How to Make Your Minivan Hip

Both baby boomers and Generation-X parents bemoan the middle-class mediocrity of the ubiquitous urban minivan, that boring symbol of tied-down domesticity—or is it? Could yours be but a blank slate awaiting your late-life rebellion, a political statement on wheels or a twenty-first century love mobile? Who says minivans can’t get hip?

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Time on your hands
• Minivan
• An image to project
• Money to burn

1. Before you make your minivan hip, take time to navel gaze; who are you? What do you stand for? Who do you want to be taken for as strangers gaze at your eight-seat, automotive identity speeding down the highway of life? Are you a rebel, an activist, a neo-pagan UFO-worshipping teamster? Know thyself.
2. Consider your canvas; how can you alter your minivan to meet your image? The Internet is replete with bumper stickers, magnets, custom signs, custom parts and ads for custom paint jobs. See Resources below.
3. Discuss any radical decisions with the family; they’re why you own a minivan in the first place. If there weren’t any kids you’d own a vehicle that spoke for itself, right? Come to a consensus on the new image.
4. Go for it. Flames, flowers, butterflies, racing stripes, custom plates, you name it. Prepare to get reactions from fellow drivers as you tootle along.

Tips & Warnings

• Go hippie! Flower power magnets on the outside, corduroy curtains on the inside, peace signs hanging on the mirrors, “make love, not war” on the bumper. Feel like Mrs. Partridge every time you step behind the wheel.
• Go edgy: tattoo parlor bumper stickers, tribal patterns or flames along the sides, custom black leather interior (easy clean up with kiddies).
• Get political! Bumper stickers don’t have to go on bumpers. Say all you have to say; use up every square inch if that is what it takes. Make custom printed magnet signs (removable!) advertising your endorsements and priorities.
• Consider safety when choosing slogans. You may be parking in conservative country someday and want a vehicle to come back to after you visit the general store. Likewise, a right-wing slogan may make your minivan a liberal target when traveling the coasts.
• If resale value is your bag, baby, choose removable stickers and magnets, instead of custom paint jobs to retrofit your minivan.