow and dump it in your cupped hands. If you're wearing gloves or mittens, take them off and put them in your pocket, stealing away the D'lite as you do. If not, just grab the D'lite as your friend picks up the snow.

She dumps the snow in what appears to be your empty cupped hands.

In reality, this is what is going on. (This photo is from below, looking up at my hands.)

The D'lite is just hanging out on your ring or pinky finger.

You curl your fingers in and form the snowball around the D'lite and pack it tight. 

Now you can show the snowball very fairly in your otherwise clearly empty hands.

Their perspective:

Your perspective:

Ask them to cup their hands and place the snowball in their hands with the gimmick facing down for a moment while you rub your hands together briskly as if to warm them up. This is all to reinforce two things: It's just a snowball and there is nothing else in your hands. 

Take the snowball back and grip it with both hands, sliding your thumb into the D'lite. After a few moments let it light up. Keep it lit and show it as freely as you can. After a while crush the snowball and "turn off" the D'lite in the process.

You can see what this looks like on the video below. (I had to go inside because it looks much better in a darker environment and the sun wasn't going to set for a couple more hours and I was freezing my balls off.)

Yes, you could use a colored D'lite and make the snowball glow red (or have a bunch of different colors on you and make it glow "any" named color), but I prefer the organic look of the white glow. I also prefer a white light because, to my mind, a red glow needs to be justified in some way in your presentation, whereas a white glow just feels like you've intensified a trait the snow already possessed and I don't think it requires justification or patter or anything. It's the type of visual moment a spectator can just read into and interpret for themselves.