On a not-so-noteworthy ski day a few years ago, my friend Anne let me in on a little secret: “You know, if you open your mouth and throw your hands in the air it makes it look like you are having at least 30% more fun.”

Anne having ALL of the fun.

Like everyone else with a social media account, I post mostly the fun things in my life. The face shots and beach vacay pics. The costume parties. The I’m-playing-and-you’re-at-work-today-neener-neener pics. Based on these pics, you probably assume my life is fun, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret: it’s not. Not all the time anyway. Sure I have fun, sometimes I even have capitol ‘F’ Fun! The kind of fun where your face gets sore from smiling and your abs hurt from laughing. Type 1 FUN! But I also do lots of boring things – like pay bills and go to the grocery and fulfill social obligations even when I’d rather be sitting on the couch watching Netflix – but I don’t flood my feed with those trivial pursuits.

The truth is, I want you to think my life is fun. Everyone does. It’s not like you’re sitting there reading this thinking, “Kristina you’re WRONG! I want to be boring and forgettable. I’m completely content leading an uninteresting life.” No. You want to be interesting so people will be interested.

To that end, here are seven things you can do to have more fun (or at least make your photos look like you’re having fun):

1. Be A Gaper: Open that beautiful mouth of yours you sexy beast. Your parents payed a pretty penny for those straight teeth, it’s time to show them off. Plus – scientific fact here – the open mouth accounts for a 17% increase in the perceived fun quotient of any photographed activity.
   

   Christy’s mouth is open wider which means she is having more fun. Don’t be the a-hole having less fun.

2. Jazz Hands: Wave those hands in the air. Wave them like you just don’t care. Throw them up. Throw them out. Make crazy octopus arms. I don’t care, and neither will anyone else. The point is: arms need to be at an obtuse angle to their normal resting place to make up the other 13% of Anne’s fun quotient theory. I’ve found if you really lean into it you can increase your FQ by an additional 4%.  

Teaching my mama and sister the magic. Throw those hands UP!

3. Cram it in: More people = more fun. Everyone knows that. So put as damn many people in your photo as possible. Bonus points if you can find someone with the shortest arm to take the group long arm photo.

Winning at long-arming.

4. Jump!: Your feet are always holding you up, and therefore deserve – at least for a few seconds – to be photographed off the ground. Give it a go – jump as high as you can and see if your friend is fast enough to capture it on film. Your friend will probably suck at this, and so you’ll have to jump again. And again and again. Which is inherently fun (and looks like fun) and doubles as a workout. Sounds like winning to me. 

Stephen CRUSHED this. And kudos to Jordan for capturing the magic.

5. Bring the Props (and action figure mascots): Props add instant merriment to a photo. Wigs, silly glasses, finger moustaches, and tutus are all easily-accessible fun factories. Step up your game by traveling with an action figure mascot. It’ll make even the most mundane activity more fun. Not sure how to obtain an action figure mascot? Don’t worry, I’ve got a guide for that. 

Hold on a sec. Kurt needs to take a closer look.

Without Grandpa Max this is just a dirty picture. With Grandpa Max this is a really dirty picture.

6. Drink Up!: Alcohol reduces inhibitions, making you more likely to have fun, but it also gives the immediate appearance of fun. You say to yourself, “They’re drinking? I want to go to there!” Whether you’re skiing or babysitting, holding a beverage in your hand will make it instantly funner.

I am crushing this whole aunt business.

7. Taste the Rainbow: Who doesn’t love a good rainbow picture? What’s that you say crickets? NO ONE!?! As humans, we seem to be genetically wired to love rainbows, so when you have a chance, embrace the rainbow. Or really a pattern of any kind. Make your friends line up in descending order by height, or put your shoes together to make a circle. The point is our brains are drawn to interesting things, and it’s easy to create a little order in this world of chaos. Everyone will be jealous they weren’t included.

Taste the rainbow.