22 Fun Cooler Painting Ideas for Frat Formal Season - Lifeverse

This blog post shows you cooler painting ideas to recreate this frat formal season!

The sun is out, the weather is getting warmer, and the days are getting longer…frat formal season is back! Which also means frat cooler season is here! It’s the perfect time to get the coolers out and add a personal touch to your parties.

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One of my favorite things to see during this time of year is the different cooler painting designs people come up with. So, if you’re looking for cooler painting ideas, carry on reading to see x ideas that you could recreate for your own cooler, as well as a step by step guide to painting your cooler and all the cooler painting supplies you need!

How to Paint a Frat Cooler

1. Buy a paintable cooler

This saves you so much time and money for prepping before you paint. I highly recommend an Igloo cooler.

2. Spackle any dents and gaps

It’s easy to paint your cooler when it has a completely smooth surface. So, to achieve this, you’ll want to spackle the dents (e.g., the cooler logo) and gaps on your cooler.

3. Sand and prime the cooler

Sanding your cooler is a must. Your primer might say to skip the sanding step, but I promise you, it’s better to sand your cooler first. This will ensure that your paint design will stick to it, so you’ll want to sand the heck out of it with a sanding sponge. This process could take hours, but it’s so worth it in the end.

Altrnatively, if you don’t have much time to sand using a sponge, you can get an electric sander which makes speeds up the sanding process a lot.

Let it dry completely before priming the cooler with about three to four coats.

4. Paint Paint Paint

Now that you’ve sanded and primed your cooler, you have a blank canvas to paint your design on! You could go all in and paint without any guidelines, or, to make painting easier, you could trace your design with a pencil first before painting.