Happy Place is a pop up exhibit that recently made its way to Boston. From April 5 until June 2, 500 Boylston St. will be occupied by the bright colors and playful pictures that are a result of a day spent at Happy Place. A ticket costs $35 for adults and $20 for children. The point of Happy Place is literally to take photos, particularly ones that’ll look good on your Instagram feed. However, there were a lot of children there when I went, who preferred to play in the sets (obviously) rather than take photos. Going through it all took about two hours; it’s not that the exhibit itself was big and there was a lot to see, but the time it took to get each photo for each person really took a long time.
There was a ball pit to jump in that looked like a pot of gold under a rainbow, a perfect opportunity to get a High School Musical style jump-in-mid-air photo. They had a room of gumballs, giant shoes made of candy, and bathtubs full of rubber ducks. There were rooms lined with bright streamers and filled with confetti to throw up in the air. A dimly lit room of yellow, handmade flowers with ladders in between these “fields” to get up in the midst of it and capture someone surrounded by what seemed like a beautiful meadow that went on forever. There was a giant bubble filled with confetti that could be turned on with a button, making the little papers fly around you, making for a great photo. They also had a giant Dunkin’ cup along with other Easter eggs for some Boston pride. Giant red lips filled one room next to a large “XO” mirror, alongside red kisses filling up the white walls. There were smaller rooms that had great potential for photos. Some were filled with white chains hanging from the walls, while the other had a ton of small mirrors lining the walls up and down. A large sign saying “HAPPY” was in front of a Boston Celtic’s style green wall, with shamrocks behind it as well.
We got great photos and definitely were not let down. It was fun to go through each room seeing new things and creating some great photos. However, we brought a professional camera and knew what we were getting into. This was for photos! We weren’t under the impression that it would be anything else.
I say this because Happy Place is having some backlash online, due to the overwhelming popularity of the exhibit (ironically enough). There are lines for hours at some points, and unless you really understand the point of Happy Place, you might be disappointed. Since genuinely the point of this pop up is for photographs, a lot of people got excited thinking it was as fun as it looked in the photos. Don’t get me wrong, it definitely is a lot of fun! But you will be wrong thinking that everything that looks one way in photos is going to look the same in your real life. The floors are concrete and there isn’t anything to actually do, besides get photos.
With everything being said, $35 is a lot for photos. However, if you want some great ones that you otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to take, you should go. It’s only here for a limited time and it can be fun to get creative with some friends. I sure had a good time!
