The last time I made a bucket list was New Year’s Eve of this past year. I spent weeks thinking about it, an hour composing it, and the ten minutes leading up to 2018, finishing it. By the way, this is truly telling of my time management skills, or lack thereof, but that is for another article… After all my planning, consultation with friends, and throwing of many crumpled up pieces of paper, I miraculously came out with eighteen items on my list. (Eighteen goals for 2018, get it…? Ha.) The lesson I learned from this experience? Creating a bucket list is hard.
Photo by Erin Hughes
As the 2017-2018 school year comes to a close, I sat at my desk, reflecting on my first year of college- I made so many great memories! I will cherish my time in school forever. (Okay, maybe not the ones in school and maybe not forever, but you get the point.) I’m ready to create some new memories this summer.
With practice in list-making under my belt from New Year’s, and my own ambition, making a bucket list the second time around, came easily. In fact, here are 50 things on my bucket list for this summer break. I hope you get inspired and try some out!
1. Attend a concert or music festival.
Photo by Erin Hughes
2. Try canoeing or kayaking.
3. Wake up early to watch the sunrise.
4. Dress up and view an art exhibit by yourself.
5. Fly in a plane.
6. Take a train.
7. Go on a spontaneous weekend road trip. (Can you tell ‘transportation’ is a theme here?)
8. Pull an all-nighter with friends and talk about everything.
9. Relive childhood memories at the zoo. (Did you hear there’s a new otter exhibit??)
10. Go camping, and become one with nature.
Photo by Erin Hughes
11. Prerequisite for #10: Master the skill of setting up a tent.
12. Enjoy a beverage and the company of a furry friend at a cat cafe.
13. Swing as high as you can, and feel alive doing it. Don’t jump off the swing though… THAT’s how bones get broken, you daredevil, you.
14. (You better sit down for this one.) Finish a book…for fun. Not for school. Really.
15. Make a playlist of your summertime anthems.
16. Take a late night drive…Windows down and music blasting is the way to go.
17. Have a picnic in the park.
18. Go for a bike ride.
19. Go to brunch, like a true millennial.
Photo by Erin Hughes
20. Buy fresh produce, flowers, or baked goods at your local farmer’s market.
21. Learn how to cook something other than pasta. We all know your parents have that one dusty book of family recipes in your pantry…Use them!
22. Invest in a hammock, and just lie there.
23. Make a day of finding cool street art and snapping pictures.
24. Go outside and paint what you see.
25. See a movie in theaters by yourself.
26. Have a dance party (friends, optional).
27. Find a park that shows movies, and watch.
28. Go swimming in a pool, a lake, or the ocean. Any body of water will do, really.
Photo by Erin Hughes
29. Visit an animal shelter, and give those precious animals some love.
30. Volunteer!
31. Apply LOTS of bug spray and take a hike.
32. Binge watch a show in a day.
33. Plan a whole day for your family to spend time together.
34. Learn how to play poker; Listen to Poker Face in the background, simultaneously. I’m not bluffing…That’s how I spent last summer.
35. Make a Kahoot about your friends and have trivia night.
36. Get your karaoke on.
37. Have a lazy day. Or five. Or ten.
Photo by HC writer Grace Jacques
38. Attend a drag show, and find yourself awestruck by a queen’s talent.
39. Plan a prank on someone, but don’t be mean. (I warned you.)
40. Plant a garden, or try to keep your one succulent alive. It’s hard, I know. I don’t know why your one from last summer died, either.
41. Go to the beach, and accept that sand will attach itself to everything you own and love.
42. Surprise everyone with your competitive side playing a sport…Let’s just say, I’m probably not the most fun person to play badminton with.
43. Have a water balloon or water gun fight. (Those things still exist, right?)
44. Meditate.
45. Have a photoshoot with your friends.
46. Go into the city and explore!
47. Get a tattoo. If it’s real, look forward to everyone asking you what it “means.” If it’s henna, look forward to a sigh of relief from your mother after she learns it’s not real.
Photo by Erin Hughes
48. Leave your phone at home for a day.
49. Catch fireflies, then let them go.
50. Buy overpriced ice cream and enjoy every second of it.
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