The collaborative photo gallery for your birthday.

Yes, and the private-by-default mode suits it particularly well. The typical run: the organiser creates the universe a few days before the party and shares the access code only with the circle of accomplices — in a group chat, without the guest of honour seeing anything. During the evening, everyone drops their photos into their personal gallery; since private mode is active, nothing is visible collectively and the surprise stays intact even if the guest of honour ends up scanning the QR code. At the chosen moment — cake, end of the night, or the next day — the organiser flips the shared-mode toggle, and every photo from every guest becomes visible at once: the whole party, seen from every angle simultaneously. With no account and no app to install, even the least tech-savvy accomplices join in without help.

For a one-evening birthday with 30 to 50 guests, the free Discover plan is mainly useful to test: one universe, 100 photos and 30 days of retention, with no credit card. With an observed average participation rate of 55 to 75% and around 18 photos per contributor, a 30-person birthday typically produces 300 to 400 photos — well above the free cap; exceeding it becomes near-certain past a dozen active guests. The Night plan at €29 one-time removes every constraint: unlimited photos, 6 months of retention and Google Drive backup. The practical rule: a quick test or a handful of contributors, the free plan holds; for a real party, or if the birthday stretches over a weekend, the €29 avoid seeing the collection stop mid-party. Switching from one plan to the other is a simple request.

Yes, with appropriate supervision. The recommended pattern: children take and drop their photos from a parent's phone, under the family nickname — since Photobooth collects neither emails nor phone numbers, no account data is ever created in a minor's name. The private-by-default mode plays a protective role here: photos featuring children stay invisible to other guests as long as the organiser does not switch to shared mode, and each parent can delete shots from their gallery at any time. Before an eventual switch to shared mode, it is good practice to give the parents present a heads-up, or even collect their agreement — especially if the gallery will later feed a montage or an album shared around. The blog's GDPR guide for events with minors details the rules that apply to children's photos at private events.

Two strategies have proven themselves, depending on the tempo. The "morning after" version: the gallery stays in private mode all party long, everyone drops photos through the evening without revealing anything; the next morning, the organiser downloads the complete zip — sorted by guest — from the admin panel, turns it into a quick montage, souvenir video or photo album, and sends it when the guest of honour least expects it. The "big screen" version: at the end of the night, the organiser switches the gallery to shared mode and projects the collective collection in front of everyone — the simultaneous-discovery effect, each guest finding their own photos among everyone else's, regularly makes the best moment of the party. Both combine: projection that night, polished montage afterwards, with the gallery staying open 30 days (Discover) or 6 months (Night) for latecomers.