$30 DIY Backdrop for a 1st Birthday Cake Smash

Make Beautiful Memories.

I’m a frugal person, so when my son turned 1, I knew I wanted to have an adorable cake smash photoshoot on a shoestring budget. I’m also pretty eco-conscious, so I combined these personality traits to come up with the most beautiful, easy, and nature-inspired DIY backdrop that cost less than $30 to make.

Let’s face it, first birthdays are bittersweet, momentous occasions, so it’s only natural that as parents we want to capture these moments forever. I’m in love with the photos from my son’s cake smash, and if you follow the steps below, I’m confident you’ll be swooning over your photos and videos for years to come too.

Quick Guide – Items You’ll Need

What I needed to purchase:

• Backdrop $17
• Banner $7

Items I already had:

• Twine (roughly 3 feet)
• Paint/Paintbrush
• Painter’s Tape
• Garden shears and gloves
• Needle and thread
• Masking tape
• Wood clamps (optional as the backdrop has a rod pocket to hang it from)
• Plants around my house for decorations

Choosing a Backdrop Fabric

This is basically 99% of the cost, so I did a lot of research to make sure I got the right fabric. I broke it down into the following categories:

• Size – I needed something large enough to cover the ground and wall with. The fabric I went with was 5 x 10 feet, which was the perfect size.
• Washability – One thing I hate doing is trying to prevent my toddler from making a mess. It’s a losing battle, stifles his creativity and exploration, and this was for a CAKE SMASH after all. Of course, it was going to get dirty! I was extremely happy (shocked even) with how well the chocolate cake stains came out of the fabric. Just make sure to follow my washing tips in the “Cleanup” section below.
• Price – At first, I thought I wanted a vinyl backdrop until I saw the price – yikes! The backdrop I got was pennies in comparison. At the time of writing this, it’s currently $17, and can be used time and time again, making it well worth the price for me.

This is the exact backdrop I purchased and highly recommend!

Collecting Items in Nature

One way I made this backdrop so affordable and eco-friendly was by using plants around my house for the decorations.

First, grab the following items:

• Gloves
• Garden Shears
• A bag or large container for collecting the various plants.

Some things you may be able to simply collect from the ground. However, for other items, you’ll need to snip off a few branches, flowers, fern fronds, or leaves so garden shears will be very useful.

Now let’s look at some ideas for items you can collect.

Inspiration for Backdrop Ideas in Various Seasons

Winter Birthdays

I’m lucky enough to now live in an area covered by ferns, evergreens, and moss year-round. So although my son has a winter birthday, I was able to create a simple and enchanting backdrop using plants in the forest behind our house.

However, I grew up in the Midwest of the U.S, so I know that winter birthdays might be tricky in other areas of the world. My suggestion would be to play up the winter wonderland theme. Collect long, thin branches and weave them together. You can embellish this “spray” with pine cones, evergreen clippings, and even add DIY snow or icicles to it.

Spring Birthdays

This is the time when buds start blooming! Take full advantage of the first flowers of the year and incorporate these into your 1^st birthday DIY backdrop. If you have trouble finding lots of fresh blooms around your house, incorporate long, thin branches and weave them together as a filler and base for the flowers and leaves you collect.

Summer Birthdays

Green, abundant foliage flourishes this time of year! You should be able to find lots of beautiful items for your backdrop. I recommend snipping some branches from trees and bushes to collect a variety of leaf shapes and colors. This will give you a beautiful and diverse green spray, which you can then embellish with flowers, succulents, or even fruits (strawberries would look so cute!).

Fall Birthdays

Fall is famous for its colorful, changing leaves. While the Midwest and Northeast are most famous for this spectacular natural wonder, you can still find this beautiful display in most places in the US. Collect plenty of red, orange, and yellow leaves to create a beautiful autumn backdrop behind your little one.

Avoid These Plants

1) Poisonous Plants – Steer clear of anything that could cause you or your little one a rash, like poison ivy, or poison oak. You’ll also want to avoid any plants that could cause harm if ingested. While your little ones should be plenty entertained with the cake in front of them, anyone with kids knows they can move fast, even at this young age so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

This guide from WebMD has great pictures and descriptions of common plants to avoid.

2) Contains Thorns – For obvious reasons, avoid anything with thorns on the stems or under the leaves. If it’s unpleasant to collect, it’s best to leave it be.

Setting Up the Backdrop

Hanging the Fabric

To avoid spending extra money on a frame ($40 and higher), I used wood clamps from the garage to attach the fabric to our window frames that are about 6 feet off the ground. If you don’t have any here’s a super affordable option.

Another option is to use the rod pocket the fabric has sewn into it and hang them from your curtain rods. However, mine are just a bit too high off the ground, so there wasn’t enough fabric left over to cover the floor with.

Now use painter’s tape to attach the fabric to the ground. This is a good time to point out, that you should do this on a non-carpeted surface.

Making a Banner

I purchased a long burlap banner and hand-painted the word ONE on three of the flags to hang as part of the background. I only used 3 of the 15 flags, so I also have plenty of extras for future birthdays too! The paint is incredibly cheap too, only $0.50.

However, I do wish I had painted the banner numbers red instead of green. It would have contrasted the plants more and matched his bow tie. So I hope you can learn from that minor regret.

You’ll want to attach some twine to the fabric which will then be used to affix the decorations onto the backdrop.

I tried using tape for this, but it failed miserably. Instead, I used a needle and thread to sew the twine onto the fabric.

However, before you start sewing, make sure to map out where you want the decorations to hang. Hint – it’s going to be much lower than you think. The best way to do this is to grab your little one, sit them on the fabric, and then take some mock photos. It’s incredibly helpful to have an extra pair of hands for this step. Your partner can move the string up or down until it’s in the perfect spot and can also help keep an eye on the birthday kid.

Attaching the Decorations to the Backdrop

Once the twine is attached you can begin to weave on everything you’ve collected. At this point, I used tape, thread, or simple draped things over the twine to achieve a simple and whimsical backdrop.

Using Your Phone to take Pictures and Videos

Here are the cliff notes you need to know for getting great photos and videos for your DIY cake smash photoshoot.

1. Get on your little one’s level. This means you should grab a pillow to sit on and get comfy! My son played/ate his cake for about 30 minutes.
2. Take full advantage of the portrait setting for photographs. This will soften the background behind the birthday babe and keep them the main focus.
3. If you have a Samsung phone, make sure to take several videos using “Single Take” mode. This setting is PERFECT for capturing moments like these. If you’ve never used it before, it’s good to practice first to understand what it’s all about. You’ll take a video (max of 15 seconds) moving the camera around as you please. AI will then process these videos and make several photos, collages, boomerangs, etc. Essentially, the “single take” setting allows you to capture a multitude of pictures and clips simply by taking a short video.

Other Considerations for the Perfect Cake Smash Photoshoot

Take Time to Enjoy the Moment

Take photos and videos of everything: the untouched cake, initial investigation from your birthday kiddo, them destroying the cake, and the mess afterward, basically the entire process!

However, this doesn’t mean you should take photos the entire time! Don’t forget to sit the camera down from time to time and live in the moment with your growing baby. If you’re really concerned about not capturing an adorable moment, then pass the phone/camera off to someone else for a while.

Timing the Photoshoot

You’ll need to find the perfect time for the cake smash. Ideally, this will be at least an hour after they’ve eaten and at least an hour and a half before naptime/bedtime.

A baby that’s not hungry might not be interested in trying the cake, while a tired kiddo can get cranky pretty quickly.

Cake Plate

Use a non-breakable cake plate. We DIY’d a hexagon-shaped cake plate from a chunk of walnut for this. It was heavy enough that he couldn’t just flip the cake over too.

Lighting

Everyone will tell you to use natural light, but this can be a luxury and is much easier said than done. For example, our cake smash took place at 6 pm when the sun was already gone.

My advice is to test out where your light source is coming from (whether the sun or overhead light) and set up the backdrop where there will be minimal shadows interfering with the shots.

Cleanup

I’m not going to tell you how to wash your baby, you’re a pro at that already. However, I’ll give you some tips for washing the backdrop so that you can use it time and time again.

Immediately soak the backdrop and any messy clothes in a bathtub with a few inches of hot water and a scoop of laundry booster. After an hour or so you can drain the water, rinse out the fabric, and throw it in the wash on a regular cycle.

I thought it would be impossible to remove all the dark chocolate stains, but it cleaned up beautifully!

The key is soaking and washing the fabric right away. If you let the stains dry on, it will be much more difficult to remove them.

That’s it!

And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your little one!