As any newborn photographer can tell you, becoming a newborn prop shop-a-holic is pretty much inevitable.  Literally every-single-store you walk into has some really cute this or that or some amazing stealing deal on some type of ‘prop’ you can see yourself putting a baby into.  It takes a tremendous amount of discipline not to max out every credit card in your wallet buying up all the cute little things that you see.  And if it isn’t your ability to discipline yourself from the spending, you’ve probably got a hubby who gives you a good ole guilt trip every time you walk in the door with another package full of newborn props.  To us, it’s like Christmas morning!  To them, it’s like burning dollars!  Let’s face it, there are just some things our hubbies will probably never understand.  I put together this little list and I’m calling it ’10 Signs You Might Be a Newborn Prop Shop-A-Holic’ because I think, at some point, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery 🙂

Sign #1 – You find yourself scouring Facebook for all the RTS (Ready to Ship) sales and set your phone calendar with the date and time that the sales start.  You even make sure you have a reminder alarm programed to go off 5 minutes before the event opens and again at the time of, just so you don’t miss it or show up ‘late’ and miss out on that ONE THING YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT – even if you have no idea what that ‘thing’ is.

Sign #2 – You have joined the ‘secret groups’ for all the prop shops you love, (and even some you don’t) and have the notifications for all of them turned on so you don’t miss when they post their exclusive sales.

Sign #3 – You have purchased so many backdrops that you can’t remember which ones you have and you continue to buy the same backdrop in the same color over and over again JUST because it’s on sale! <<<<This has happened to me, not once but TWICE now! And I blame it on Sign #2

Sign #4 – You find yourself strategically checking the mail at times of the day when your hubby won’t be home so he won’t know how much you spent or that you ordered more props!

Sign #5 – When packages arrive and you see the sender’s name but can’t remember what it was you ordered, even though you just bought it last week, you might be a prop shop-a-holic.

Sign #6 – You’re planning a family vacation and part of your site seeing involves antiquing for the sole purpose of finding newborn props.

Sign #7 – You no longer have a set budget for prop shopping because it’s too depressing to see that you’re spending more than your budget allows.  So instead of letting your budget guide you, you find ways to rationalize why you NEED a certain prop.

Sign #8 – You have run out of space to store your props and you have asked your husband to build something magnificent to store all your goodies.  It doesn’t help that  you have props you haven’t used in FOREVER but can’t even fathom letting them go because someday, somehow, you are going to use it again! It’s a vicious cycle.

Sign #9 – You have to use your monthly bank ledger to try to keep track of all the prop purchases you made to make sure you got everything you ordered. Sometimes orders fall through the cracks!

Sign #10 – Your friends (who are not newborn photographers) have started prop collecting on your behalf.  << One of my best friends flew to Bali and came back with stretch wraps for me!

I’m sure there are way more signs of being a newborn prop shop-a-holic than the ones I mentioned and I would love for you to comment below with some of your own! And of course, if you know someone who is a prop shop-a-holic, feel free to share this post with them 🙂