For all our Greek sisters at UW Madison, it’s that time of year again. That’s right, spring formal season has finally arrived. And what does that mean for the sororities? Time to pick your favorite frat boy and make him a personalized, hilarious, and very time-consuming frat cooler! Although it isn’t a quick task to undertake, it’s not a difficult one. Plus, it’s completely worth it when you pack it full of ice-cold beers and gift it to your boy! Here are the steps I took when making my first frat cooler.
1. Pick out the cooler. You’ll need a hard-sided cooler, preferably with wheels. At Wal-Mart you can get a good one for around $15!
2. Buy paint. It’s easiest to go to a craft store and buy a large pack of different colored paints. You’ll want to look for acrylic or else it will wash right off the cooler!
3. Sand the sides of the cooler (optional). This step depends on what type of cooler you buy. This was a necessary step for me because the cooler I purchased came with ridges on the top for measuring fish. It would have been too difficult to paint over the ridges and the sanding off didn’t take more than a half an hour, especially if you get your boy to do the hard parts!
4. Pick out your designs. For me, this was the most fun part. If you’re too lazy to think up all the sides yourself (like me), simply log on to Pinterest and search “frat cooler” in the search bar! You get hundreds of hilarious suggestions in seconds.
5. Start painting the cooler! If you’re not much of an artist, like myself, stencils can be your best friends. I picked up a cheap pack of letter stencils at Michael’s Craft Store and they ended up making my cooler look much neater than it would have if I had done it by hand. For the designs they don’t sell stencils for, I printed out a picture of the design online and cut around it to create my own stencil. Simply lay the paper down on top of the cooler and trace the lines over and over with a Sharpie marker. The ink will bleed through the paper, giving you a light outline of the design. All that’s left to do is to paint over it and define the lines!
6. Waterproof. Once you’re done painting your cooler, and grab a bottle of wine cause that will take a while, you can get to work on waterproofing it. This is the easiest part of the whole process, but still a very important one. What good is a painted cooler if the paint washes off the first time it’s used? I found a great waterproofing spray at Menard’s called Minwax Helmsman Clear Gloss, but make sure you get the kind that’s water based! The can has clear directions on how to use it, just make sure you lay the sides down flat before you spray them or the paint can run!
7. Gift it! Now that your cooler is finally painted, waterproofed, and dried it’s time to gift it to your boy! I recommend filling it with ice and his favorite beer before, he’ll love it!
For frat boys everywhere, there’s nothing better than a funny, homemade gift from a cute girl, especially if said gift holds beer. So get started on your coolers soon, Spring Formal is coming up fast!
So you’ve got the cooler, what about the date? Check out our latest article to make sure you score that formal date!