DIY Valentine’s Day Props for Photo Shoots: 5 Ideas You Can Try

My friend Maddy and I always have so much fun putting together seasonal content. This February, Maddy and I decided to get crafty for our Valentine’s Day photo shoots. We wanted to create unique photos so we leaned into DIY crafts for Valentine’s Day. From flower backdrops to love letters, we hope some of these ideas inspire your next Valentine’s Day or Galentine’s Day photo shoot.

Here are 5 DIY Valentine’s Day Props for Photo Shoots You Can Try:

1.Love Letters

Creating this DIY backdrop of love letters was one of our favorite things we put together this Valentine season!

If you’re interested in putting together a DIY backdrop for Valentine’s or Galentine’s Day,

Here’s how to make it.

1. First, pick up red poster paper at the dollar store or your local grocery store.
2. Cut the poster board in half.
3. Next, draw two lines (using  a ruler or something similar) to make it into an envelope.
4. Then, cut out pink (or whatever color paper you have) hearts out of construction paper. 
5. And tape the pink hearts to your giant red envelopes to seal them.
6. You can use clear packaging tape to hang them up to your wall. 

2. Giant Heart backdrop

Maddy saw a few Balloon Boat Heart backdrops for Valentine’s Day scattered around Pinterest, and knew that was something she wanted to try my hand at creating. It didn’t turn out perfectly, but she was surprised how easy this prop was to create! To make this prop twice as useful, she covered the back in velvet so if could be used as a prop in the front and the back.

Here’s how Maddy did it:

1. Grab 5 foam boards from the dollar tree
2. Lay 4 side by side in a rectangular formation
3. Tape all 4 boards together
4. Draw a large heart in the middle of the boards (as large as you can go) and cut it out
5. Using the 5th board, cut out small rectangles
6. Tape the rectangles at a right angle around the edges of the heart
7. On the flat side, extend red velvet fabric over the back and staple to secure in place (I got mine on Amazon)
8. Blow up some balloons in different sizes (also from Amazon) and put them in the other side of the heart. Use the balloon stickers to hold them in place

This craft is definitely the most difficult of all 4 listed here, but it’s inexpensive and easier than you’d think to execute! Not to mention the final results were definitely worth it.

3. Love Note

We decided to take inspiration from passing notes in class for this photo shoot idea. Making a love note is super easy. 

Here’s how to create a love note for your Valentine’s Day photo shoot:

1. First pick up a white poster board from either the dollar store or even a grocery store.
2. Next, cut it out in the shape of a heart. But you could also keep it’s rectangular shape.
3. Then, grab a marker or Sharpie and write out, “Will you be my Valentine?” and draw two boxes with “Yes/No”.  

A few other phrases you could write out on your love note could be:

• “Roses are red, violets are blue, the only Valentine I want is you.”
• “Will you go to the Valentine’s day dance with me?”
• “I love you”

4. Rose Wall Backdrop

This prop is Maddy’s personal favorite, and something she’s keeping to use as office decor and backdrops for tons of future photoshoots! She actually did a detailed tutorial with images & materials on this project on a recent blog post (Easy DIY Valentine’s Day Photo Prop: A Flower Wall), but

here’s a quick overview:

1. Gather your materials (Fake Roses, a Foam Board- mine was from the Dollar Tree but they also have them on Amazon)
2. Place the first rose in the corner of the Foam Board, and push it through
3. Pull it all the way through and bend the stem backwards so it’s laying flat
4. Continue this process down the row
5. Repeat until the board is full
6. Tape the stems down so they stay in place

And that’s it! 6 easy steps to a beautiful backdrop.

5. You’ve got a PIZZA my heart

This backdrop was inspired by pizza! If you’re looking to do a pizza themed or Valentine’s day themed photo shoot, this DIY backdrop is super easy to create. You can pick up red poster boards from the dollar store.

Here’s how to make a DIY giant heart with a slice:

1. Buy 2-4 red poster boards
2. Combine and place either 2 or 4 boards together on the floor – depending on how large you want the heart to be
3. Outline a giant red heart onto the poster boards
4. Cut out the pieces of the giant heart – you might need to adjust and cut down segments of the heart to make it look even
5. Lastly, sketch out a piece of the heart and cut it out!

Which DIY Valentine’s Day props for photo shoots would you try recreating?

You can check out Maddy’s take on this blog post here: DIY Valentine’s Day Photo Props.

For more Valentine’s Day photo shoot ideas, I recommend checking out:

Valentine’s Day Posing Ideas: Kissing Booth

Valentine’s Day Tea Party Posing Ideas

12 Easy Indoor Valentine’s Day Photo Shoot Ideas You Can Try (from Maddy’s website)

8 Easy Valentine’s Day Posing Ideas

Thank you for reading!

Love,

Emma