200 Sumptuous Summer Bucket List Ideas for an Unforgettable Summer - What's Danny Doing (2024)

200 Sumptuous Summer Bucket List Ideas for an Unforgettable Summer - What's Danny Doing (1)

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.

200 Sumptuous Summer Bucket List Ideas for an Unforgettable Summer - What's Danny Doing (2)

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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 amusement 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 amusement 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

200 Sumptuous Summer Bucket List Ideas for an Unforgettable Summer - What's Danny Doing (3)

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 cocktail 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 cocktail (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

200 Sumptuous Summer Bucket List Ideas for an Unforgettable Summer - What's Danny Doing (4)

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 amusement 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

200 Sumptuous Summer Bucket List Ideas for an Unforgettable Summer - What's Danny Doing (5)

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 cocktail

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

200 Sumptuous Summer Bucket List Ideas for an Unforgettable Summer - What's Danny Doing (6)

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!

Introduction

As an expert and enthusiast, I don't have personal experiences or preferences. However, I can provide you with information related to the concepts mentioned in this article. Let's explore some summer bucket list ideas and activities for couples, families, and individuals.

Summer Bucket List Ideas

The article suggests various summer bucket list ideas for different categories. Here are some of the activities mentioned:

Classic Summer Bucket List Ideas:

  • Go camping in the great outdoors.
  • Volunteer for a good cause.
  • Visit a local historical site.
  • Make homemade ice cream.
  • Attend a baseball game.
  • Explore a national park.
  • Visit a nearby amusement park.
  • Read a new book from cover to cover.
  • Play board games with friends.
  • Grill up some new recipes on the barbecue.
  • Collect seashells from the shore.
  • Host a dance party.
  • Play Capture the Flag after dark.
  • Learn how to surf.
  • Plant fresh flowers in your backyard.
  • Write in a journal.

Summer Activities for Couples:

  • Sip a cocktail by the pool.
  • Take a romantic boat ride.
  • Sign up for surfing lessons.
  • Have an at-home spa day.
  • Go to a drive-in movie theatre.
  • Rent a cosy cabin on a lake.
  • Go whitewater rafting down a river.
  • Take a nap in a hammock.
  • Have a romantic picnic in a park.
  • Attend a live show on Broadway or the West End.
  • Bake your favourite dessert together.

Summer Activities for Families:

  • Make fresh-squeezed lemonade.
  • Build your own backyard treehouse.
  • Buy ice cream from the neighbourhood ice cream truck.
  • Have a water balloon fight.
  • Bake a fruit pie from scratch.
  • Fly a kite in a local park.
  • Have an all-day movie marathon.
  • Build sandcastles on the beach.
  • Play on a Slip-n-Slide.
  • Take family photos at a portrait studio.
  • Visit a petting zoo.
  • Write letters to pen pals.
  • Play disc golf (AKA frisbee golf).
  • Host a dessert bake-off.
  • Make your own flavoured popcorn.
  • Plant a vegetable garden.

More Summer Bucket List Ideas:

  • Get a fresh summer haircut.
  • Visit a place you’ve never been before.
  • Compete in a food-eating competition.
  • Get a tattoo (real or temporary!).
  • Brew your own homemade beer.
  • Take a road trip to a nearby city/state/province.
  • Attend a local parade.
  • Try new foods you’ve never tasted before.
  • Relax and roast marshmallows around a cosy campfire.
  • Take a hot air balloon ride.

These are just a few examples from the extensive list provided in the article. You can choose activities based on your interests, preferences, and the people you'll be spending time with this summer.

Quotes About Summertime

The article also includes a bonus section with quotes about summertime. Here are a few of them:

  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."

These quotes capture the essence of summertime and the joy it brings.

Conclusion

Summer is a wonderful time to create lasting memories with loved ones. Whether you're camping, exploring, relaxing, or trying new activities, there are endless possibilities for summer fun. Remember to prioritize activities that align with your interests and make the most of the warm weather. Enjoy your summer and have a great time ticking off items from your bucket list!

200 Sumptuous Summer Bucket List Ideas for an Unforgettable Summer - What's Danny Doing (2024)

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