In our humble opinion, we believe you have to have props for the photo booth. It’s a must! We’re not saying every photo has to have props, but at some point you have to take advantage of the giant narwhal head and coconut bikini bra. Am I right?

So what you see above is the prop table from a recent corporate event we were at over the weekend. We brought along our usual assortment of craziness and also focused on additional circus themed props to go with the overall event theme.

Having a variety of props available for the guests will encourage people to 1. take photos and 2. come back for more photos. At this event, the majority of the guests came over and took their obligatory “prom” photo (everyone was dressed up real nice :), and then after some food and maybe a couple of drinks they were back for more. Had there been no props for the photo booth would the guest have come back for more photos? We may never know.

Okay, we do know. Yes some people would come back and take more photos even if there were no props available, but there would definitely be more people coming back with props. In fact, in a recent study published by Photo In A Box, right now as we are typing, it was determined that guests are 87% more likely to come back for a second or third round of photos if there are fun props available. Trust us, we’ve been doing this a long time and we’re really good at making up facts.

Now let’s talk about the type of props we normally bring for each event and why we like them. We like to pack our prop trunk full of funny glasses, hats, bling, leis, headbands, etc… Hats are a great option because they instantly provide your guest with a variety of different color options. Brightly colored fedoras, Viking helmets, princess cowboy hats, and some sort of food related hat are always a big hit. Oversized bling is always a big hit too. Who doesn’t like to rock it out like Two Chainz…or depending on your age, Mr. T. Another staple of the prop trunk that we like are the leis and headbands. These items are perfect for those that are still a little reserved in how silly they want to get in their photos. Nothing says silly and classy at the same time like some cat ears lol.

It seems as if we like pretty much everything when it comes to props. There are however a couple exceptions…and even the exceptions have exceptions. Not sure if that makes sense lol. First prop item we don’t normally bring are boas. What! How could we not like boas? Well it’s not so much that we do not like boas, it’s more like the venues don’t like boas. In fact, we’ve been told specifically not to bring boas by some of the venues we have worked with. Feather boas tend to shed and leave little feathers everywhere which is not fun for anyone that has to clean up after an event. Number two on our list of props we don’t normally bring is stick props. You know, the little paper cut out that is attached to a stick and you hold it in front of your face or over your head. These are great…except at kids events. Stick props are a wonderful add on when trying to match up a theme and we usually include these in most weddings, but if your event has two hundred sugar filled children, kiss those puppies goodbye. We often reminisce about the first kids event we ever did. It was a fifth grade graduation party, we spent hours the day before hand making fifty or so stick props…we were really excited. Our booth was set up in the school’s gymnasium, the prop table was full and ready, printer was loaded with a fresh roll of paper, and then the doors opened. A wave of two hundred children came rushing on us and crashed down right on our heads. It was if they were raised on a diet of photo booth props all of their lives, and the teachers had been starving them for the past two months. I could hear teachers laughing in the background as my partner was overpowered and got carried away to the moon bounce. Okay, it wasn’t as bad as that, but at the end of the event we walked out of there with one stick prop. And just the stick, no paper cut out.

One final thought or suggestion on what props you should have for your event. If your event has a theme, props to match that theme are a great idea and we’re more than happy to add to our normal assortment. What we suggest though is to add just a handful of themed props. The roaring twenties / Great Gatsby theme is a common theme and one that we have more than enough props for to fill up an entire table. Here’s the thing, usually with this theme and many other themes, almost all the guests will already be dressed up and accessorized accordingly. We’ll still have things that your guests probably will not have, but what’s the fun in switching out a black fedora for another black fedora when you could be switching to a taco hat. It’s not all that critical, but you get our point.

That’s it, that’s our talk on props. Let us know if you have any questions on the where, when, why and how’s of props. We’re here to help. And for those that read our previous post (probably just us), we haven’t been slacking on the blog. We decided to overhaul our site. Hope you like it!