In my opinion the best and really only use for a glow stick is tied to your backpack/camelbak. I like being able to look around me after the last set of the night and immediately find my stuff/water.
Glowsticks also help you keep track of your children. Turns out, the kids LIKE to make necklaces, bracelets, etc., out of them. Very convenient for keeping an eye on them while they (and Mom & Dad) groove to a Salmon set in the dark.
The little ones sure looked like they were having a good time, off to themselves, tossing glow-stick hoops to each other. The only people in danger of being hit by them were the clueless (and less than sober) adults who evidently had difficulty seeing the glow-sticks in the dark and walked through the middle of the kids' games. If there are grownups throwing them around, they should know better. But then, there certainly are enough examples of grownups behaving in a less than adult manner during the festival. Things I had to try to explain away to a nine year-old and a five year-old.
The marshmallow war was, in the words of one of my kids, "pretty cool." It was especially fun to watch the people in the sound tower participate, and to see the joy (yes, joy) on the faces of most of the crowd, as they reacted to something lighthearted and fun, and which seemed to most to be a relatively harmless expression of their enthusiasm at being in that place at that moment.
I think it's a losing battle, and my snarky response is, if we're going to call for a ban on marshmallows and glow sticks, let's not stop there. Say no to squirt guns, too. And the dude with the hose near the entrance. While we're at it, let's make sure we get rid of all the sunshades...such a nuisance, what with all the shade that gets in the way of the sunshine...and the kids that inevitably come with them. And we should be sure every tarp is measured at the gate, so nobody can bring in something the size of their backyard....Or, we could just post a sign: "Hey! You kids...get off my lawn!"
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