Sigma Chi Derby Days cooler

For Sigma Chi's Derby Days, each sorority had to paint a cooler for a competition. Once all of the coolers are submitted, they auction them off to the brothers and the money raised goes towards their philanthropy. You only get 5 days (Mon-Fri) to sand, prime, paint, and seal the cooler, so the pressure is on! This is my sorority's cooler for Derby Days. It was a collaboration between me and 3 of my sisters. (Can you find Snoop Dog?)

Formal, Dresses, and Coolers…Oh My!

This semester I got to experience my first "formal season". Between my sorority's formal and then going out of town for a fraternity's formal, it was so much fun! My sorority's formal was themed "Once Upon A Formal" and it was a blast!

My awesome date

 The Photo Booth was my favorite part!

In addition to my formal, I went to Chattanooga, TN for ATO's spring formal. It was absolutely amazing! (Just a few pics from my trip because I am absolutely in love with Chattanooga!)

And with the invitation to a fraternity formal comes the responsibility of painting a formal cooler for your date. Luckily, my date and I are really good friends ;) and I didn't have a hard time coming up with ideas for his cooler. I spent a LOT of hours on this cooler, and I am so happy with how it turned out! My date (and ALL of his brothers) were so impressed with it.

I filled his cooler with his favorite snacks and drinks, and even added bow ties (so he would match my dress) and even put one of our favorite StepBrothers quote on the inside of the lid.

This is my absolute favorite part! It is two of the bridges over the river in Chattanooga and a steamboat (since we had the actual formal dinner on a boat). This side took the longest, but turned out incredibly well (especially considering I've never even done ANYTHING like this). It's always good to include little details that reflect something about your date. I named the steamboat "Lucy II" because he calls his car Lucy, and he couldn't believe that I thought to put something like that on there. On one corner I put the American flag, the Alabama flag, the Texas flag, and "'Merica". On the other corner I put "Ruh Rah Rega" because it is part of their chant.

My favorite part about this side is that he wore this color combo suit and bow tie to my formal.

I literally did this side like 12 hours before I had to give it to him. It turned out pretty well though! The ATO and the Jack Daniels parts were a lot harder to draw than I thought they would be. I also put one of his favorite brands, Southern Tide, on the corner and I painted Cotton Snaps and a Luxley & Bernard bow tie (they are awesome brands AND they were having a cooler painting contest!)

This side is special to my date because he drives a blue Mustang (he LOVED this side, too!)

The top is his fraternity's flag.

The most important part of painting a formal cooler is making sure it reflects your date and his personality. It is really easy when you know your date really well, like a boyfriend or best friend, so you can add in small details that he will notice and appreciate. It can be harder if you don't know your date that well, but formal is fun and awesome time so try to get to know your date a little more before formal. I hope this could give you a few ideas on formal coolers! Follow me on Insta for more pics (especially if you want to see more pics from formal)! @haydenlee13

My date and the bridges that I painted on his cooler behind us :)

The view of the bridges on his cooler. 

P.S. If you have a chance to go to Chattanooga, make sure you take advantage of it! It's an absolutely beautiful and amazing city! I'm hoping to go back soon! :)