Make Your New Years Celebration Memorable With a DIY Photo Booth
New Year’s Day stands as the globally most observed festivity and is of great importance to us. As New Year’s Eve rolls around, we reflect on the past year and anticipate the onset of a fresh start. This holiday is something we earnestly observe, a sentiment that is manifested in the widely adopted tradition of New Year’s resolutions.
A good New Year’s Eve party with glitter, champagne, and a photo booth can act as a great start to the new year. But why hire a photographer, bartender, or prop maker when you can do everything yourself? The smartphones in our pockets are powerful enough to take great shots.
If you want to make your New Years celebration memorable, be sure to include a DIY photo booth for your guests. Don’t forget to take videos and social media snaps while you’re at it!
How to Make a Stunning DIY New Year’s Photo Booth
New Year’s parties are all about the glitz and glamor. Think metallic elements, glasses, and confetti.
Here are some more ideas on how to make a stunning New Year’s DIY photo booth.
Work From a Color Theme
Before setting up your photo booth, think about how the elements in your booth match with its surroundings. Are your party decorations pink, gold, or white? Then make your booth the same color. That way, your party looks cohesive, which can help make your social posts look great!
Have a Party Dress Code
If you really want your friends and family to match with your decor, request a party dress code. You can choose a theme, color, or outfit choice (i.e., only suits for men and women). One fun thing to do is ask your friends to dress in contrasting colors that stand out from your backdrops.
Look Up Ideas for Videos
If you want to make your videos fun, consider looking up a few video ideas beforehand. You can even take inspiration from Happy Birthday videos, especially if a close friend is also celebrating their big day. These ideas can also give your friends direction if they aren’t sure what to do.
Think of Props For Videos
Photos prevent you from playing with the objects in the room, but videos can bring new life to the party. For example, you could film popping the champagne, throwing confetti, or releasing balloons. If possible, ask a friend to take multiple images while the video is being recorded.
Buy Tinsel or Tissue Paper
Colored tinsel will be easy to find in the clearance rack after Christmas and looks great as New Year’s decorations. If you can’t find tinsel (or the tinsel is shining too bright in your shots), use paper instead. Fringe streamers can be hung on the wall and serve as the perfect backdrop.
Set Up Chairs and Couches
While many of your shots will be taken from the waist up, consider adding a few on-theme couches to your photo booth. For example, if your decorations are silver and green, move the green couch over. If you have a silver rug or blanket, include that in your setup, as well.
Bring in the Food and Drinks
Whether you want to turn your bash into a dinner party is up to you, but you should always include champagne glasses and hors d’oeuvres strictly for the photo booth. Nothing screams “party” more than snacks and drinks, and they’re perfect props for all your photos and videos.
Make Hats and Crowns
Have some party plates left over from Christmas? Use them to make hats and crowns! First, take a headband (which you can buy at the dollar store) and throw on some biodegradable glitter and some fishing line. Then glue stars, flowers, pom poms, or bows to the headband.
Hang Up a Large Garland
You can easily make a large garland with some sequin gold trim and twine. Bristol board is the best material to glue sequin on because it’s sturdy and doesn’t rip easily. If you use a generic word like “Cheers” or “Party,” you can use the garland for any event after New Year’s Eve.
Use DIY Confetti Poppers
To create a confetti popper, use a toilet paper roll and cover it with paper. Then, cut a balloon and attach it at one of the ends. Load the confetti popper with biodegradable paper (you can make confetti out of leaves or flowers). Simply release the balloon to launch the confetti!
Write a Few Speech Bubbles
You can’t have a great photo booth without some speech bubbles! Using construction paper, you can cut large speech bubbles with phrases like “Hello!” and “Happy New Year!” This is another craft you can make more generic if you want to reuse them, but they’re easy to make!
Add the Finishing Touches
Depending on your party theme, you may want to add something special to perfect your photo booth. For example, a movie-themed party could include cutouts of celebrities or a red carpet, while a dollie-covered wall and vintage wood furniture would fit right in at a cottage-core party.
