There is something about summer that just brings the life out of us, isn’t there? Well, those sun-filled, warm-breeze days are here with us yet again (thank goodness) and of course you will be looking for fun summer activities and things to do.
Besides sunbathing, walking around in those cute sun dresses and letting the sand run through your toes (if you are lucky enough to be at the beach), there are several other fun ideas to add to your summer bucket list.
1. ✦ Go to an Amusem*nt Park
2. ✧ Leap Off a Rope Swing
3. ✦ Pick Strawberries
4. ✦ Try a New Food
Have you ever tried raw oysters, escargot or frog’s legs? Maybe you have never had something as simple as sushi. Think of all the things you have yet to taste (for some fun ideas go to an Asian market!), then go out and try something new. You never know, you may stumble upon some delectable delicacies that you may never have heard of had you not been adventurous with your food.
If you are a timid eater then you may want to start with checking off some things from our American Food Bucket List: 60 Foods in the USA to Eat. But, if you’re feeling really adventurous than pick an item from this list: Weird Food Bucket List: 60 Strange Foods From Around the World
5. ✦ Attend an Outdoor Concert
In the United States, 40 to 50 million people attend outdoor concerts each year—it’s a top thing to do!. Find the perfect venue in your area, bring a lawn chair and spend a bucket list worthy evening listening to tunes. Unsure of where to see your show? Check out the 10 Outdoor Concert Venues Worth a Summer Road Trip.
6. ✦ Ride a Ferris Wheel
7. ✦ Attend a Parade
8. ✦ Have a Picnic
Pack a traditional wicker basket with your favorite picnic foods and enjoy the feast as well as the weather. Real Simple magazine can help you out with their Picnic Packing Checklist. If you want to set up an Instagrammable picnic, here’s a cute red checkered picnic basket.
9. ✦ Play on a Slip-n-Slide
10. ✦ Take a Road Trip
Pick a spot on the map, get in your car and just drive. There are very few activities in this world that are as fun-filled and as exhilarating as going on a road trip either solo or with your best friends.
Make a list of all the things you would like to do along the way and let the other chips fall where they may. Just go with it and have fun. The open road calls to all of us. One of my favorite road trips was Canada’s Cabot Trail!
11. ✦ Feed the Ducks
12. ✧ Grow an Herb Garden
Gardening can be a lot of fun and growing your own herbs is a great way to promote a healthy lifestyle and teach the same to your kids. They will definitely have a blast digging in the soil and planting seeds, growing seedlings and watering them. You don’t need a lot of space and the vessel can be anything from a wooden crate to a mason jar to an old tire.
For an easy option, just buy an herb starter kit. Nature Blossom’s Sow & Grow makes it simple by giving you everything you need to grow five organic favorites: Basil, Thyme, Parsley, Sage, Cilantro. Or get creative with these top 30 low-budget garden pots & containers
13. ✦ Be a Tourist in Your Own City
Can you confidently say that you know your city in and out? If Frommer’s was to contract you to write a guide to your city, would you do it justice? Take the time to visit more than just your usual hangout places. There is more to life than hanging out at the bowling alley and the mall.
Be a tourist in your own city, go someplace new and you may be surprised by just how wonderful that old town can be. Most cities have free tours too. You could discover streets, shops, and landmarks that you never knew existed. You could also do the tour via segways, making it a little bit more fun.
14. ✦ Go to the Beach
15. ✧ Learn to Juggle
16. ✦ Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
Take yourself to new heights and see what the world looks like from a birds-eye view. Better yet, make a champagne toast whilst flying high in the sky. If you are too afraid for the flight, then watch from the ground at a Hot Air Balloon Festival.
17. ✦ Nap in a Hammock
18. ✦ Make Tie-Dye T- Shirts
Do you have a bunch of white T’s you would like to breathe some life into? Why not make tye-die T-shirts this summer? Again, this is something that the entire family can get into and enjoy as you all try to outdo each other with your various brands of creativity. This Tie-dye Kit will make it much easier for you!
19. ✦ Run Through Sprinklers
20. ✦ Go Wine Tasting
21. ✧ Learn to Fly Fish
This may be a challenging bucket list goal, but what could be a more serene thing to do than casting a line into the river? Besides, you get to wear really cool pants.
22. ✦ Go Whitewater Rafting
Take a thrilling ride down the river in an inflatable raft, hitting rapids along the way. Whitewater Rafting is considered an extreme sport, so be careful when choosing this as one of you Summer Bucket List ideas.
23. ✦ Do a Cannonball into a Body of Water
24. ✦ Go to a Baseball Game
25. ✦ Go 24 Hours without Internet, Radio or Television
Now, I know, this is a tall order. We use the internet for everything nowadays. But think about it. When was the last time you went for two hours without your phone? Try going 24 hours without internet, radio or TV. Go camping; sit and read a good book; talk to your friends and family or use the time to complete some of the ideas on this summer bucket list.
Soon enough you will wish you had these quiet and peaceful moments more often.
26. ✧ Have a Water Balloon Fight
While we all love to feel the sun in our faces, sometimes the heat of summer can get a little too…toasty! On those days, very few things even come close to feeling as good as having a cold shower, but the next best thing is to have a water balloon fight.
Fill up dozens of these latex fun makers and target your favorite friends, while trying to stay the driest of the bunch. If winning the fight is just as important as having fun, research techniques on How to Survive a Water Balloon Fight.
27. ✦ Ride a Big Water Slide
28. ✦ Do a Random Act of Kindness
Random acts of kindness are some of the most fulfilling and most humane and human things you could ever do. Especially when it is done for a complete stranger.
- Donate some food
- Pay the bridge toll for the person behind you
- Go to an animal orphanage and help out for the day
- Feed someone’s parking meter.
The possibilities are endless. The best way to approach this is to look at your local community and see what it is they need the most. Or check out my post for ideas: 75 Random Acts of Kindness Ideas: Examples of Kind Things to Do.
29. ✧ Play Disc Golf
30. ✧ Have the Ultimate BBQ
Good food, good company, cold beers and warm outdoor weather, what more could you ask for in this world? Having an Ultimate BBQ is one of the best ways to while away a boring Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Everyone has their own specific style when it comes to BBQ’s so do not let anyone tell you anything about what you like. You go right ahead and grill that meat the best way you know how. Enjoy!
31. ✦ Watch Fireflies
32. ✦ Go Waterskiing
33. ✧ Run a Themed 5k
Themed 5k marathons are a wonderful way to not only bring the community together for a common course, but to also show off your extreme levels of fitness and fun loving nature. Make sure the theme is something fun, like a mud run (check Active’s 5k Race Finder for ideas). It’d be a bonus if running the 5k was to support a local organization.
Don’t know where to start? Read
34. ✧ Host a Bonfire
A bonfire can add incredible ambiance to any party, especially on a warm Summer night. So, invite your friends, load up your cooler with beverages, bring lots of wood and a radio to play your favorite tunes.
35. ✧ Make Sangria
There is nothing like a refreshing glass of Sangria to quench your thirst on a hot Summer day. One of my favorite recipes is the Plum and Nectarine Sangria from William-Sonoma.
36. ✦ Paddle a Canoe
37. ✧ Make a Summer Playlist
38. ✦ Go to a Farmer’s Market
Enjoy strolling through the Summer farmer’s market while gathering fresh and local ingredients for your dinner. Take your bounty home and try making a delicious farmers’ market salad loaded with veggies.
39. ✦ Sleep in a Cabin
40. ✦ Read a NYT Best Seller
If you are an avid reader, then those warm summer evenings make for some of the best times to just sit by your porch and read a New York Times Best Seller. This list is considered one of the most reliable when it comes to suggesting excellent books in the United States. Whether you are looking for fiction, non-fiction, auto-biographies or even a children’s book for those bed time stories, you will find it here.
You could give ‘The Thief’ by J.R Ward a try. Although, I must warn you, this is the 16th book in the thrilling Black Dagger Brotherhood series. So if you do not want to be so hooked that you simply must read the other 15, maybe you should try something else. Like ‘Shoot First’ by Stuart Woods or go non-fiction and read ‘Russian Roulette’ by Michael Isikoff and David Corn.
Or…you could check out my book ‘Bucket List Adventures: 10 Incredible Journeys to Experience Before You Die’. That should get you bitten by the wanderlust bug real quick.
41. ✦ Ride a Roller Coaster
42. ✦ Go to a Drive-in Movie
If you are looking for a unique and cheap date night, how about going to a drive-in movie? They may be more difficult to find these days, but they are a whole lot of fun when you do. Look at the Drive-In Movie Website to locate the nearest one.
43. ✦ Watch the Sunset
44. ✦ Watch Fireworks
45. ✦ Go Skinny Dipping
46. ✦ Make S’mores
If you haven’t had these yet, drop everything you are doing and go make some—s’mores are absolutely divine. As the perfect campfire treat, making S’mores is something that the whole family can get into and thoroughly enjoy.
Allow me to elaborate: The best kind of S’more, the ones I like most, go a little something like this – You take a fire-roasted marshmallow, sandwich that with a layer of your favorite chocolate and then cover it all up with two pieces of graham cracker.
This recipe should help to get you started on the right foot. This treat has been a campfire staple long before most of us here were even born. The very first recorded s’mores recipe was published in 1927 in ‘Tramping and Trailing With the Girl Scouts’, a Girl Scouts handbook. So you are in good company. And if the traditional style doesn’t do it for you pick a unique one from the 12 Creative S’mores ideas.
47. ✦ Get a Pedicure
48. ✦ Sleep Under the Stars
If you are lucky enough to travel the world, then try to sleep under the stars in the Northern Hemisphere. The Northern Lights are a spectacle that you will never forget. But if Sweden is too far, then maybe you can make a good go of it right in your backyard? On those warm summer evenings, get a bunch of your friends and just camp outdoors sleeping under the stars.
49. ✦ Fly a Kite
Flying a kite is a relaxing way to spend a Summer day that has a bit of wind kick to it. If you haven’t previously had any luck getting your kite in the air, wikiHow can tell you How to Fly a Kite in 8 Steps. And if you need a kite, this octopus kite is so cute!
50. ✦ Watch the Sunrise
51. ✧ Spend the Entire Day Barefoot
This may not be such a great idea if you are walking across hot concrete, but it would be fabulous and freeing if you were spending the day at the beach or in a soft grass field.
52. ✦ Walk Barefoot in the Sand
Sinking your barefoot toes in the warm sand is the perfect way to spend a warm day.
53. ✦ Go Backpacking with a Friend
You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced wilderness and gone backpacking. Grab an adventurous friend or two and take on Mother Nature. You can do something as simple as visit the local park or the neighboring county. Or plan a few day trek, and check “sleep under the stars” off your summer bucket list at the same time.
54. ✦ Make Ice Cream
Instead of going to the grocery store to buy your favorite ice cream flavor, set up shop and make some at home. If ice cream seems too complicated, try making fun flavored popsicles, like Blueberry Vanilla Yogurt. Yum!
Here is the ice cream maker and popsicle molds that I use for my sweet summer treats.
55. ✦ Bake a Fruit Pie from Scratch
56. ✧ Brew Your Own Beer
Speaking of mojitos, how about you brew your own beer? Brewing your own beer is not that difficult. You will just need a starter kit and some excellent advice, but once you get it right, you may never set foot in a bar again.
57. ✦ Go Star Gazing
58. ✦ Porch Sit for the Afternoon
59. ✦ Make a Sand Castle
You really can’t avoid the beach with that much success during summer. Since you will be headed that way anyway, why not put your creativity to good use while you show off that killer bikini body? Building a sand castle is much tougher than it looks, especially if you are going for the ‘uber-elaborate’ kind. Doing this with your loved ones is a wonderful way to spend some time together, get an enviable tan and maybe even have a mojito while you are at it.
For the more creative bucket lister you can learn How to Build the Perfect Sandcastle.
60. ✧ Get a Tattoo
For travel related tattoo ideas, check out 55 Beautiful Tattoos That Tell Their Own Travel Stories.
61. ✦ Go Bowling
62. ✦ Learn to Surf
This is a bit more challenging than most of the things to do on this Summer Bucket List Ideas, but you can enjoy the warm weather while also learning how to catch a wave. You can find fun, beginning surfing lessons near just about every surf beach.
63. ✦ Skip Stones in a Lake
64. ✦ Take a Boat Ride
65. ✧ Go on a Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts can be exhausting if you are playing with strangers or someone you do not know that well. Luckily, I have my husband with me and we enjoy driving each other crazy trying to find new ways to outwit each other. You could do the same with the people you love and have a good old time.
For ideas, see How to Set Up a Scavenger Hunt for Grownups.
66. ✦ Visit a Historical Site
67. ✧ Attend Burning Man
Burning Man encapsulates everything fun and exciting about summer. It combines the desert heat, amazing creativity, wonderful musical revelations and a huge group of people who want nothing else but to have a wild, wonderful time out in the middle of nowhere. At Burning Man you can be yourself, have unbridled fun and you can definitely party all night and try to sleep all day. Just like you used to when you were younger.
68. ✧ Stand Under a Waterfall
Standing under a waterfall is a ritual purification practice to some Japanese, but for you it could just be a bit of warm weather fun.
69. ✦ Chase Down the Ice Cream Truck
70. ✦ Hike a New Trail
71. ✧ Build a Treehouse
72. ✦ Learn to Shoot a Bow & Arrow
Though archery is an easy sport to learn, it’s a hard one to master. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t give a shot at hitting the bulls-eye this Summer.
73. ✧ Compete in a Food Eating Competition
74. ✦ Volunteer
Volunteer your time and effort to make the world a better place. You don’t have to join ‘Greenpeace’, although that’s not such a bad idea, you can volunteer right in your own community.
Help the elderly, give blood, volunteer at the local soup kitchen or just make sure that your neighbor’s yard is well-kept. Give back to the society and you will be the better for it.
75. ✦ Go Somewhere You Have Never Been
Accomplishing this bucket list goal doesn’t mean that you have to travel to the ultimate location, just go somewhere you have never been. It could be something as simple as visiting a new park in your city or taking a day trip to a nearby town that you have been meaning to explore.
76. ✦ Create a co*cktail
Many foodies are also experimentalists, and becoming your own mixologist will test your skills. The best part about this bucket list goal is that you will have to do a lot of sampling before coming up with your own perfect harmony of flavors. Practice makes perfect!
In the heat of the Arizona Summer, I decided it was the perfect time to create my own refreshing co*cktail. The funnest part? Testing all the different concoctions. In the end, my signature drink was a Lemon-Basil Fizz made with prosecco, coconut rum, raspberries, basil and lemon sorbet (see the video below). What will yours be?
Related: 10 Tips on How To Make a Great co*cktail
Related: Foodie Bucket List
Read: Your House co*cktail is the Most Important Recipe You’ll Ever Invent
77. ✦ Sip a Umbrella co*cktail by the Pool
78. ✧ Make Fresh Squeezed Lemonade
Lemonade and summer go hand in hand like Christmas and Santa! You simply must have some when the sun is out. Squeezing your own lemonade allows you to add a bit of your own flair into the mix. Go wild and let your inner mixologist come out and play!
79. ✦ Get a Summer Hair Cut
80. ✦ Go Camping
This summer, when the sun comes out, get your backside out there and do something fun as well. That’s a bucket list order!
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