Every spring at Davidson it’s the same story: mysterious white spray paint marks appear on the sidewalks and grass, all the Wal-Marts and Targets within a 10-mile radius are sold out of coolers, and non-art majors show up to class with paint stained hands. That’s right, it’s cooler season. I’m a fanatic when it comes to cooler painting. I have The Cooler Connection how-tos practically memorized, and a friend once paid me to paint one for her date. However, even I can admit that there both pros and cons to the process.
Pros:
Time with friends. This is perhaps my personal favorite part of cooler season, and something that is in short supply when everyone is focusing on classes and exams. Cooler painting gives you an excuse to take a break from studying and relax with your friends. There isn’t much else you can do while painting besides talk, so you have no excuse to avoid some good old-fashioned female bonding.
A late night trip to Wal-Mart during which I attempted to help a friend pick out the least absurd mini cooler.
Doing something nice for your date. Although I always shed a single tear when I hand my cooler off to its new owner, it is heartwarming to see how excited my date is to receive it. It’s similar to the feeling you got when your parents opened the birthday presents you made them. I think it’s a genuinely nice gesture to give your date a personalized gift.
Cons:
Late nights and stress. Full disclosure: I’ve skipped the last day of class to work on my cooler. I mean, a teacher evaluation lasts a day, but the hand-painted Vineyard Vines bowties on my freshman-year cooler will last a lifetime. In all seriousness, everyone knows that the end of the semester is usually the most stressful time of the year, and your cooler is probably the last thing you’re thinking about after finishing that bio take-home. On this front, my only advice is to cut yourself some slack. Pulling 2 all-nighters in a row right before you leave for formal is a great way to ensure that you have a terrible time that weekend. If your date isn’t a colossal jerk, he’d rather have you happy and healthy than have a perfect cooler.
Unappreciative dates. This can be the most discouraging part of the entire process. Sometimes you see dates who will only be satisfied with a certain type of alcohol: “I said I wanted Maker’s Mark, not Evan Williams!” Then there are dates who casually request that you paint an extremely complicated design: “I’m not sure your freehand rendering of the Sistine Chapel adequately captures my feelings about studying abroad in Italy. Can you re-do it?” But by far the worst cooler sin a date can commit is not showing appreciation when he actually receives the cooler. I don’t care if your cooler looks like a 4 year old drew all over it, any date worth his salt will act like it’s the hottest one on the beach. A closely related offender is one who throws out their cooler as soon as the weekend is over. It’s not like you spent hours of your time creating something personalized to their individual taste or anything.
Whatever your feelings on cooler painting are, it’s becoming more and more popular here at Davidson. There can certainly be some downsides to investing that much time in a cooler when it might be wiser to worry about exams, but in the end it can be a fun diversion from a busy Davidson schedule.
*Note: HC Davidson abides by college policy and does not support underage alcoholic consumption. In addition, we encourage students to keep coolers in their rooms and not to leave spray paint marks on grass.