Car Window Decorating Ideas for Any Occasion
Car window decorating has become a big deal for a number of different occasions. People have used it for graduation parties, weddings, sporting events, and gender reveal parties. Maybe you’ve even got your own event to celebrate. Now you just need some ideas.
Not to worry! There are plenty of ways you can get the job done. And of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to windows at all.
Car Window Decoration Supplies (Or, for the Whole Car!)
Let’s start by equipping you with your own car decorating kit. You’ll want to make your own both so it will be specific to your event and so you can avoid things which might damage your car, such as silly string. (Why avoid silly string? Because it’s akin to egging your own vehicle).
Many pre-sold kits also come with adhesives. But many stickers can be very hard to remove. They can damage your paint job or lower the value of your vehicle.
Car Decorating Paint
Temporary paint pens are the only ones you’ll ever want to use on your car’s paint job. Make sure the paint pen says “all surfaces” before you use it on the trunk, hood, or sides of your car.
A good car decoration paint pen should be water-based and solvent-free so you can clean it up with a wet rag, later.
Car Window Decorating Markers
Most of the markers you can use to decorate your car are meant for your windows. Liquid chalk markers, or washable window markers, are both good bets here.
The one you choose will depend on the look you’re trying to achieve. The chalk markers really do look like chalk, making them absolutely perfect for senior car decorating. After all, if you’re going to celebrate the end of your school career you might as well do it with a shout out to the school experience!
Markers will give you a more versatile, colorful look. They’re great for wedding cars or gender reveal cars.
Streamers & Banners
Streamers and banners are both fun and traditional. Often you’ll tie them to bumpers or car mirrors to get them into place, and to keep them there.
The sky’s the limit here, depending on your theme. There’s such a wide variety of streamers and banners to choose from. For some, it’s easy enough to make your own if you can’t find anything that suits.
Flowers
You can use real ones. Artificial ones usually work better.
There are a couple of different ways you can do this. The one that is the least harmful to your car is usually to use a hot glue gun to affix your flowers to magnets. You can then stick the magnets to any non-window surface.
As long as the magnet is powerful enough it will stay until you peel it away. Other options can damage your paint job.
Noisemakers
Decorating a “Just Married” car? Tying tin cans to the bumper or trailer hitch is traditional. Some people have experimented with other things like old keyboards (for tech enthusiasts).
Just make sure they’re tied tightly so your decorations don’t break free to threaten other drivers.
Colored Powder
Tire burnout powder or exhaust powder in either pink or blue are both popular options for gender reveal parties. But they come in far more colors than pink or blue.
Tire burnout powder is a small package of colored powder with an adhesive. You peel the back off and place it on your tire. When it’s time to drive, you’ll run over the packet. Festive clouds of color balloon out everywhere! Exhaust powder is made of the same materials. Instead of taping it to your tires you use a funnel to pack it into your exhaust pipe so that bursts of colored smoke pour out of the pipes when you drive.
Want to honor your sports team? Grab some powder in the appropriate colors. This is good for graduation, too, since you can sub in the school colors. It hasn’t caught on for weddings yet, but if you don’t want tin cans on your getaway car you could use powder that matches your wedding colors.
Miscellaneous Exterior Decorations
LED lights, temporary stickers, and other accessories can all be helpful on your quest to decorate your car, too. License plate rims are another cool option. They’re easiest to find for sports teams, but you can find them in assorted colors, too. You can even find license plate rims outlined with colorful LED lights.
Just grab some items in the appropriate colors or with the appropriate motifs, and have some fun!
Car Interior Decoration Ideas
Many people neglect their interiors when they decorate their car. But you can really pull the look of yours together by paying some attention to it. People can see into your car. And the driver and passengers no doubt want to feel festive, too!
The main thing here is you don’t want to blind the driver, or distract the driver. You can do a lot with steering wheel colors. LED cup holder liners can be a lot of fun too. You can stick them inside of your cupholders to make them glow in different colors at night.
You can add little decorations on clips (use small safety pins if the clip isn’t already there). Hot glue gun them to small toys, and affix them to your vents.
How to Decorate a Car for Your Chosen Occasion
Now that you’ve got your car decoration kit assembled, it’s time to dive into some more specific car decoration ideas.
Graduation Car Decorating Ideas
Creative senior car decorating ideas can be hard to come by. Start with the basics! You’ll need the school colors, and a way to paint the name, and the year, and a heartfelt message.
From there, why not use decals or more paint to create the school mascot somewhere on the vehicle? As mentioned earlier, it might also be a cool idea to use colored exhaust or tire powder to poof out the school colors. And don’t forget the inside! A little stuffed animal mascot could be a great addition to any graduation car.
See also: Simple High School Graduation Party Ideas.
Birthday Car Decorating Ideas
Car decorating is becoming a big deal at birthday parties, too, especially for Sweet 16 parties, quinceaneras, and the good old “Lordy, Lordy, someone’s 40” parties.
See also: Quinceañera Decoration Ideas for the 3 Most Popular Party Themes
Here, you can even add a few more items to your car decorating kit. Tying a few colored balloons to the antenna, mirrors, or bumper of your car can instantly give it a birthday look. Try to pull together a few themed colors.
If it’s a 40th birthday, don’t forget the black flowers! Use chalk markers to add some gravestones, too. Hey, it’s all in good fun.
Wedding Car Decoration Ideas
Pinterest has thousands of images you can look through, here. Don’t feel compelled to follow the crowd, though.
Here, there are three things you’re going to want to consider. The first? Your wedding colors. Second? Wedding flowers. And third, your wedding theme. A rustic, backyard wedding with mellow outdoor lighting and mason jars is going to suggest a very different scheme than a 1940s-themed wedding at a 5-star venue.
Using “bride and groom” stuffed animals is getting popular. You can hot glue gun these to magnets just as you can hot glue gun flowers. These usually sit on the trunk or hood.
You can also use flowers to spell out the “Just Married” message if you prefer not to use banners. If you’re going for a more rustic wedding you can use a big magnet to add a chalkboard to the back of your car. Use colored chalk to write your “Just Married” message.
Gender Reveal Decoration Ideas
You already know all about the colored smoke, but what else can you do?
One idea could be to use the same magnet method to put a baby doll on the hood or trunk of your car. You could also draw big, stylized question marks in pink and blue all over your car body or windows.
You could even get a little silly inside of your car by adding some GI Joes, Barbies, and other, traditionally “gendered” toys to the dashboard or to the rearview. If you’re feeling bold, you can tie these on the back like you’d tie the tin cans on a wedding car.
See also: Cute Baby Gender Reveal Party Ideas.
Homecoming Decoration Ideas
These ideas stand in for any other major sporting event. But homecoming is a great example.
Sports team colors and mascots are a natural start. You could also add traditional flower varieties in these colors. Many people like to put a large, colorful bouquet right on the hood or on the front grille.
Both flowers and colored banners are great options for anyone who is going to be using their car as a parade float.
Other Quick Tips
First, don’t forget to wash your car before you get started. Dirt on cars can get stuck in markers and scratch the paint job. It can also defeat your attempts to make your magnets adhere to the surface. Nobody wants to shed decorations all the way down the street!
Second, don’t plan your car idea before you’ve looked at your local supply options. You don’t want to get fixed on an idea only to find you can’t quite make it happen.
Where should you start your search?
Right here at Paper Plus at 1629 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA 94702, where we’ve got banners, streamers, markers, chalkboards, glue guns, and a whole lot more to help your car stand out at your next event.
