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