Do-it-yourself passport photos

Once we knew we would be moving overseas, one of our first priorities was to apply for passports. My last passport expired at the end of 2011, which meant that for the first time in my life, I couldn't leave the country.

Despite having handled thousands of passport photos as a student worker in college, I'd never actually applied for a passport here in the US. It was somewhat of a shock to discover that passport photos ranged anywhere from $5-15 for a pair of photos. With five of us in our family, we immediately ruled out this option. Not only did the price seem unreasonably high, but -- much more importantly -- we knew that there was no way any of us were going to get it right on the first try. A proper passport photo requires eyes forward, neutral expressions, and no wiggles. We decided to take the photos ourselves.

A fitted bedsheet draped over our dining room chairs worked beautifully for our plain backdrop, but I think a blank wall would have worked just as well. We snapped photos to our hearts' content and chose the cutest of the bunch. Those pictures were uploaded to epassportphoto, where we were able to adjust the proportions to meet US passport guidelines:

And look: passport photos we could print at the photo printer of our choice! The total cost for all five of us was $0.95. So easy.

Next on our family's agenda: creating mini passports for the beloveds who will be coming with us.