Guide
Birthday and christening photo booth sayings and wording
By La Cabine Bretonne · published · updated
A birthday and a christening call for very different words. One celebrates an age, often with a wink, while the other welcomes a little one with tenderness. For each, here’s what to put on the photo booth frame, lists of birthday photo booth sayings and christening wording sorted by age and tone, and tips for keeping the text within its area and in tune with your chosen design.
What to write on a birthday photo booth frame
A birthday frame is all about the guest of honour. The usual ingredients:
- Their name, nice and big: it’s their night.
- The age, in figures or in words, unless they’d rather keep it quiet.
- The date, so this party stands out from all the others.
- A short saying, funny or heartfelt depending on the mood.
Some designs include an area for each of these. Golden Night, for instance, surrounds the photos with a deep black background, glittering sparkles and fine gold frames, and lets you personalise the name, age and date. For a more colourful party, Giant Balloons features shiny inflatable letters, which suit a short, upbeat line.
Birthday sayings by age
The ages below are only examples: swap in the right number and name, and keep the spirit.
- For a child: ‘Leo is 6, let the party begin!’, ‘Happy birthday, little explorer’, ‘One whole year of giggles’.
- For an 18th: ‘Officially a grown-up (allegedly)’, ‘18 and ready for anything’, ‘Old enough to know better’.
- For a 21st: ‘Twenty-one and having fun’, ‘The key to the door, and the dance floor’.
- For a 30th: ‘Thirty looks good on you’, ‘Not old, just vintage’, ‘Three decades in the making’.
- For a 40th: ‘Forty and fabulous’, ‘Life begins now, apparently’, ‘Still got it at forty’.
- For a 50th and beyond: ‘Half a century of memories’, ‘Sixty and still the last one dancing’, ‘Aged to perfection’.
For a surprise party, keep the secret to the end: ‘Surprise! We got you’, ‘Shh… you had no idea’, ‘The party you never saw coming’.
Christening and naming day wording ideas
For a christening, a naming day or a welcome party for a new baby, the tone softens. The usual ingredients:
- The baby’s name, sometimes with a middle name.
- The date of the ceremony, or the date of birth for a welcome party.
- The place: the church, the register office or the family home.
- The godparents’ names, if there’s room.
- A gentle line rather than a joke.
A few gentle ideas:
- ‘Welcome to the world, Ada’
- ‘Little one, big day’
- ‘Celebrating Oliver’s christening with the people who love him’
- ‘With godparents Sam and Priya’
- ‘Thank you for celebrating our little wonder’
- ‘A new name in the family’
Soft designs work beautifully here. Blush Ribbon features a watercolour bow in ivory and blush pink with long ribbons and a column of words, while Sky Blue Gingham keeps an ivory panel for the names between delicate borders. The pastel christening collection brings together ginghams and stripes in other shades.
Choosing the right tone for your saying
The same occasion can be told in several ways. A few ideas by tone, for a birthday or any family celebration:
- Heartfelt: ‘Surrounded by the people she loves’, ‘Another year, a thousand more memories’.
- Understated: ‘Thank you for coming’, ‘Lucy’s party, remembered’.
- Funny: ‘We stopped counting the candles’, ‘No judging the silly faces’.
- Retro: ‘Vintage since 1976’, ‘Classic model, still running smoothly’.
- Bilingual: ‘Happy birthday, joyeux anniversaire’, ‘Welcome, bienvenue, little one’.
At a christening, steer clear of jokes at the baby’s expense: guests take the print home, and the family will keep it for years.
Matching the wording to your design
Words and artwork should tell the same story. A retro line feels at home in the retro birthday collection, on a design like 1970s Polaroid with its thick white border and handwritten caption beneath. A party line goes with the birthday party collection, full of confetti, balloons and sparkle. For a christening, Perfect Circle, with medallions framed by wreaths of pink cosmos, lavender and sage foliage, calls for something short and delicate.
If a shade doesn’t match the room or the invitations, you can change the background colour, each colour in the design or the colour of a single line of text. Browse more designs on the birthday and christening and new baby pages.
Length, proofreading and corrections
Every text area has a set amount of room on the print. Aim for a handful of words per area, especially on a photo strip, and keep text a few millimetres from the edges. While you customise, the editor flags any text that’s too long for its area and any sample text you’ve forgotten to change; you can also enlarge or move an area if your line needs it.
Double-check the spelling of the baby’s name, the godparents’ names and the age on the cake. If you spot a mistake after downloading, you can fix it from My account as often as you need, and your files are updated. To get started, open the Golden Night editor or the Sky Blue Gingham editor. Planning a wedding too? Our wedding photo booth frame wording ideas take over from here, and the guide to choosing a print size helps you decide between a 4×6 card and a 2×6 strip.