19 Eye-Catching Ways to Use Photos as Party Decorations
My favorite way to decorate for a milestone birthday party, such as a 75th, is to use loads of photos of the birthday celebrant. It’s so much fun for everyone to see how much he or she has changed over the years. Pictures are great ways to bring back memories, and are fabulous conversation starters.
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Photo Number Collages
Available in 2 Sizes
No need to fuss with trying to tape pictures to the wall in the number “75” – you can easily create a beautiful, professional made photo collage of numbers at Shindigz!
Just upload your favorite pictures, and they’ll print them on sturdy cardboard, ready for hanging or to use free standing. Prices start at under $20 – and the birthday guest of honor can then enjoy them at home after the party is over!
The photo numbers look great indoors over the dessert table, or you can place them outside on a fence or wall. You can also use them in the front yard to welcome guests to your party.
You can also order letters if you’d prefer to use their initials.
Milestone Birthday Photo Banner
Festive photo banner is a fabulous way to show pictures of the celebrant from all ages!
Easy-to-hang banner holds 13 4″x6″ pictures. It can be strung in one straight line (perfect for displaying in front of the dessert table), or you can string it in two lines as shown above.
The banner pictured above is available for these milestone birthdays: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 or 100.
DIY Photo Centerpieces
Leave it up to our good friend Martha Stewart to come up with these adorable photo centerpieces! Unlike many of her projects, though, this one seems fairly straightforward.
You just print pictures on vellum paper on your printer; add them to frames, and use duct tape to connect the frames to form a triangle. You could always paint the frames to match your color scheme if you’d like.
Finish it off with a battery operated candle or a glass votive candle.
If you’re not the crafty sort, you might want to use the three-sided picture frame from Amazon (pictured above).
Supplies Needed:
Birthday Photo Yard Signs
Get your guests pumped for an amazing party by placing photo yard sign along the walkway or driveway!
The set of 8 yard signs pictured above can be easily personalized for a birthday, graduation or anniversary party. It’s perfect for showing pictures of the honoree at different stages of their life.
Priced at under $50, it’s an impressive way to welcome your guests.
Decorate with a Photo Banner
One of the easiest ways to decorate with photos is to buy a banner, like the one pictured above. You just upload 2 photos, choose your text, and you’re created a sure-to-be-noticed decoration that will be the hit of the party.
Photo banners are wonderful ways to decorate a fence, wall or garage door. They also look fabulous over the dessert table.
3 Photo Banner Available at Zazzle
Happy Birthday Banner with Photo Available at Personalization Mall
Photo Cake Pops
Choice of Styles/Flavors
These adorable photo cake pops from Zazzle are almost too cute to eat! They’re available in 3 cake flavors – vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet.
Icing flavors include white, milk or dark chocolate, and you can choose a drizzle color to match your theme colors.
Sure to be the hit of your dessert table!
Easy Pocket Photo Display
Holds 80 Pictures
It doesn’t get much easier to show off your favorite photos with these simple-to-use pocket photo displays!
Just insert the pictures into the clear pocket and hang the display on the wall or the door. You can add two pictures to each pocket…just remember to turn the display over during the party so that guests can enjoy both sets of photos!
The guest of honor can then enjoy the photo display at home after the party is over.
Photo Tree Party Centerpiece
What a cute way to display your favorite photos of the birthday man or woman!
This easy-to-do project costs under $20 to make and can easily be customized to match the color scheme of your party.
She decorated this with ornaments and silver bells, but you could add whatever decorations fit your mood.
Chocolate Covered Oreos with Photo
What’s better than chocolate covered oreos? Oreos with a photo of the birthday celebrant!
Zazzle offers a fun selection of oreos (choose white or milk chocolate) that can be personalized with a picture of your loved one. Such a cute party favor or addition to your dessert table!
DIY Picture Collage Party Decoration
This is another fabulous party decoration that will also make a much-enjoyed home decoration after the party is over with!
Cali over at Bits of Everything gives complete instructions on how to make this, using foam core boards from WalMart. It’s a lovely way to showcase loads of photos from throughout the celebrant’s life.
The whole project cost her under $20, and it looks fabulous!
If you’re not the crafty sort, consider purchasing a large collage frame like the ones pictured below.
DIY Photo Banner
Simple but adorable, this photo banner is probably the easiest one you can make yourself. Just print out pictures of the birthday celebrant at different times of their life.
Hang twine, yarn or ribbon against a wall, and then use mini clothespins to attach the pictures.
Photo Bottle Labels
For Wine, Beer, Champagne or Water Bottles
Looking for an inexpensive but impressive way to use favorite pictures at your party? Bling out your wine, water, beer or champagne bottles with custom bottle labels!
Adorable photo labels are available for around $1 each at Zazzle. Waterproof labels are easy to use – just peel and stick!
You can also get these for miniature bottles if you’d like to use them as party favors.
Incorporate Photos Into the Birthday Cake
Another unique option is to add photos to the birthday cake. In the cake pictured above, they used edible photo stickers to put pictures directly on the cake.
See if your local bakery, Costco, or Walmart will print edible photo stickers for you, or you can order custom-made edible photo stickers on Amazon.
They also added surrounded the base of the cake with real photos.
Mason Jar Photo Vase or Lantern
I love the versatility of these adorable mason jar photo vases! You can use any color paint to match your color scheme. Add pictures of the birthday celebrant from different stages of their life and use them as centerpieces.
This picture shows them used as a vase, but you could also drop a battery-operated tea light in them for a different effect. Cute, easy, and affordable!
Family and Friends Floral Photo Bouquet
What a clever table decoration – and a wonderful gift after the party is over! This adorable bouquet features photos of family and friends and is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
A bit time consuming, but well worth the effort!
Make Your Own Photo Napkin Rings
How cute are these photo napkin rings? Tara over at Feels Like Home gives easy instructions on how to make this using card stock and construction paper.
A little detail that is sure to impress!
Hang Pictures from Balloons
What’s a birthday party without balloons? Add a special touch to your party by hanging your favorite pictures from the balloons!
It’s best to print the pictures on regular paper, as photo paper might be a bit heavy for the balloons.
If you use photo paper, you could lightly glue two pictures (or use glue dots) back to back so that both sides of the pictures look nice.
A fun, festive accent that would look great over the buffet table or anywhere!
Birthday Party Photo Table Confetti
Highlight 5 of your favorite photos with unique photo confetti – perfect for showing how the guest of honor has changed over the years!
Pack of 60 confetti pieces contains 3 sizes of confetti and you can use up to 5 different pictures.
They look impressive scattered on the table, but they’re large enough that you can use them for other decorations, such as napkin rings, cake plate garland, mini cake banner, or cupcake toppers.
Place Card Photo Holders
Place card holders are a stylish (and simple!) way to display a selection of photos along the table. You can mix and match different styles.
Add 2 photos to each place card holder so that the guests on both sides of the table will each be able to see a picture.
Personalized Birthday Party Photo Plates
Another unique, and very easy option, is to add pictures to the birthday party plates. You can choose from dessert plates or dinner plates.
They’re sold in packs of 8, so if your party is large enough, it would be fun to order plates with pictures of the birthday man or woman at different ages.
How To Create a Giant Photo Wall – Under $15
How fabulous is this giant photo wall? All you need is a local office supply (Office Max or Staples) that will print on blueprint paper (also known as engineering prints).
The photos will be black and white, so add a few colorful decorations to the wall to really draw attention to your masterpiece.
Full-color Life Size Standee
Another great bang-for-your-buck photo decorating idea! These great life-size standees are available for under $25 at Shindigz.
What fun would it be to upload a picture of the birthday celebrant as a young man or woman, or perhaps as a teenager. The party-goers would have a blast taking pictures with it!
You can also order an optional motion activated voice recorder to greet people as they walk by. Sure to be the hit of the party!
DIY Photo Banner
The talented Eileen at Queenie Eileen created this cute photo banner for her Mom’s 80th birthday party. She didn’t write instructions, but it looks pretty straightforward.
She simply printed off photos of her mom at different phases of her life, then made her own cute little party hats. Clever and oh-so-cute!
Make a Birthday Slideshow
A slideshow is a fabulous way to display loads of photos, especially if you’re going to have a large screen at the birthday party.
The easiest way to make a slideshow is just to grab the nearest teen and have him or her make one.
If you’re planning to do it yourself, start with these easy instructions from Moms and Crafters.
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