American author Charles Bowden famously wrote, “Summertime is always the best of what might be.”
Do you agree? Are you excited about another summer full of good times with your favourite people?
With so many amazing things to do in the summer, deciding how to spend your time can be hard. That’s why I’ve put together this ultimate collection of summer bucket list ideas to choose from!
So grab your sunglasses, don’t forget your sunscreen, and keep reading below for hundreds of great things to do over the summer.
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Classic Summer Bucket List Ideas
Classics are classics for a reason! These summer bucket list ideas will never go out of style, so be sure to start your summer with these must-do activities.
1. Go camping in the great outdoors
2. Volunteer for a good cause
3. Go hiking down a new trail
4. Visit a local historical site
5. Practice skipping stones on a lake
6. Go stargazing with binoculars or a telescope
7. Make homemade ice cream
8. Sleep under the stars
9. Make s’mores around a campfire
10. Watch a fireworks display
11. Buy fresh produce from a farmer’s market
12. Make a summertime playlist of your favourite tunes
13. Go waterskiing or wakeboarding
14. Attend a baseball game
15. Learn how to fly-fish
16. Spend a day lying on the beach
17. Grow a backyard herb garden
18. Explore a national park
19. Attend an outdoor concert
20. Visit a nearby amusem*nt park
21. Collect seashells from the shore
22. Grill up some new recipes on the barbecue
23. Read a new book from cover to cover
24. Perfect your cartwheels
25. Bury your toes in the sand
26. Have a backyard water fight
27. Eat watermelon and spit out the seeds
28. Go running through the sprinklers
29. Play board games with friends
30. Make root beer floats with ice cream
31. Play a round of beach volleyball
32. Learn how to surf
33. Plant fresh flowers in your backyard
34. Host a dance party
35. Do a service project for the community
36. Play Capture the Flag after dark
37. Go go-karting at an amusem*nt park
38. Play a game of croquet in your backyard
39. Attend a sandcastle competition
40. Go for a trail ride on horseback
41. Skip stones across a pond
42. Drink fresh water from a coconut
43. Pick berries from a local farm
44. Write in a journal
Best Summer Activities for Couples
What should you do this summer with your special someone? Turn up the heat (or slow down and relax) with these things to do over the summer for couples.
45. Sip a co*cktail by the pool
46. Go swimming under a waterfall
47. Attend a Burning Man event
48. Take a romantic boat ride
49. Sign up for surfing lessons
50. Sit on the porch and watch the clouds go by
51. Get up early and watch the sunrise
52. Go skinny dipping late at night
53. Sign up for a wine tasting
54. Have an at-home spa day
55. Drive to a scenic overlook and watch the sunset
56. Go to a drive-in movie theatre
57. Rent a cosy cabin on a lake
58. Make homemade sangria
59. Go whitewater rafting down a river
60. Sign up for a wine tasting
61. Take a nap in a hammock
62. Go for a ride in a hot-air balloon
63. Have a romantic picnic in a park
64. Ride a Ferris wheel at sunset
65. Run in a virtual 5K
66. Try new restaurants in your hometown
67. Work on your suntan
68. Hire someone for a professional photoshoot
69. Watch an outdoor movie screening at a park
70. Take up a new hobby together
71. Rent a two-person kayak
72. Create your own YouTube channel
73. Dance together in the rain
74. Have a silly pillow fight
75. Sip ice-cold lemonade on the front porch
76. Eat rainbow-coloured snow cones
77. Tour a local brewery or winery
78. Send each other handwritten love letters
79. Blow bubbles at a park
80. Go on a romantic scavenger hunt
81. Eat breakfast items for dinner
82. Sleep in until noon on your day off
83. Watch a thunderstorm from a safe place
84. Make a bouquet out of wildflowers
85. Play a game of bocce ball
86. Enjoy a lazy float down a river
87. Host a couples’ game night
88. Shop at a local farmer’s market
89. Bounce together on a trampoline
90. Spend an entire day in your pyjamas
91. Plan your ultimate dream trip
92. Dress up and attend a Renaissance festival
93. Craft your own summer co*cktail (or mocktail)
94. Watch street performers in a nearby city
95. Sign up for outdoor yoga or Tai Chi classes
96. Hold hands and jump into the water
97. Splurge on a couples’ massage at a spa
98. Attend a live show on Broadway or the West End
99. Do a “Chopped” style cooking challenge
100. Bake your favourite dessert together
Fun Summer Activities for Families
Whether your family is large or small, summertime is ideal for spending quality time together. Make memories you’ll cherish forever by ticking some of these fun summer activities off your bucket list.
101. Make fresh-squeezed lemonade
102. Learn to shoot a bow and arrow
103. Build your own backyard treehouse
104. Buy ice cream from the neighbourhood ice cream truck
105. Go on a scavenger hunt
106. Have a family bowling night
107. Tour an ice cream factory
108. Build sandcastles on the beach
109. Have a water balloon fight
110. Bake a fruit pie from scratch
111. Climb a tree
112. Fly a kite in a local park
113. Learn a TikTok dance
114. Have an all-day movie marathon
115. Ride roller coasters at an amusem*nt park
116. Rent canoes and go paddlings
117. Host a neighbourhood bonfire
118. Play Marco Polo in the pool
119. Write letters to pen pals
120. Watch fireflies after dark
121. Play disc golf (AKA frisbee golf)
122. Splash around at a water park
123. Practice cannonballs into the pool
124. Run through the sprinklers
125. Make your own tie-dyed T-shirts
126. Visit a tourist attraction
127. Feed the ducks at a local pond
128. Play on a Slip-n-Slide
129. Pick your own fruit at a local farm
130. Jump off a rope swing into the water
131. Splash in the community swimming pool
132. Visit a petting zoo
133. Take family photos at a portrait studio
134. Watch a movie in your backyard
135. Try a new flavour of ice cream each week
136. Go for a bike ride through your neighbourhood
137. Build a pillow fort
138. Light sparklers
139. Roll down a grassy hill
140. Eat hot dogs fresh off the grill
141. Host a dessert bake-off
142. Watch morning cartoons
143. Play barefoot in the grass
144. Make and bury a time capsule
145. Have a family slumber party
146. Go geocaching as a family
147. Play a round of miniature golf
148. Make a summer chores chart (with rewards)
149. Run a neighbourhood lemonade stand
150. Do cannonballs into the pool
151. Make homemade Play-Dough
152. Dress up and attend a Comic-Con event
153. Plant a vegetable garden
More Great Things to Do Over the Summer
Still looking for the best summer activities to round out those long, hot days? If you haven’t yet found the ultimate item, scan these summer bucket list ideas and choose the perfect goal for you!
154. Get a fresh summer haircut
155. Visit a place you’ve never been before
156. Compete in a food-eating competition
157. Get a tattoo (real or temporary!)
158. Brew your own homemade beer
159. Go backpacking with your besties
160. Start an outdoor exercise routine
161. Walk barefoot in the sand
162. Treat yourself to a pedicure
163. Read a New York Times bestselling book
164. Run a themed 5K race
165. Volunteer in a foreign country
166. Host the ultimate neighbourhood barbecue
167. Perform a random act of kindness
168. Go cliff diving (in a safe location)
169. Do a digital detox for 24 hours (no phone, TV, or Internet)
170. Learn how to juggle
171. Host a chilli cook-off
172. Run through the rain
173. Clean out the closets and garage
174. Make your own flavoured popcorn
175. Take a road trip to a nearby city/state/province
176. Attend a local parade
177. Try new foods you’ve never tasted before
178. Camp at a nearby river or lake
179. Send postcards to faraway family or friends
180. Get tickets to a local festival
181. Relax and roast marshmallows around a cosy campfire
182. Make homemade popsicles
183. Learn how to slow down and meditate
184. Drink a fruity pink co*cktail
185. Bake cookies, brownies, or brookies
186. Enjoy a staycation in your hometown
187. Eat freshly grilled corn on the cob
188. Bake your own pizzas
189. Sign up for an outdoor dance class
190. Work or volunteer on a farm
191. Catch fireflies in a jar
192. Complete a paint-by-numbers painting
193. Find and photograph a double rainbow
194. Walk through a field of sunflowers
195. Slice and eat fresh pineapple
196. Collect a bucket full of seashells
197. Join a summer internship program
198. Take a hot air balloon ride
199. Audition for a role in a stage play
200. Go parasailing over tropical waters
Bonus: 10 Best Quotes About Summertime
Need a great mantra for your summer bucket list? Get inspired with one of these famous quotes about everyone’s favourite season!
1. “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” ― John Steinbeck
2. “Summer afternoon — summer afternoon; to me, those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” ― Henry James
3. “And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. “Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ― John Lubbock
5.
Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the tree house; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colours in a parched landscape.
6. “Everything good, everything magical, happens between the months of June and August.” — Jenny Han
7. “I love summertime more than anything else in the world. That is the only thing that gets me through the winter, knowing that summer is going to be there.” — Jack McBrayer
8. “Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy. To do nothing and have it count for something. To lie in the grass and count the stars. To sit on a branch and study the clouds.” — Regina Brett
9. “All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” — L.M. Montgomery
10. “Some of the best memories are made in flip-flops.” — Kellie Elmore
What’s on Your Summer Bucket List?
The best summer activities revolve around the people and places you love the most. It’s all about creating memories that will last a lifetime!
So what are you waiting for? Get out there today and start ticking these items off your summer bucket list.
Is camping on your must-do list of fun summer activities? Read this post next for a list of the best camp games for adults!
