Playing dress up is one of my boys favorite ways to spend an afternoon - whether it's a super hero costume, a fireman coat and hat, or an animal mask and tail, it makes them giggle and they beg me to take photos. So for the holidays season, I thought it would be really fun to create some Christmas photo booth props for them and their friends to enjoy!
These adorable Christmas photo props were super quick and easy to make using my Cricut Expore Air, and they are definitely going to keep all the kids entertained at all of our Christmas parties and holiday gatherings this year! Thanks to Cricut for sponsoring this post and bringing some extra laughter to our house this season!
SUPPLY LIST
Let's start with the supply list, and then I'll show you how to make them. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience (read more about that here).I have the Cricut Explore Air™ but I'm wishing for Santa to bring me the fancy new Cricut Maker, which you have a chance to win at the end of this post!
- Cricut electronic cutting machine
- Images from Cricut Design Space™
- LightGrip Adhesive Cutting Mat
- Corrugated Cardboard Set, Basic Sampler
- Corrugated Cardboard Set, Bright Sampler
- Kraft Board, White
- Fine point glue
- Bamboo Skewers or Wood Craft Sticks
- Washi Tape
TIP: You could make these photo booth props with any kind of card stock weight paper, but I picked the corrugated cardboard because it makes the look extra fun.
CRICUT DESIGN SPACE IMAGES
Once I'd gathered my supplies, I was ready to cut some cute designs for my photo props. I wanted to make this as quick and easy as possible, so I searched the images available in Cricut Design Space.
Success! There were lots of great options for everything I searched! You'll find tons of options, but if you want to make the same photo props that I did, here are the numbers for the Cricut Design Space images that I used:
- Santa Hat: #M188702D
- Santa Beard: #M1AABE3C
- Elf Hat: #MF1C57
- Rudolph Nose & Antlers: #M1AABDDD
- Mistletoe: #M45AC3
- Kiss: #M46686
- Naughty: #MF670B
- Nice: #MF66FF
- Ho Ho Ho: #MF6713
Once I picked my images, all I needed to do was resize them. Since these photo props are just meant to me cute, really any size will do, but I went with a general rule of six inches wide for Santa's beard, and between 8 and 10 inches wide for hats, depending on their shape.
CUTTING THE PHOTO BOOTH PROPS
Then I was ready to get cutting. I love that the Cricut brand materials come with specific cutting instructions right on the packaging. For the corrugated cardboard, it told me to set the dial to "Custom"...
... and then select "Corrugate Cardboard" from the drop down list of materials in Design Space.
These settings worked perfectly with my standard blade.
This was my first time cutting corrugated cardboard, and I was excited at how clean and nice the cuts turned out!
I used the corrugated cardboard for most of my photo props, but for a few things - like the speech bubbles - I decided that non-corrugated would be better. Fortunately, the Corrugated Cardboard Sets also came with a couple of sheets of flat cardboard in each of the same colors. I left the dial set to "Custom" but chose "Flat Cardboard" from the drop down list instead.
The corrugated and flat cardboard has a good weightiness to it, but I noticed that some of the larger photo props were still feeling a bit floppy {espeically the elf hat and tall reindeer antlers}. To stabilize them, I cut the same shape from a sheet of White Kraft Board {choose "Kraft Board" from the material drop down list before cutting} and glued that heftier layer to the back.
My favorite glue for projects with fine details is this Mono Aqua Liquid Glue that has a fine point tip on one side, and a wider tip on the other end for larger areas.
Once I had all of my images cut and glued together, I just needed to attach them to some sticks to make them easy to hold up. I already had some bamboo skewers in the kitchen drawer, so I used those {I like them because they are pretty long}, but wood craft sticks would work just as well.
Then I grabbed a roll of washi tape to quickly attach the sticks to the back of the photo props. If you use skewers like I did, just be sure to place the pointy end against the paper, and cover the tip with the washi tape so that no one gets poked. This leaves the blunt end of the skewers for your hand to hold.
And that's it... quick and easy, but adorable photo props that look like they were professionally made. I know that my kids and their friends are going to get a ton of use out of these!
I'm going to let the kids test these out the day after Thanksgiving while we put up our Christmas tree, so head over to my Instagram stories on Friday to see some real time photo booth action through the day! I'll come back add some of the cute photos here later.
Best of all, I don't have to worry about it if these start to show a little wear and tear from one Christmas season to the next. I can simply cut a replacement piece in just a couple of minutes using my Cricut. Pin the image below so you can find your way back to this tutorial with the list of Cricut Design Space images I used.
YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A CRICUT MAKER
What would you make this holiday season with Cricut? Christmas decorations, ornaments, DIY gifts for your friends and family, cute jewelry for all the festive parties? These are just a few of the things on my list, but the options are endless - especially if you are the luck winner of a new Cricut Maker! Enter to win, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!
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