Learn & Understand

Say Cheese: The History of the Photo Booth

Squeezing into a photo booth with friends and props, waiting for the flash and the strip of pictures, is a beloved party ritual with a surprisingly long history. The automatic photo booth is nearly a century old, and it changed how ordinary people captured their own images — a distant ancestor of today's selfie.

Instant Portraits for Everyone

In the early twentieth century, the automatic photo booth appeared — a machine into which anyone could step, pose, and receive a strip of printed photographs minutes later, without a photographer. For the first time, spontaneous self-portraits were within everyone's reach, cheaply and privately. People flocked to booths to capture themselves and their friends.

A Private Little Stage

The booth's curtain created a small private space, and that privacy invited playfulness. Free from a photographer's gaze, people pulled faces, kissed, crowded in together, and mugged for the camera. The photo booth became a place of uninhibited fun and intimacy, its strips of candid images treasured as keepsakes of a moment.

The Love of Our Own Image

The photo booth tapped a deep and enduring human interest: our fascination with our own image. From painted self-portraits to booth strips to selfies, people have long wanted to see and share how they look. The booth democratized the self-portrait, making it playful and cheap, and it foreshadowed the self-image culture of the smartphone age.

Props and Playfulness

Modern event photo booths lean into the playful spirit with props — hats, glasses, signs, mustaches on sticks — that give guests something to do and spark sillier, more memorable pictures. A good variety of props matters more than sheer quantity, generating the range of goofy poses that make booth photos so fun to look back on.

Stocking the Props

To estimate how many props to provide, use the Photo Booth Prop Calculator. Round out party supplies with the Confetti & Balloon Calculator and the Gift Bag Calculator.