DIY Party Photo Booth

You only turn one, once.  Or your children do.  We all only turn every age, once.   And I, frankly, wish that I could eat my cake like my son did.  Don’t you feel like we all should?  Especially if your cake is homemade, because when in your life does someone BAKE A CAKE just for YOU?  On you’re birthday. So eat up my friends!  And don’t let anyone tell you different.

But more than cake, let’s capture these moments, these cakes, these birthdays, these friends, these families, and these years.  In pictures!  Ali, A good friend of mine own a business that specializes in crafting and party planning.  But it’s not the usual crafts and party decor, it’s chic and unique, and makes all the difference.  She calls her genius  The Salty Apple, and this idea of the DIY Photo Booth was all hers.

And it was a total hit!

What you’ll need:

A wall or an an archway

A sheet matching your party’s theme and colors

decorations of your choosing

a camera with a self timer or a designated photographer, ie. you or one of your guests

a costume/prop box

friends and family!

What to do:

If you have a large space, just find two trees, a wall, or in this case, an archway for your backdrop.  Then, choose a sheet, table cloth, or blanket in which the color matches with your party theme, and hang it up in the chosen space.  My  husband just stapled this baby blue sheet we got at target for $10.00.  Then, add anything to the sheet, or archways surrounding it that you’d like to be in your photo.  We chose balloons and then a garland to add a bit more color.  Then, set up a camera on a tripod, or an iPhone on a stool, and put a little note explaining that you’ve set up the camera on a timer and to position themselves in the photo.  However, my mom ended up helping out and so she just took the photos for us which turned out to be better.

We also had a “prop box” in which we could dress up and make it fun.  The theme of Chip’s party was music, so we had blow up guitars and microphones, as well as fun sunglasses, boas,masks and rockstar hair.  This shot is just our little family, but we took a similar shot with each guest and, of course, encouraged each guest to take their own!

And then we used our photos to order Thank You cards via iPhoto for our friends and family who celebrated Chip with us, and do so every day.  I also will order prints of the other photos to send to our friends so they have a keepsake of the day.

But do you know what makes this photo booth so very fun?  The garland! It’s made with Cupcake Liners!  For Reals!

Ali made up this concept as well.  I just used a fishing line and then put two different patterns of cupcake liners on it to create the above garland.  But seriously, check out the ones over at the The Salty Apple, they are beautiful!

How fun is that?  I saved it so I could put it up in Chip’s room later.  I also made another version with not so many liners and chose liners whose colors match our bedroom and put a few up in there!

I hope you try out this photo booth, it’s super fun and you can make it all your own! Plus, then you have memories of the party, the theme, who was there, and everything you guys did!  If you do make your own photo booth, let me know, I’d love to see pictures! Have fun and Happy Birthday/Anniversary/Graduation/and anything else you are celebrating!