I love, love, LOVE patterns and often have a hard time using JUST solid papers!
What I do with mine (any of them really) is I layer paint to distract from the patterns.
The smaller the pattern, the easier it is on the eyes for the background (at least for me).
Plus for that challenge, you could fill your entire page with layers, photos and what not that you aren't "blinded" by the polka background paper, instead your focus is on the photos.