Nativity Photo Booth

 Do you have some Nativity costumes lying around your church or school for those one-time-a-year Christmas plays for the kiddos?

 How about the props for the plays?  You know, gifts of the Magi, animal ears, angel's halos?

Does it seem wasteful to only use the costumes and props once a year and then put them in storage?

I thought so.  I also was looking for a main activity for our Advent Family Celebration last weekend, so I thought I would play off of the the photo booth trend and use all of these great costumes for some family fun.

Cue time for a backdrop:

We were having this event in our Youth Group room, which is a wonderful space, but doesn't have a single blank wall.  So I used my favorite ambiance changer, the plastic table cloth.  They are amazing and cheap.  You can create many of the same effects that you might want to do with fabric at a small fraction of the cost.

I bought a roll of black plastic table cloth (cheaper and can be cut to length than individual table cloths).  I picked a corner of the room and cut long pieces of the plastic.  I love drop ceilings for this purpose, because it makes it so easy to hang things.  We just lifted the tile a bit and shoved (gently) the plastic in.  It doesn't budge, and you don't have to worry about tape on the walls.  When you are ready to take it down, you just lift up the tile and the plastic drops.

To make the background a little more interesting, I added the star of Bethlehem using a foil star from those Christmas play props and some yellow crepe paper.

Zoomed in, it worked as a backdrop for a fun photo booth.  Zoomed out, it was just a corner of a basement room. 

Add a baby Jesus, and you are ready to go!

This guy's name actually used to be George, I think.  

I asked my mom to dig through our old toys for a doll, and she brought a Cabbage Patch.

I can imagine that Baby Jesus had cute chubby cheeks, though. Can you?

The event went great!   I had whole classes act out a scene from the Nativity, and families pose for a picture, and some of the kids come back time after time and try on just about every costume.  Who doesn't like dress up, right?  Hopefully this inspires you to think of a new way to use those Christmas Program costumes you have!