Mountain Weekends have just started to begin and for some of you it may be the first time you have ever had to experience the art of cooler painting. I painted my first cooler for a Mountain Weekend my freshmen year and will be working on my fifth cooler soon. I have compiled a list of the do’s and don’ts of cooler painting so that you can have the best cooler in the mountains without going crazy in the process.
Do:
Start early
If you are asked a fair amount of time in
advance by your date, start planning right away! I would say a good amount of
time to paint a cooler while having classes and other extracurricular
activities is about two weeks. This gives you time to be able to let the paint
and Modge Podge fully dry, which is very important; nothing is worse than
spending the night drying your cooler with your hair dryer. I speak from
experience.
Sand your cooler
It may seem like a useless step in the
cooler making process, but skip this and every step after is pretty much a waste
of time. Sanding the cooler helps the paint stick better due to more grooving
and also gets rid of a layer on your cooler that naturally repels paint from
sticking to it. If you don’t sand it
before, you can expect the cooler to chip before you get your first breath of
the fresh mountain air (or that first taste of Busch Light).
Use your resources
Some girls have that amazing natural
ability to paint coolers and for some reason have to write “OMG freehand” on
their description to let everyone know. I am not one of those girls and have an
entire bag full of paint pens in every color. Use the paint pens, the
projectors, Modge Podge, tracing paper, and whatever else helps you best
impersonate free handing. I promise I won’t tell.
Don’t:
Make the cooler just about him
You put a lot of work into
this and deserve to add your own flair to your piece of art. One of the coolest
things I saw was a girl painted a bow tie with her sorority’s Lilly Pulitzer
pattern on her date’s cooler. For example, my date loves the Steelers while I
am a born and raised Panther’s fan, so I can guarantee you my team will be
making an appearance somewhere on the cooler.
Stress out too much
At the end of the day it is just a
cooler. Let’s be real, he is probably just going to end up dancing on it at
football tailgate next year where it will literally be destroyed.
Mountain Weekend is so much more than who has the best cooler or best cabin; it’s about driving five hours to the middle of nowhere to spend time with people we see every day anyway and freeze your butt off while everyone wears Duck Boots and flannel. Why we do this is questionable, but at the end of the day you know it will be a weekend you will never forget.
