Where To Buy Magazines For Your Vision Board Party [updated 2023]

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

This post was originally published June 27, 2018.  Updated:  December 4, 2023

Vision board parties and workshops can be a time to celebrate your wins for the past year and get super excited about the year to come. As the host, you want to make sure your attendees have all the inspiration they need to effectively map out all of their goals.

A vision board is used to visualize everything that you want to accomplish so if someone wants to become a ballerina, you should have magazines that will speak to that.

If someone wants to change their financial situation (ex. make more money, invest more, save more or anything else that concerns their finances) then you want to make sure you have lots of money magazines on hand.

If you are hosting a large vision board party or workshop with 10 to 30 people attending, the number of magazines you need can really add up.

So, where exactly do people find 20-50 magazines? If you are just going to pick up 50 magazines from Walmart, Tesco or Hypermarkets (which can cost anywhere from 4.99 to 7.99 per magazine) the cost can escalate quickly.

Here's where I get my magazines from for super cheap:

Option 1: don't buy magazines

Instead, ask attendees to bring their old magazines to the party.

In the invitation, make a note that attendees are encouraged to bring old magazines. After people have RSVP'd, send a follow-up email a few days before the event starts reminding them to bring their magazines. 

I've done this several times in the past and each attendee has shown up with at least 2 or 3 magazines that were just lying around their house collecting dust. Some people will even show up with 10 or 20 magazines. This will be one of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to put together magazines for the party and everyone shares the cost.

Option 2: ask your doctor's office or local nail salon 

Doctor's offices and nail salons will typically have several magazines in their waiting room or lounge area.

This one could be a little scary because it's always difficult asking people you may not know for stuff, but this strategy does work. The next time you go into the doctor's office, simply ask the staff to give you a call when they swap out the magazines seasonally.

This doesn't always work, but when it does you can end up with 50 magazines for free for absolutely no effort fees ( other than the gas you spend driving to the doctor's office to pick them up).

Option 3: the thrift store

Now, I'm a girl who loves the thrift store - aka second-hand store. Seriously, tons of what I've bought in the past year or so has come straight up from Craigslist or the thrift store. #Shameless

The thrift store is an amazing place where you can get the exact same thing that you can buy at the store for a super discounted price - that includes magazines. My local thrift store has the most amazing assortment of magazines for about $0.15 each. Now I don't know about you but these magazines typically cost $4 to $7 in the store and I can get them at $0.15. #NoBrainer

Option 4: Amazon

This shouldn't be a surprise. You can buy literally everything on Amazon, magazines included.

I prefer to subscribe to a magazine because you can get an annual subscription for anywhere from $3 to $20 (usually special pricing during the first year) and receive one magazine per month for the entire year. (Sometimes you can receive a new magazine twice a month or every other month, it depends on the magazine's publishing schedule.) 

Using this annual subscription strategy, you can stack up 12 magazines by the end of the year for less than $20.

Related Post: What Magazines Should I Use For My Vision Board? Effective List of Do's and Don'ts

Option 5: Offerup (or local buyer/seller Facebook groups)

OfferUp is an online marketplace where you can connect with local buyers to purchase things that they no longer need or want.

Often, people will have collected stacks of magazines through the years and when they're ready to just clean out their house or maybe if they're moving they literally give them all away.

Finding one of these deals is rare but if you join the platform you can land a huge number of magazines in a short amount of time. 

Option 6: Walmart/Target bookstores

Under no circumstance do I recommend anyone going to any of these places to purchase magazines.

You will end up spending an exorbitant amount of money for the same thing that you can get for super cheap with proper planning.

The only acceptable reason to spend $7 per magazine is if you're in the car on the way to the party and you realize you don't have A N Y magazines and the only thing on the way between you and this party is a big-box store. In that case, definitely venture in because you cannot show up at a vision board party with no magazines. Short of that you should always plan in advance to get magazines at a cheaper cost.

Option 7: YouR LOCAL LIBRARY

Libraries have evolved into amazing community centers and repositories of knowledge. Talk to someone at the circulation or reference desk about whether there is a book and magazine sale happening soon. You could score an amazing deal.

There you have it. Plenty of ideas to start your magazine search. Magazine people articulate what they want into images and quotes and it follows them throughout the year to help them visualize what they want to become that year. Your job as the vision board party host is to make sure that each individual has the inspiration they need to build the vision board that will transform their life. Happy hosting!

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

• Check out the Vision Board Party Starter Kit here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

How To Build A Vision Board Party Business

When I started Thrive Lounge, I had no idea it would grow to be the Vision Board powerhouse that it is today.

In fact, Thrive Lounge actually started out as a monthly women’s meeting where we invited women out to set goals and talk to each other about any struggles we were facing.

Honestly, I was going through life changes and I needed all the support I could get.

It wasn’t until a full year later when I realized that most of the things I put on my Vision Board had come true and I was looking forward to the person I was becoming. That feeling was so exhilarating that I wanted to share it with everyone (literally, everyone).

That’s when I started to host Vision Board parties for myself and became a speaker at other’s events. I learned very quickly that Vision Board parties are in demand and there’s a huge opportunity to create a Vision Board party business from where ever you are in the world.

What is a Vision Board Party Business?

A Vision Board party business takes the love, inspiration, and clarity-inducing ambiance of a vision board workshop and makes the event profitable and repeatable for the host.

Why Create a Vision Board Party Business?

Many of us have amazing stories of trial and triumph to share with the world. Your story can inspire someone going through the same struggles because you made it out of the darkest of times. And you came out a better and stronger person. You can help others find their way out too.

A vision board party business can help you turn your unique story and passion into a motivation for others to turn towards a pathway of clarity….. and make a profit doing it.

4 Types of Profitable Vision Board Party Businesses

The key to a Vision Board party business is that these events are profitable and sustainable. That means the host creates a professional and transformational experience for their guests while making a profit in the process.

That is what distinguishes a business from an expensive and time-draining hobby. You can use any of these business types to build your business:

Hosting One, Large Vision Board Party Every Year

Many companies host in-person events such as conferences or live workshops. It’s perfect to get your audience together all centered around a common theme to really focus deeply on the topic you’re discussing. In this case, they’ll be focusing on getting clarity on their purpose and vision.

This type of Vision Board party business can be a bit stressful since all of your revenue will come from one big event each year. However, if you already have a large audience that is excited to attend your event you’ll be able to fill the seats and can spend your time curating a beautiful event.

Hosting Several Intimate Vision Board Parties

Planning one large event can be very stressful, especially if you’ve never hosted anything before.

You can get started by hosting smaller events more frequently throughout the year. This will help you establish yourself as an expert and build your audience. In a smaller intimate setting, you can have more face-to-face time with each person that shows up to your events. You’ll be able to learn more about them on a deeper level than you would with a large audience.

Hosting Virtual Vision Board Parties

One of the highest costs you’ll encounter hosting Vision Board parties is the cost of the space. This cost alone can account for up to 50% (or more) of your entire event. Virtual Vision Board parties are held entirely online and take people through a similar journey.

Through a virtual Vision Board party, you can completely skip the costs of food, drinks, materials and space costs. However, you’ll have to work a bit harder to create a safe and authentic space because that’s a bit harder to do when you’re not in person.

Become a vision board party speaker

You don’t have to host your own Vision Board events to have a lucrative Vision Board party business. In fact, it’s possible to build a business simply by speaking at Vision Board parties hosted by businesses, schools, and nonprofits. Many events are searching for speakers each year to fill their roster and are happy to pay for a qualified speaker.

If you are great at public speaking and have a compelling story to share, this might be the perfect route for you to take!

How To Get Started Hosting Profitable Vision Board Parties

Find your target audience.

Before you begin hosting events, you’ll have to find the audience who you want to serve. Knowing who you’re serving through your events can help you to ensure that you're hosting your events at the right locations, talking about the right topics and marketing the event in the right places.

Set an event date, time and location.

Once you know who your target audience is, you can set the date, time and location of your event in a way that works for your audience. For example, if you’re hosting an event for college students, you don’t want to host an event on a weekday when they’d be in class. Likewise, if your audience is working professionals who also wouldn’t be available during the day. However, weekdays might work perfectly for retired adults.

Invite your target audience to your event.

You can’t have an event, workshop or party without attendees so you must take your time to invite people to your event. You can start by creating an email list of people that might be interested in your topic or finding them on the social media channels they hang out on.

Pro-Tip: Vision Board events can be any time of year but October through January are super popular as the year comes to a close and people are starting to think about their plans and goals for the New Year.

Create an amazing vision board party experience.

This is the MOST important part of your Vision Board party business. After making sure that you have people to attend your event, you have to WOW the heck out of them. Make sure that they leave your event excited about their future and have crystal clear goals for their next steps.

You want them to be fired up about attending next years event….and hopefully they’ll want to invite some friends.

Rinse and Repeat.

Once you have some experience hosting your first event, it’s time to rinse and repeat. Take everything that you learned from your first experience to host another event. With each event that you host, you’ll gain more experience and you can use that information to curate a more transformative experience every single time.

Hosting Vision Board parties can serve as a great outlet to share your story and inspire your community to reach their goals. It can also be very lucrative if you run your Vision Board parties professionally and truly help people find clarity, direction, and purpose.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

Six Common Mistakes People Make When Hosting A Vision Board Party

Vision Board parties can be a ton of fun, but often times they're hosted by us regular folks who sit around drinking and chatting with all the party guests. And have now these fun party hosts have decided to add Vision Boards into the party mix, and while the intentions are great, they don't always have the right structure to make a successful party.

As a host, it your job to make sure that attendees get what they want to achieve out of coming to the event.

Here are a few common mistakes people make that you'll want to avoid while you're planning your Vision Board party.

Filling every minute of the agenda

I know this one sounds a bit crazy! We want for every moment to be planned out and have every activity flow really well into the next one. 

Here's what's wrong with that: 

• About 50% of attendees will show up late.

• People will inevitably miss key content and want you to repeat.

• A full agenda doesn't leave much time for networking and chatting with others.

Solution: Leave some "mingling" time in your agenda. It's unstructured time where people can get to know each other and chat about whatever they want. This will help them start to build relationships with others on their own. 

Related Content: 8 Fun Vision Board Party Activities & Ice Breakers 

Not having food/drink options for everyone

Food can be tricky. I once held an event where I forgot the non-alcoholic beverages and had to get a pitcher of water for non-wine drinkers! You want to have super yummy options and get creative to your hearts content, but you also want to be inclusive so that everyone at the event has something to eat.

Solution: Make sure you cover the basics and have gluten free, dairy free and vegetarian options for people. If you want to get fancy, add a form to the registration where people can outline exactly what kinds of food allergies they have so you can plan accordingly.

Related Content: What Kind of Food Should You Have at Your Vision Board Party?

Not having enough good magazines

Magazines are the backbone of the Vision Board! If you don't have enough good magazines to go around, people will end up fingering through the same ones over and over long after they've realized that there is no inspiration in them. 

Solution: Ask attendees to bring their own extra magazines from home. 

Related Content: Where to Buy Magazines for Your Vision Board Party

Not telling people what to bring

It's pretty common for people provide their own poster boards and bring their own magazines at Vision Board parties. If you don't plan on providing everything for your attendees, you'll want to make sure they know exactly what to bring. Otherwise people may show up empty handed and you run the risk of not having enough materials to go around.

Solution: Provide a list of items in the invitation that they can scan quickly.

Related Content: How to Nail Your Vision Board Party Invitation

Not curating good speakers

If you decide to bring speakers to your event, it could go really well or really bad. Speakers are meant to compliment the event or raise it to the next level with fun, inspiration, and relevant stories for your audience.  A speaker who isn’t relevant may leave guests confused. And you definitely want the speaker to be uplifting and encouraging.

Solution: Make sure any speaker you invite has experience that would be relevant to the people attending the event. Perhaps it’s someone who you’ve seen speak at other events or a recommendation from a trusted source.

Related Content: 5 Ways to Become a Vision Board Party Speaker

Not Facilitating conversation among guests

Sometimes you can drop people into a room and they just click. Some people make friends easily and find common grounds to start really cool conversations quickly. Other times, it's a bit more of a struggle. Unfortunately, you have now way of knowing whether your guests will click immediately or if they'll take a little warming up. 

Solution: Have a few ideas ready to get people engaged early on in the event with some ice breaker activities that can get the conversation started. 

These common Vision Board party mistakes are super easy to avoid with proper planning and a little bit of flexibility. Enjoy your party planning!

Comment below with your favorite Vision Board Party Planning tips.

xoxo

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

How Much Does It Cost To Host A Vision Board Party

I'm going to let you in on a little secret... I hate event planning! 

Even though I love vision boards (and I firmly believe you get much more value by doing them with friends) the entire planning process ends up being a pain in the butt. 

Luckily, I love getting friends together for events way more than I hate event planning so I have accumulated a ton of great lessons learned on my event-planning journey. 

In this post, we're going to talk about the absolute worst thing in event planning: The Costs. 

Planning The Event

Marketing

The goal of any event is to put people in seats. While your event has the best of intentions, your message won't reach anyone if you don't sell tickets. 

Here are a couple of options you can use for your marketing: 

• Social media ads

• Email advertising

• On-site advertising (like a local website or event website)

• Influencer marketing

• Affiliate marketing

On occasion you can find a listings website that will allow you to post your event for free, but it's not likely you'll see many sales from there. However, you might also throw money at advertisers - and still not see a huge return on your investment. 

Marketing is tricky - and it will take your time, your money or both. 

Event Planner

For my last event, I reached out to an event planner to help me with the organizing, décor and making everything happen. That meant that all I needed to focus my time and energy on was making sure that people came in the door and I had butts in seats. 

Someone else would worry about what type of décor was at the event, what food and drinks we had to offer and coordinating schedules. Most importantly, the only thing I would have to worry about on the day of the event was looking good.

 

The Event Site

Venue

Your venue will typically come with a price tag unless you're hosting it at home or you get your event location sponsored. The venues I've worked with typically charge by the hour and you typically get what you pay for. That means, if you want that beautiful rooftop overlooking the city, it's going to cost you five times as much as that co-working space that rents out their medium-sized meeting room. 

Furniture

Venues will typically come with certain types of furniture already there -- if you want anything fancy (or even if you need some additional chairs) you're going to have to get that yourself from a different company.

Moving Truck

If you have to move a lot of furniture to design your space to your liking, you will have to order a moving truck for everything. (This is something we didn't consider for our first event and it definitely bit us in the butt!)

Decor

Many party hosts like to add a special touch of inspirational quotes around the room. I personally like to have a mini photo booth where people can grab a few props and take some pics. 

Food and Drinks

No event is complete without food and drinks so this one really goes without explanation. Along with the food you're going to need cutlery, napkins, plates and cups. 

 

Presentation

I'm going to be honest here, you can't go out to the store and buy a box of chicken and then leave the box out for attendees to pick out their breast or thigh. You have to put in a little more effort than that. 

Get serving trays to present the food in a way that looks appetizing. You might need a water dispenser for the beverages. 

Entertainment

Having speakers at an event can raise the perceived value of the event. (That means you can charge more.) Speakers will also be able to connect with the audience, share stories and inspire them to work towards their goals in the new year.

Gifts & Giveaways

Whenever you host speakers (especially if you're not paying them) it's a great idea to give them gifts as a special thank you for speaking at the event. You don't have to go crazy, but a nice $10 coffee mug that follows with the theme of the event will do. 

 

Materials

Vision Board Materials

Unless you're hosting a party where you've told people to bring their own magazines and poster boards, you're on the hook for providing those. You'll also need about 1 glue stick and pair of scissors for every 4 attendees.

Printing any Workshop Materials

Depending on the layout of your event, you may have some handouts or worksheets. All of these will have to be printed and brought with you to the event. If they're writing things down, you'll also need enough pens for each person.

Event Agenda

If you're hosting a formal event, you'll want to make sure each attendee has an agenda. These don't have to be expensive. You can get beautiful and reasonably priced agendas from Etsy. You could also design them yourself on Canva if you want to remove the cost all together.

Vision board parties and events can be incredibly fun and super inspiring to your guests. I hope this list of costs will help you in the planning stages! 

xoxo

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!