the night of 50 selfies

This summer during our travels to California, my siblings and mom and I threw a 70th birthday party for my dad, which was so much fun!
And when Instax asked if I'd share about their cameras again with you (check my previous Guest Book Post here) I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
I brought the Instax camera to the party! and asked everyone to take pics so we could add them to the special book we would give him as a gift.
It was like the cherry on top to a totally fun celebration.

Oh I loved this party for my Dad.
I think everybody needs something like this at some point in their life.

In fact I almost started crying when later in the night my dad said that no one had ever really thrown him a real birthday party before.  That growing up, they always celebrated his birthday with a simple cake after dinner and gifts, which was great.  And he had a happy life.  But he'd never had anything like this, so he was really touched to have a giant organized party just for him.
Oh Billy Drew (what my grandma always called him).

The party was definitely a group effort by all the 6 siblings, spouses, and my mom.
There were fun party colors and decor, old pics of my dad for the center pieces, a giant poster, yummy food, my brothers put together a slide show....it was a special night.
And each family was asked to come up with a song or skit or something to pay tribute to my Dad.

 (my cute dad and mom, Bill and Cindy)

The skits ranged from a Boy Scout Court of Honor (with special merit badges and silly jabs), to funny song parodies, to a full Tupac California Love rap which was a quite impressive.  Oh, and a special Elvis number by my cousin who happens to totally look like Elvis.  Haah.
It was a great evening!

Toward the end of the night as everyone partied with cake and ice cream, I pulled out the Instax Mini 70 camera and walked around to snap photos of everyone that was there.
And it was such a fun addition to the party!

We all had a blast taking instant photos of ourselves, watching them develop right there in front of us, and just enjoying the moment.

If you've never used one of these Instax cameras, you will love it.  They're such a crowd pleaser, and they come in so many cute colors....which, you know, just makes them that much more fun.  

And while I could have taken the pics of everyone, I love asking people to take selfies with the camera because it's fun to watch them come alive with the camera.  Some people know the routine, and others totally come out of their shell.

 ...and give you some real gems.

And with this particular Instax mini 70, there's an awesome selfie mirror on the front to help you all get into frame.  Seriously. It's the best!

I'm not sure who loved it more?  The grandkids or the adults?
We all had so much fun!

For about an hour everyone kept finding me, asking if they could take a picture with the Instax camera.   And then we oooo-ed and ahhhh-ed as the photo developed.  Why does that never get old??  I guess we all like "magic".

For a party this size with about 50 people, I would recommend 4, 10-packs of film so everyone gets into a pic.

And bring a sharpie so people can write a simple message on the edge of the photo. I love that aspect too. It's like a note to your friend and snapshot of life, all wrapped into one.

Now the photos are all ready to go into the keepsake book, which also has drawings and letters from everyone in the family. I'll probably tape them to cardstock (similar to what I did here).  And we'll have all these fun selfies from the party to remember that special Happy 70th night.
Thank you Instax for making our event just that much more fun and unique!

Would you like to try out an Instax camera?
Today we're giving away a gift card.....