I've been taking advantage of every chance to get a photo strip from the old-fashioned booth nearby before we move back to a boothless town. Oh, the sadness! We did a strip of just Sebastian to go along with his teacher gift in May and I really loved seeing him enjoy getting the booth all to himself so we decided to do his birthday party invitations in a similar way.
All I did was tell him to hold up eight fingers in all four pictures thinking we'd just use the best one but his faces were all so fun that I decided one wasn't enough. I scanned the strip and opened it up in Photoshop. Then I made two copies and cropped the first two photos of the strip in one and the second two photos in the second.
I then copied those two cropped photos and placed them side-by-side on a new background and flattened my image. I cropped it down to the edges and then sized it to about 3" wide so that I could fit four images on one 8.5" x 11" sheet of photo paper. I made a new background that measured about 8.5" x 11" and pasted my image four times, making sure to line them up so I could cut them quickly with my paper cutter.
I did a test print on regular paper and then printed them out onto photo paper to get the same feel as a photo strip. Then I wrote the details of the party on the back of each photo with a sharpie and tucked them into standard card envelopes leftover from another batch of store bought thank yous along with a red balloon. I had originally planned to write the details of the party on the blown up balloons but my sharpie started to smear so I ditched that plan.
They were fun to make and so incredibly inexpensive. I wonder how expensive it would be to buy our own photo booth and keep it on our back porch? Yeah, that'd be ideal.
Since most people don't have fabulously old-fashioned photo booths in their towns, another option would be to just take photos of your child against a white wall in a naturally lit setting, editing them to be black and white with your photo editing software, and then copying them all onto one backgroundwith a little bit of white space in between them all.
Do you have a favorite photo strip from an old photo booth? Also, how many times have you watched Amelie?
-Rachel
These are so great. I definitely need to save this for my kid's future birthdays. Sadly, I've only seen the movie once!
Posted by: Stephanie Loudmouth | 07/01/2014 at 09:36 PM
I adore your obsession with photo booths. It makes me want to stop by them anytime I see one!
Posted by: Kate @ Songs Kate Sang | 07/01/2014 at 11:34 PM
We don't live near a photo booth but I made one that would be right up your alley. Refrigerator box+vintage sheets+instax camera. I LOVE it and we used it at my son's b-day party http://underconstructionblog.typepad.com/under_construction/2014/04/my-new-favoritest-project-ever-diy-photo-booth-with-a-refrigerator-box.html
Just this week it was also repurposed as a spaceship and a space backdrop for an Instagram movie :).
Anyway you should totally make one for his party!!
Posted by: Melissa H | 07/01/2014 at 11:40 PM
Do you know this one? It's an online photo booth that takes retro pictures. I love it!
http://laphotocabine.com/
Posted by: Lil | 07/02/2014 at 02:38 AM
So cute! I love this idea to pieces!
xoxo
Taylor
Posted by: Welcome Home Taylor | 07/02/2014 at 09:37 AM
Your post made me think of another blogger who bought her own photobooth:
http://ohhappyday.com/2014/01/photobooth-for-sale-the-rest-of-the-story/
Posted by: Caitlyn Merwin | 07/02/2014 at 11:29 AM
so cool! great idea!
Posted by: Briseidy | 07/02/2014 at 11:41 AM
Such a cool idea. Eight years old, WOW! Happy Birthday Sebastian!
My favorite photo booth memory happened at k-mart when I was six. It was cold and I was wearing a hideous coat my mom had dyed dark pink to hide the stains. (Creative kids make lots of stains) I still remember stepping into the booth and looking up at the camera. FLASH! I was blinded! The camera took the pictures so fast. When it was done I ran out to watch the slot. Out came the pictures. I couldn't believe my eyes, the ugly pink coat had been transformed into the coolest shade of gray. And I thought I looked really groovy.
Posted by: joyce welch | 07/03/2014 at 11:13 AM
My husband proposed to me in an old timey photo booth here in Houston years ago. I went back recently to take pictures with my baby girl and it was gone. As far as I know there aren't any here in this big city of 4 million+ people. Thank you for sharing your's, they bring back great memories for me. :)
Posted by: Christina | 07/03/2014 at 03:06 PM
So Much Fun!!
Posted by: Kim | 07/08/2014 at 10:03 AM