A baby's first Halloween is mostly for the parents. Your baby won't remember it. You will, if the photos are good and you can find them next October.
Most photo idea lists stop at the costume. This one covers the shots worth taking, how to keep them safe and simple, and what to do with them on November 1 so they don't disappear into two camera rolls.
What are good first Halloween photo ideas for a baby?
The best ones are easy to set up at home, in daylight, around your baby's nap.
- The costume, close up. One clear photo of their face in the costume. Shoot at their eye level near a window, not from above in a dim hallway.
- The costume, whole. A second photo that shows the tiny feet, the tail, or the hat that kept slipping off. This is the one you will laugh at later.
- Next to a pumpkin. Set a pumpkin beside your baby so you can see how small they were. Do it again next year with the same pumpkin size, and the two photos tell the story.
- With both parents. Hand the phone to someone else, or use a timer. Most first Halloween galleries have one parent missing because they were holding the camera.
- The family costume. If you are dressing up together, take one photo where everyone is in frame and nobody is posing.
- The trick-or-treaters. If you are handing out candy, a photo of your baby watching the door from your arms is often the most honest picture of the night.
- The ordinary part. The costume half off at bedtime, or asleep in the car seat on the way home. They are easy to skip and worth taking.
You don't need a backdrop or a sign. A costume and good light are enough.
How do you keep a first Halloween photo shoot safe?
A few rules from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Consumer Product Safety Commission apply directly to photos.
- Light pumpkins without flame. The AAP suggests a battery-operated candle, flashlight or glow stick instead of a real candle in a jack-o'-lantern. That matters even more when a baby is posed right beside it.
- Check the costume label. Look for "flame resistant" on costumes, wigs and accessories. The CPSC notes that this does not mean an item won't catch fire, only that it should resist burning.
- Keep the face clear. Hats, hoods and masks should not slide over your baby's eyes or face. The AAP's tips for babies and toddlers say to make sure your child can see, breathe and move their arms easily, and that no part of the costume becomes a choking risk.
- Keep candy out of the frame. The same AAP guidance says babies and toddlers should not have hard candies, gum, popcorn, gummy candy or small candies, and that wrappers and small toys can be choking hazards. Use a soft toy or an empty bucket as the prop.
- Don't stage sleeping photos with props. If your baby falls asleep in costume, take the picture as they are. The AAP's safe sleep guidance is a firm, flat surface on their back, with no pillows, blankets or toys in the sleep area.
The AAP also suggests packing a backup outfit for spit-up and leaky diapers. Take the costume photos first, before the outfit has a chance to get ruined.
How do you take good Halloween photos at night on an iPhone?
Take the main photos in daylight. Evening light is dim and orange, and babies rarely sit still for a slow shot.
If you want photos after dark, iPhone 11 and later turn on Night mode on their own in low light. Apple's advice is to hold the phone steady until the capture finishes, or rest it on something solid. Night mode turns off if you switch on the flash or Live Photos, so leave both off for the glowing-pumpkin shots.
A short video is often better than a photo at night. Ten seconds of your baby reacting to the doorbell, with your voices in the background, will hold up better than a blurry still.
What should you do with the photos after Halloween?
This is where most first Halloween photos get lost. One parent took the costume shots. The other took the video at the door. A grandparent has a few more in a group chat. By next October, nobody is sure where the good one is.
Spend ten minutes on November 1.
- Pick your favorites from both phones. Three or four is enough. One close-up, one full costume, one with the family, one ordinary moment.
- Write down what happened. What the costume was and who chose it. How old your baby was. What they did when the doorbell rang. Whether they slept through it. A line now saves you guessing later.
- Record your voice. A short voice note about the night is easy to make while it's fresh and hard to recreate in a year.
- Keep the originals. Don't delete the rest to save space until you know the favorites are somewhere safe.
If you're also trying to keep the rest of the first year together, our post on how many photos parents take in the first year covers why the camera roll fills so fast and how to keep it manageable.
How can you keep first Halloween photos with the rest of the year?
The first Halloween is one evening in a year of ordinary days. It means more next to the photos from the weeks around it, when you can see how much your baby changed by Christmas.
Our Little World is a private baby book app for iOS that does this for you. It finds your child in the photos on your iPhone and lays out their life month by month, so the Halloween photos land in the right month without an album to make. Both parents share one family space, so the costume shots from one phone and the doorbell video from the other end up together. Either of you can add a line or a voice note to any photo, and your originals stay in Apple Photos. You can read more about how it works for your baby's first year.
Our Little World is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Everything is free for 7 days on monthly or 14 days on yearly. Download Our Little World on the App Store.
