Photo Drinks Toppers

“These work best with a cute, funny, or slightly embarrassing photo from years ago: an awkward school photo, a bad haircut, an outfit that hasn’t aged well. It’s more entertaining for guests — and will get more of a reaction than a standard headshot.

Because these are quite small, use a close-up face photo rather than a wide or full-body shot — skip anything pulled from a group text or an old screenshot, where the guest of honor’s face ends up too small to read once it’s printed on a two-inch disc.

Instead of just naming the occasion, use the text option to add something with more character: “Not Just a Pretty Face” for a graduation, “The Man, The Myth, The Legend” for a milestone birthday, or “20 Years. No Notes.” for an anniversary. Check out my full list of creative occasion phrases here for more ideas.

I’d use these for the welcome drink to make a strong first impression — they don’t last the whole night, so the timing works in your favor there. Especially with a cute or embarrassing photo, it sets a lighthearted, celebratory tone from the moment guests arrive.

If you’re ordering a few dozen, split it into two or three smaller batches using different photos of the guest of honor at different stages of their life: as a baby, at school, at graduation, on their wedding day. It makes it more interesting for guests than the same photo repeated on every glass.

If you need to transfer old printed photos to a digital format, this can be done very inexpensively nowadays ($20-$30 for 100 photos) and it’s a great opportunity to preserve them for years to come. Similarly, old photos that are fading, discolored, or damaged can often be restored at the same time. See links below.”