Guest Post with Cara B: Fantastic 16th Birthday Party Idea

This past weekend I saw a fantastic idea for a boy's 16th birthday party.  The idea came from a friend I have known for a long time --- Cara, I think we've known each other since first grade?  Wow.  I won't say how many years that has been.

Cara is great photographer and captures the human spirit so well.  I love when she posts pictures on Facebook or Instagram.  When I saw the photos from her son's birthday party, I immediately knew I wanted to ask her to be a guest on my blog.

Everything below was written by Cara and the photos are hers as well.  Enjoy...

I am so glad you enjoyed the photos.  We had a lot of fun making them.  When we started planning Jake's 16th birthday party, he wanted to have a bonfire, like we always do.  But you only turn 16 once.  I wanted to come up with something fun that we could do to engage everyone - something they will remember for years to come.  With teenagers, its hard to come up with ideas to make the party memorable!  Something fun and cool, that they would enjoy... I always take regular pictures at his party, so he has something to look back upon and remember, but it is hard to get them to engage in just regular pictures.  Some kids do not like to have just regular pictures taken of themselves.

I started searching online and found these very inexpensive plastic backgrounds.  We found a cheap mesh "red carpet" for them to walk down.  We found some props at our local dollar store and around our house.  I had the backgrounds hung on the walls and the red carpet ready the night before the party and all the props collected in a basket.  I wanted them to see it when they first walked in to get them intrigued about the idea.

After everyone arrived and was around the bonfire for about two hours, I powered up my lighting.  I took my camera out back and started with taking their picture around the fire.  I asked if anyone was ready to take some fun pictures with all the props inside.  Before I knew it, they were all in the house in a line, giggling and laughing about different ideas on how they wanted to pose and with who.  They all had such fun ideas!

It filled my heart with joy to hear their laughter, knowing how much fun they were having with it.  I found that teenagers love to show their creativity!  So we took that characteristic and ran with it!  We are having the photos printed and put into key chains shaped like the directors clap board.  Since most of them are driving now, its something they will always carry with them.

I am so glad you enjoyed the photos, Sara! Its a memory that we will cherish forever - and probably a new tradition for us!

Cara -- thank you so much for sharing on my blog.  Your idea was wonderful and now I want to play with it too!