Vision Board Party Planning Tips for Fun & Inspiration

To draw more of what you want into your life and ensure your vision board gets made, host a vision board party! As someone who has attended and hosted many vision board events, I am a big believer in gathering with others to create vision boards. These parties are a great way to define your best life while helping others envision their dreams. They’re a whole lot of fun, too. Whether you’re making boards with friends, family members, or kids — follow these vision board party tips for an inspirational and entertaining event.

Vision board sample
My own vision board (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

What Is a Vision Board

A vision board is a collage that uses the law of attraction to draw more of what you want into your life. Even if you don’t believe in this philosophy, making a dream board helps to define new goals in a fun and creative way.

Vision boards can focus on something specific like career, love life, or the coming year. Or, you can make a board that encompasses your general life intentions.

Vision board party results
Vision board party results (Photo credit: Travel Mamas)

To make a vision board that will help you achieve your aims, the first step is cutting lots of pictures and phrases out of magazines that represent your desires. You can also print images from websites or include your own photos in the collage.

Next, glue the images and words onto a piece of poster board and place it somewhere you can see it regularly. (Mine is hanging in my walk-in closet.) Then sit back and wait for the magic to happen!

Casual vision board party
It’s easy and fulfilling to host your own vision board party (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

Why Host a Vision Board Party

Throwing a vision board party motivates us to set aside the time needed to create a vision board to define what we want in our lives. Plus, more participants means more magazines from which to select images and phrases. And vision board parties provide a great excuse to get friends or family together!

Vision board party with friends
Hosting a vision board with friends is fun and inspiring (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

How to Plan a Vision Board Party

When planning your vision board party, keep the number of attendees to a manageable number. I suggest inviting four to twelve friends, or however many can comfortably fit around your kitchen or dining room table.

Be sure not to invite any Debbie Downers to the shindig, either. You don’t need that kind of energy messing up everyone’s vision boards!

Co-ed vision board party
Co-ed vision board party (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

To invite people to your vision board workshop, my advice is to skip paper invitations and just send emails. The point is to de-stress your life, not add more unneeded tasks.

Vision board party supplies
Vision board party supplies from my last party (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

Vision Board Supplies

In your email invitations, request a few things. Ask each guest to bring a stack of magazines. You may also want to ask everyone to bring their own scissors. To simplify the entire party planning process, ask each guest to bring a snack or drink to share, too.

Scissor party pack
Scissor party pack (Photo from Amazon.com)

What to Buy for Your Vision Board Party

Inspirational words and phrases
Inspirational words and phrases (Photo from Amazon.com)

If you’ll be making just a few vision boards, you could get a vision board craft kit for each party member.

Vision board craft kits
Vision board craft kits (Photo from Amazon.com)

When to Host Your Party

A vision board party to define New Year’s resolutions makes a fun New Year tradition each January after the busy holiday season. Or, you could make boards to celebrate a birthday, graduation, or other meaningful life change.

You need not wait for a specific reason, though. Any time is a good time to gather with close friends and family at a vision board party!

Whereas good food and drinks are often the focal point of a typical shindig, the main goal of a vision board party is to create a positive physical representation of what you and your party guests want out of life. To keep the focus on the boards, avoid hosting your event during mealtimes. Instead, choose a late morning, mid-afternoon, or post-dinner start time.

Vision board party snacks and drinks
Vision board party snacks (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

Vision Board Party Food and Drinks

Hands will be busy flipping through magazines, cutting out images, and gluing things onto poster boards. Therefore, stick with simple snacks that don’t make a lot of mess.

Vision Board Party Food Ideas

  • Hard Cheeses
  • Crackers
  • Grapes
  • Sliced melons
  • Apple slices
  • Cookies
  • Dried fruits
  • Vegetables and dip
  • Olives

For a festive party with adult attendees, you may want to serve mimosas for a morning party or wine and beer at a later party. No matter the age of attendees, it’s always a great idea to have some fun non-alcoholic drinks on hand like sparkling water, juice, and craft sodas. Put drinks in ice buckets so guests can serve themselves.

Variety of drinks
Provide a variety of drinks (Photo credit: belchonock, Depositphotos.com)

What to Do at a Vision Board Party

To kick off your party, start with introductions and intentions. Go around the table and have all attendees state their names and what they hope to achieve with their vision board.

For example, the primary purposes for my latest vision board were to find more: work-life balance, connection with my kids, time in nature, healthy living, and, of course, travel.

After setting intentions, get to work. Clip those magazines to pieces. You may want to have a computer with a printing station set up nearby so attendees can print out specific images or words for their boards, too. Meanwhile, eat, drink, and be merry with your fellow vision board makers!

Vision board party guest
My friend putting together her vision board (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

How to Make a Vision Board

I suggest laying out a general design for your board before you start gluing. You might also put a strong image of your central intention in the middle of your design.

On one of my vision boards, the center image is of a woman with arms outstretched, across which I pasted the word, “inspiring.” For me, this represents inner peace, confidence, and creativity.

Magazine clippings
Magazine clippings for vision boards (Photo credit: saffiresblue, Depositphotos.com)

You should also leave some blank space. This gives room to add additional images as you find them. Plus, the white space allows room for serenity on your board. If there is too much chaos, you might just draw chaos to your life!

Be sure to paste everything onto the poster boards AT THE PARTY! At my first vision board party, a couple of my friends had to leave early and took their magazine clippings and boards home separately. Of course, they intended to glue the pictures to their poster boards. That was years ago, and those friends never finished their boards.

Vision board
One of my vision boards (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

Vision Board Party with Kids

Making vision boards with kids is a perfect way to help children focus on being positive. This fun activity also gives kids a sense of empowerment regarding their lives and futures.

Without guidance, children may see this as merely an opportunity to make a pretty collage. They might just cut out a lot of images of material things like toys and candy instead of focusing on what truly matters to them.

When hosting a vision board party with children, help kids define what types of things they want to paste to their boards and assist them in finding appropriate pictures by asking helpful questions.

Child making vision board
My son making his board at our family vision board party (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

Vision Board Questions to Ask Kids

  • What do you like to do for fun with your friends and family?
  • What are three goals you’d like to achieve (this year/in your life)?
  • At what activity, sport, or school subject would you like to improve?
  • What would a really happy day look like for you?
  • If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
  • Do you have a favorite animal, color, or food that you’d like to add to your board?
  • Is there someone you admire a lot? Who and why?

Once kids have defined some goals and things that bring them joy, adult participants can help them find images that match these. Point out relevant pictures you find but leave it up to kids to decide if they belong on their dream boards. Kids should feel ownership and pride in their creations. Only they know what belongs in their vision.

Tween vision board
My daughter’s vision board (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

Be Open to How Your Visions Are Realized

Once you create a vision board, you should work toward your life goals but have an open mind about how your visions are realized. I originally wrote this post in June 2010. Here are some updates on how my original vision board has turned into reality in my life.

Vision board featuring Oprah
My original vision board (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

After I had to cancel a long-anticipated family Disney Cruise for financial reasons, I added a photo of a Disney ship to my vision board. The cruise became a reality, and in grand fashion, too. Read about this dream come true for my family.

I also included a photo of Oprah Winfrey on my original board because I have always wanted to see her show live and get a chance to meet this inspirational icon. Again, my goals weren’t realized exactly how I envisioned, but you don’t get to choose the “how” portion of your aims. Read more about how my Oprah wishes were realized.

Other elements from that first board have come into my real life, too. I have visited Orlando, Hawaii, Europe, and Disney Parks many times and I even made it to Shanghai Disneyland in China. Although I didn’t go to Catalina Island as I had hoped, I did visit another of the Channel Islands during my trip to Ventura, California (and it is home to wild foxes, which makes it better in my book!).

But really, a vision board isn’t a prescription for the future. Rather, it’s an exercise in personal growth and a good chance to focus on positive things and define goals. After all, how will we get there if we don’t know where we want to go?

My friend's vision board
My friend’s vision board (Photo credit: Colleen Lanin)

Time for Another Party

As time moves on, our goals and desires change. Even if you’ve made a vision board in the past, you may consider making another one. I have made several vision boards and each one is special in different ways.

You might consider making your vision party an annual event and taking turns hosting it. Be sure to take a photo of everyone’s poster board so you can discuss what did or did not come to fruition for each person. What a great way to inspire and support each other’s dreams!

For additional information, take a look at The Complete Vision Board Kit.

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Backyard barbecue party (Photo credit: photographee.eu, Depositphotos.com)

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Tips for Hosting a Vision Board Party

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How to Host a Vision Board Party

Have you ever made a vision board? Do you have any questions or tips to share? Let us know in the comments below!

 

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59 Comments

  1. I asked my Pastor could I host a vision board party, and she said yes. So its tonight. Im so excited to see what all everyone want to accomplish. We are planning to make this a once or twice a years event. And work together keeping one another inspired to achieve our goals as well. Wish me Luck, This Blog helped me out a lot Thanks

  2. I love vision boards! I didn’t do one this year, but I did one two years ago and it was crazy to look back and see what manifested from the boards. It was a group vision board and I had a blast. Never thought about hosting a vision board party, but after reading your post I feel empowered to do so. Thanks for sharing these tips!

  3. I would like to host a vision board party on new years day, at a hotel, snacks and a few people to speak about goal setting for the year. What do you think?

  4. Love this Article! Thanks for sharing. Extra motivated to work on my dreams knowing that all the people who attended the vision board party are doing the same and progressing!

  5. I have been invited to a vision board party with new friends from bookclub (I just moved to this area & enjoy my new friends). I have never heard of vision boards. I’m a retired teacher and I’m 30 years older than these young ladies. What would you suggest as questions to ask myself as a newly retired person to place on these vision boards? I just want to be prepared before I go. Thank you.

    1. Hi Deb – I hope I’m not too late in answering your question! (I took some time off to spend with family over the holidays.) I think you could ask yourself the same questions I suggested under “Tips for hosting a vision board party with kids.” Since you are newly retired, think about what you want your retired life to look like. Busy or restful? Is there an organization or cause you love to which you could donate some time now that you are retired? Do you want to travel more now? To where? With whom would you like to spend your retirement? Do you want to make new friends, connect with old friends, or enjoy solitude? I hope these questions help. Enjoy your retirement! 🙂

    1. Hi Gina – You could set a limit or just let the party go until everyone has completed their vision boards. I taught a vision board class once, which gave everyone an hour to put their boards together. It was a little rushed but doable, with me walking around and helping people find the images they wanted. I would say you need at least two hours for a relaxing party during which everyone can complete a board.

  6. Hi Mrs. Colleen,
    I’ve been inspired to host a large vision board party at my school with the 5 other schools within our school district- from 8th graders to high school seniors. I wanted to thank you for this article, it is definitely helpful for the planning of this event! I intend to also have guest speakers and great food to make the event more intriguing, inspiring and fun! Do you have any tips or suggestions for this event, being that the attendants are specifically young girls in middle/high school?

    1. Hi Cionie – What a great idea to do a vision board party with teens! I made vision boards with my kids this January (ages 11 and 8) and we had a great time working on this project together. Since the kids you’ll be working with are a bit older this may not be any issue, but I think my kids struggled with the idea of choosing photos of things they want to draw into their lives, instead of just choosing pretty or tasty looking pictures. You don’t want kids to stress out that their images aren’t “right” but the goal isn’t merely to make a pretty collage, it should be about setting intentions for their lives. I would tell the kids that their boards can focus on one year of their lives, their high school career, or their entire lives (or any other time period). I would also let them know that they can focus on just one aspect of their lives (social life, career, sports, school, etc.) or make a more broad-themed board that incorporates all of these. I hope that helps! Enjoy your vision board party!

  7. Planning to host a mother/daughter vision board party. I am very excited, I am throwing in ideas from The Bucket List and The Secret. It is important to help young women build themselves up and for mom’s to remember that they can still dream and spend a little energy on themselves.

    1. Sounds like a wonderful idea, Rochelle! My family made vision boards together this year in January and it was really fun to see what things made it on to my kids’ boards!

      1. Can you refer anyone in the California, Bay area (Oakland, Emeryville), that can attend on of these events.
        Thank you.
        Kathy

        1. Hi Kathy – I don’t know about formal vision board classes in the Bay Area, but it’s really very easy and fun to host your own vision board party!

  8. I’m hosting a vision board party this weekend… thank you for this amazing blog!
    Any new ideas – please send them my way!

    1. Enjoy your vision board party, Jill! I would suggest telling your attendees to cut out whatever appeals to them without over-thinking it too much. Just cut, cut, cut and then decide what works best for your board. My family just made vision boards this weekend and it was so fun to see how all of us have similar and different wishes!

  9. Enjoyed reading this. You Inspired my spontaneous creative side! I am even thinking of having a vision Baird party, totally last minute today on New Year’s Eve. Even if the only attendee is me! I used to do visionboard workshops do my therapy patients and community events. I have not had one myself in 2 years ???? Just realized! Yikes!

  10. Great read!!! I am hosting a small Vision Board party next weekend in Atlanta for five of my closes friends. I was somewhat nervous and sometimes tend to overthink everything. Your blog post has really put my mind to ease. Thank you!!!

  11. I love the Vision Board idea!! I would really like to have a
    Vision Board party for men & women. I work with very low income families and would like to have them build towards financial independence. Any suggestions or ideas? Thank you all.

    1. Michelle – My suggestion would be to focus the class on fun because people can feel overwhelmed and put off by financial planning. Then weave your messaging about financial planning throughout, encouraging attendants to put images of success, money, security, things they’d like to buy (like a home or car!), and ways they envision earning the income. Best wishes with your class – sounds wonderful!

      1. This is a great idea to inspire positive behavior and to help identify values. I use vision boards with teens, but I want to broaden my focus to adults. You see, I am a retired special education teacher, looking to engage friends and family and members of my community.

  12. I made a great vision board once. Should I be doing one every year? How often do you recommend it?

    1. Jody – I think you could do a new vision board every year or whenever you feel you need to refocus and refresh. You can also make vision boards for different aspects of your life: work, home, travel, etc. I need to make a new one, too!

  13. I did one on my own 2 years ago but plan to host a last minute party this year! I even want my son to participate with some of his friends? We will see how that goes over!

      1. And it went well! Whoohoo! So excited about all the plans for this new season in my life and those around me!!

    1. Mike – If you want to draw snow into your life, I suppose a few homemade snowflakes would be a great addition to your vision board!

  14. I hosted a vision board party for family on last Janauary. We are coming together again in January 2014 to review, discuss and update our boards.

  15. Love this idea!

    What a great way to share and collaborate on creating your dream life with your friends and family (and also to be held accountable through showing others your dream path in life!)

    Cheers,
    Kristi

  16. Have one question, I have a yacht charter company, can we do that in the yacht? As you might know yacht sometimes might shake if any kind of current hits it so I want to throw such party but kinda afraid.

    1. Dogan – I don’t see why not! Just use children’s safety scissors and you should be good to go!

    1. Jenna – What a great idea to do this with children. Hmm…I’m thinking I need to figure out a way to incorporate this into my daughter’s next birthday party. It’d be a fun and inspiring activity that would leave kids with more than a sugar rush!

  17. Oh my gosh, this is a fabulous idea! what better way to have fun with your friends and put together all your dreams and aspirations!

    I have difficulty in believing that it would only take one night, it was an entire process for me to put mine together, but I guess you could have it over a series of nights! Sure beats bowling! haha

    Thanks for the great idea!

  18. Hi there –

    I received a question about where you can purchase CalNaturale wines. The wines can be found at natural food and specialty stores such as Whole Foods, Jimbo’s, Fred Meyer, Harry & David’s, and others. The wine can’t be purchased from their website but CalNaturale will soon be adding a store locator to the site.

    Cheers!

  19. Now you’ve inspired me to make one, even though I’ve been thinking about it for some time. I think it was the box of Chardonnay that sold me.

    So great to meet you this weekend!

  20. This was fun, thanks for instigating it and helping us get clear on our goals and envisioning how we want our lives to be!