Flatlay photos are everywhere - both all over small business Instagram and even in professional marketing ads and magazine covers. These popular photos are here to stay, but what about them exactly makes them so appealing? 

Instagram has changed the way we look at and take photos. Influencers and small businesses can tell you that Instagram is all about creating and sharing aesthetically pleasing photos that tell a story without words. Flat lay photos are an arrangement of items on a background that’s taken from an overhead perspective. Instead of taking portrait styled photos of people and locations to tell your story, flat lays allow you to share your story through products and their complementing details. 

Here are five examples of party flat lay photos for the adventurous kid in your life. 

Celebrate Your Little Superhero

Christina is a former Marine turned party-loving mom. In her free time, between driving her kids to and from school and their activities, she loves planning super cute parties for them. Christina blended his love of Legos and superheroes for her son's fifth birthday for a huge little superhero celebration. 

One of the great things about flat lay photos is their versatility. They are, of course, great for marketing and advertising, but on a smaller scale, they also make great party invitations. When creating an invite for a party - especially a kid's birthday party - you want it to be fun and exciting. It's the first place your guests will get to experience the theme you're putting together. 

In Christina's flat lay for her son's party, she summarizes her Lego superheroes theme extremely well. She starts with a dark blue plate from Oh Happy Day and customizes it with mini figure stickers of her son's favorite characters and some confetti beneath a clear acrylic charger. Beside it is a Classic Cosmic Cocktail Napkin with red and white cutlery and one of the strikingly blue rock candy pops she plans to serve on the dessert table. This is an example of how her tablescape will look on the day of the party. 

Something that we love about Christina's flat lay is she used what she already had on hand. Confetti is one of the things that really ties a flat lay together and adds a touch of fun to the otherwise blank spaces in your photo. Christina used a blend of confetti in her party theme colors and some of her son's Legos (including a display of his favorite mini figures and some superhero accessories he already owned) and mini disco balls to really fill in her photo. Can you picture how this would make the cutest party invite?

Two Infinity and Beyond

Calling all Toy Story fanatics, especially Buzz Lightyear lovers! How cute is this   out-of-this-world flat lay styled by Alejandra from @aly4ever with its personalized photograph of her little man?! Alejandra is a mommy that enjoys party planning and creating special memories to capture her children’s happiness. 

To create this party flat lay, she started off with a silver star garland, then layered on a cute cowboy party hat, custom sugar cookies and a Toy Story book as the 3-D props. She added party details including the custom invitation and picture of her little guy on top of a Buzz Lightyear cutout. 

We love how Alejandra used items from the shop like the Red Frenchie Striped Napkins and the similar silver star garland to coordinate with her Toy Story theme. If you’re someone who is not a huge fan of matching tableware and decorations with the same character design, this is the way to go. Simply choose a few items like the hat and book to be your main theme inspiration and color coordinate around those particular items. Alejandra - you’re a natural at this!

Some other items that would work with this theme would be Silver Star Candles, Silver Star Drink Stirrers, Brown Fringe Cups, Red Bandana Dessert Plates and Cowhide Guest Napkins.

You’re a Hole in One

Planning a party for a one-year-old isn’t always an easy task. You know they aren’t going to remember it, but you want to make sure the day is as special as your little one’s first year on earth was. For her son’s first birthday, Kristin came up with the brilliant idea of having a Hole in One party to celebrate her son’s first birthday.

Kristin is a mom of two, a motherhood and lifestyle content creator, and a party lover. Planning parties for her children is one of her favorite things to do. When she built this flat lay, she intended to be able to share her own party details to inspire other moms out there looking to throw a similar party for their little ones. 

Oftentimes, a flat lay photo will have one “hero” or focal item that the picture centers around with complementing details surrounding it. For Kristin’s flat lay, her hero item was the party invitation she designed herself. After a healthy sprinkling of blue, green, and white confetti all over her background, she placed her invitation directly in the center of her photo. Above it, she placed the complementing “scorecard” with all of Kellan’s details and milestones in place of an actual score. 

Garlands are another party flat lay staple, and Kristin used her felt ball garland to really emphasize her green, blue, and white color palette. Finally, she filled in the rest of the space with the custom cookies she had made, some golf-themed drink stirrers, and some of her husband’s unused golf tees. While her flat lay photo is fairly minimalist, it definitely serves its purpose in showing off the details of her party so other moms can take some inspiration from it. 

S'more Summer Camping Fun

Speaking of minimalist flat lays, Sydney's S'more Fun camping party flat lay photo shows just how much less can be more. Sydney is a full-time mom, wife, and owner of Syd's Scrap Shop - a small business that allowed her to turn her crafting and graphic design hobbies into a career. When she was growing up, her family spent their summer nights by a big bonfire, eating all the s'mores a kid could ask for. Now that she is a mom to an adorable little boy, she wants to make sure her son gets to experience the same fun things she did. 

Flat lay photos don't always have to be filled from top to bottom and side to side, with every detail of your party crammed into a single frame. In fact, often, the simpler flat lays have a bigger impact on the viewer. For her photo, Sydney began with the tiny camping t-shirt she designed for her son. Around it, she added a S'more Fun sign, a blank notecard for people to write sweet memories on, and a gold party plate with s'mores ingredients and a confetti campfire. 

This simple flat lay would look amazing in a keepsake wall photo or album of all the fun parties and summertime memories. When her son is older, they can sit down and look back at the fun things they did together when he was little.

Roar Like a Dinosaur

Just about every kid goes through a phase where they’re obsessed with dinosaurs. Ashley’s youngest son was no different. As a busy mom of three, Ashley wanted to ensure her son’s third birthday was all about his favorite things, dinosaurs. 

Ashley did a great job summarizing all of the details that went into planning her son’s party without making her flatlay photo feel cluttered. A flatlay such as this would make a great keepsake or even thank you note design to send out to all guests who showed up to celebrate. 

A few items are essential to creating the perfect flatlay. They are party plates, napkins, drink stirrers, confetti, candles, and garlands. Ashley’s photo uses just about all of these. After a light sprinkling of white and gold confetti over her background, Ashley began building her flatlay by arranging the tableware she used for the party. She set out a plate with matching a napkin and candle set from our Dinosaur Kingdom party line and a complementing palm leaf paper plate with a number sparkler candle on it. Between them all, she placed one of the gold foil cups with a star straw that she had also included on her tablescape before finishing her photo with a few decor items and signs that were hung up during the party.

A Woofing Good Time

Who said parties had to only be for kids? Not only is Ashley a mom of three, but she’s also a dog mom. It’s a good bet that just about every dog parent would probably confess to throwing a birthday party for their pup at least once. Her puppy “pawty” flatlay is the perfect example of how to use a flatlay to convey a particular theme. 

While there is no main focal item in Ashley’s photo, a few main items stand out. Ashley began arranging her flatlay by placing her light blue adventure sign in the top left of her frame because everyone knows that owning a furbaby is an adventure. A Bow Wow Paper Plate is slightly overlapping on top of a gold party paper plate for some sparkle. a Bow Wow Napkin, Chill Out Mint Green Party Cup, and paw print paper straws completed the build for what would be her themed tablescape. A few dog toys, a homemade doggy treat, and a Bow Wow Dog Bone Candle filled out the details of her puppy party theme. Finally, a light sprinkling of Poolside Blue confetti over it all completed Ashley’s beautiful themed flatlay design.

Do You Want to Learn How to Create Flatlays as Beautiful as These?

Each of these awesome flatlays that are featured in this blog was done by students of our good friend and collaboration partner, Kelsey Klos. Kelsey is not only the co-founder of House of Fete and a party designer on her own, but she also does a ton for the Ellie and Piper community by doing video DIYs on our TikTok. She has inspired a few of the party ideas we’ve featured in your past blogs. 

Aside from party planning, Kelsey is also the flatlay queen, and as such, she’s created a course where she lets you in on all of her knowledge to create the perfect flatlay. She offers two separate courses: a Tips and Tricks group course with room for four students each or a One on One Flatlay course where you have Kelsey’s complete and undivided attention the entire time.

When you sign up for one of her courses, Kelsey will help you create your flatlay theme (if you don’t already have one) and give you a list of everything you’ll need to arrange your flatlay. During the course, Kelsey teaches you how to arrange things in just the right way and gives you her reasoning behind each product placement. By the end of the course, you’ll have designed a beautiful flatlay under Kelsey’s guidance, and if you snap a picture of it and send it to her, she’ll edit it so you have a professional flatlay photo that you can be 100% proud of. 

Now is your opportunity to learn how to create a beautiful flatlay! Check out Kelsey’s course schedule to see which spots are still available. Happy flatlay designing!