I love throwing parties with my friends, especially when we can capture silly photos throughout the night. The DIY photo booth trend has really taken off, and it’s my new favorite party addition. 

Make like many of my friends and celebrate New Year’s Eve, a graduation, an engagement, or a birthday by fashioning a cute background for pictures – right in your own apartment! It’s the perfect way to have some fun posing and being silly without having to actually wait in line for one of those prop photo booths. 

If you want to set up your own DIY photo booth, start with an iPhone tripod and an app like Pocketbooth. Then, make sure you have these seven decorative items:

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1. Confetti Balloons

Available at Knot & Bow

I love these confetti balloons because you add the confetti yourself! Get your friends together and persuade the balloon counter at the grocery store to fill them with helium for the ultimate effect. 

If you’re just blowing them up yourself, you can stick them on the wall behind you with tape so that it looks like they’re floating. If you actually managed to get some helium, holding one (or two or three) gives you something to pose with. 

Alternatively, if you buy lots of the balloons you can actually blow them up and arrange them in rows on the wall to make a cute backdrop!

2. Balloon Letters

Available at Urban Outfitters

Don’t pop ’em by accident! These super shiny letter balloons can spell out whatever you want, provided you buy all the letters. One idea is to spell something that has the same number of letters as the people you’re taking photos with, that way you an each hold a balloon.