Suspending Glitter in Water: FAIL!

In my efforts to find a way to get glitter to successfully stay suspended in water without immediately sinking to the bottom, I wasted approximately $17 and found quite a number of methods that simply do not work.  This doesn't mean I'm giving up though... I'm dying to make a "mind bottle" for my nephew.  A bottle of tinted water with glitter that he can shake up and look at if he needs a time-out.  He's nearly 5 years old now and he's hit a defiant stage, but that's another story all together.  

What I'd like is to have a creative way to work him through a time-out since he currently just fights it the entire time.  I think it might help to have him shake up a glitter bottle and watch the glitter settle as his mood calms (like the glitter.... get it?).  However, so far all that I have managed to do is get the glitter to sink right away -- and I mean within maybe 30 seconds max -- or it floats to the surface in blobs.  Let's take a look at my experiments:

First I tried Light Karo Syrup.  I experimented with both coarse and fine glitter and using both small and large amounts of Karo Syrup.  It was just a mess.  Basically the Karo Syrup caused the vast majority of glitter to float.  I shook the bottles and snapped a picture as quickly as I could and within 30 seconds there was no glitter suspended in the water:

I then tried straight mineral oil (baby oil)... what a mess.  The glitter stayed suspended indefinitely and tons of it just stuck to the bottle.

I found another blog whose author posted a picture that appeared she'd had success by using glitter glue AND loose glitter, but the glitter sunk inside of 1 minute and the water was murky because of the glue.

I did further research and decided to try salt water which is supposed to do something with the viscosity of the water and work with natural gravitational forces to magically suspend objects in water -- like a person floating in the ocean, ya know?  FAIL.  I tried 100% glycerin added to the water as well... a few drops up to 1/4 of the bottle.  FAIL.  I put glitter in plain tap water.  FAIL.  I tried Elmer's School Glue to thicken the water.  FAIL.

I didn't photograph all efforts... just most.  Above, from left to right, we have a few drops of glycerin, a few drops of baby oil, and plain water.  

What a waste of time and supplies, LOL -- I'm not done with this.  I will find some way to get glitter to stay suspended in water.  Any and all suggestions are welcome and I'll experiment with as much as I can... I'm done researching for the day though, because I came across a site that said success could be found with Cationic Surfactant Systems Comprising Microfibrous Cellulose and that just blew my mind.