Nothing makes me happier than my squishy baby P and since I feel like all the little thing has done since birth is grow, grow, grow, I try to take as many pictures of him as I can (and I am succeeding since my phone is currently at storage capacity lol). While I wish that I could get professional pictures taken of him for every holiday, my budget (and most people’s budgets) will not allow for this, so I have to improvise! Since I am big on sending cards for every holiday to friends and family, I love to stick a little picture of P in there to make it extra special (in this case EGGS-tra special lol). Now let me begin by saying, photography is not my forte unless you count being able to max out my phones storage space in under 3 months lol. I take all of my pictures using an iPhone camera and am yet to become proficient in Photoshop, so if this sounds like you, I am about to give you living proof that you can still whip up a cute little holiday photo for a few bucks in no time flat! When I first decided to do my own little baby-photo booth it was after I had seen a professional picture of a newborn on a cute little Valentine’s Day set and I’m no expert but from the looks of it, all it seemed to be was a baby on pillow, in front of a white background with some heart bunting, and I thought “hey, I can totally do this!”. I’ll share my Valentine’s Day and St. Patty’s Day pictures below as well. The best thing about this little DIY holiday picture is that it will probably cost you under $5.00 (or if it’s an Easter pic it will be FREE since you probably already have plastic eggs and a basket for the kiddos right?). So if you have a smart phone, a white sheet and access to a dollar store you’re good to go!

YOU WILL NEED:

• Smartphone or other camera
• White sheet or large piece of fabric (it doesn’t have to be white, but I feel like most of us have a white sheet lying around somewhere).
• A room with a window.
• Painter’s Tape (or any other kind of strong tape)
• Props (get creative! I hit up my local Dollar Tree and pick up a few items that I think would work well, for Valentine’s Day I used the heart garland, St. Patty’s Day the little hat and for Easter the bunny ears, basket and eggs).
• “Phonto” Free Picture editing App (if you want to add text to your picture)

HOW I DID IT: 

1. Start by setting up your backdrop. Use a wall that is facing a window, this is a tip I got from a photography savvy friend, that way you’ll have lots of natural light for your photo. Take the sheet and tape it along the wall (I usually use painter’s tape so as not to damage the paint, but this time I didn’t have any on  hand so I just used shipping tape and the paint still survived haha) so that half of the sheet is against the wall and half is spread out along the floor below.
2. Set up your props, then using your camera take a test picture to be sure that you like the way the photo looks and that you are able to capture your subject (child) and all of the props in the photo frame. These were my test pictures for Valentine’s Day and Easter (the Easter shot looks a little dark but I adjusted this using the enhance tool on my phone lol).                                                                                                                           
3. Set up your little cutie and snap your photos! FYI this works best with a happy child lol I shot for right after nap time.
4. After you’re happy with your photos, use the “Phonto” App to add text if you wish. Next I will use the free Walgreen’s app to upload and print my photos for store pick up. Make sure you Google Walgreen’s coupons! For my Easter pics I was able to print 15 photos for $1.71 using a 40% off coupon!!!

TIPS: 

• If you’re in need of a cute outfit for your babe, Walmart always has holiday themed outfits for between $3.00-4.00. The St. Patty’s Day onsie P is wearing below was $3.25.
• This is a great idea for a kids holiday party or a play date! Just set it up and let your friends take pics!
• If you want to add a little extra something pic up a half of a yard of holiday fabric, it’s always cheap and available at your local fabric store. I think the heart fabric I used in the Valentine’s Day pic cost about $1.00.

The wooden crate I already had but was purchased at Walmart for $7.00 (it was good for this pic because P wasn’t sitting up yet). The chalkboard also had but was purchased on Amazon.

This one I whipped up quick by simply draping the white sheet over a chair.