100+ Awesome Summer Bucket List Ideas

Make this the best summer ever with these fun summer bucket list ideas. Or use these bucket list ideas like having a watermelon seed spitting contest, doing a cartwheel, and having an outdoor movie night to create your very own summer bucket list!

What Is A Bucket List?

If you’ve never made a bucket list before, they’re the best.

A lot of people have bucket lists full of items they want to do sometime in their life. Maybe a travel bucket list of places they want to travel or a seasonal bucket list of things they want to do this summer. It’s basically a list of things you want to accomplish within a set amount of time.

While some people like to put together say a lifetime bucket list, I prefer to make bucket lists for short periods of time such as the summer.

With summer being such a short time, it’s a great way to really dive in and try to enjoy as many of these summer bucket list ideas as possible!

And if you get through all of these, you can always move onto my fall bucket list!

100 Summer Bucket List Ideas

Everyone’s bucket list can be a little different, but these summer bucket list ideas should hopefully be enough to get you started with creating your own!

While most of the ideas on the original bucket list below are totally okay for this year, some of them may not be possible for your family with everything going on right now so I created a second bucket list.

The second list includes all ideas that are safe no matter how comfortable you feel right now!

I tried to make them generic enough that they were things everyone can do, not just people who live in Kansas City like we do. If you want to use this one, you can get a free printable summer bucket list at the bottom of this post!

1. Go on a bike ride
2. Build a fort
3. Do a cartwheel
4. Roll down a hill
5. Bury your toes in the sand (preferably somewhere like Daytona Beach)
6. Fly a kite
7. Jump over the waves
8. Build a sandcastle
9. Go to a drive-in movie theater
10. Eat a hot dog straight from the grill
11. Have a water fight
12. Play one of these outdoor water games
13. Have a watermelon seed spitting contest
14. Have a family board game tournament
15. Go to a carnival
16. Listen to an outdoor concert
17. Go to a waterpark
18. Do a cannonball
19. Play in the sprinklers
20. Watch fireworks
21. Sit in a hammock
22. Buy something at a garage sale
23. Create your own lemonade stand (guests will love this strawberry lemonade)
24. Eat a snow cone
25. Go to some sort of festival
26. Bake cookies and give them to someone else with these treat tags
27. Make root beer floats
28. Watch a movie on the big screen
29. Go to a farmer’s market
30. Get a temporary tattoo
31. Make popsicles like these ocean blue ones with gummy sharks inside
32. Watch early morning cartoons
33. Snuggle in bed during a summer thunderstorm
34. Have an indoor campout or if the  weather cooperates, go camping and play these camping games
35. Get books to read at the library
36. Play kickball
37. Swim in a lake
38. Make homemade pizza
39. Catch fireflies
40. Watch a sunset
41. Go on a picnic and a picnic scavenger hunt
42. Go on a roadtrip (and take these roadtrip games with you!)
43. Build a sand castle
44. Learn something new
45. Make something explode
46. Go to an amusement park
47. Dance it out
48. Eat a funnel cake
49. Volunteer somewhere
50. Paint something
51. Make one of these easy summer crafts
52. Jump in puddles
53. Make and play a backyard game
54. Eat breakfast for dinner. These egg muffins with a hash brown crust are a family favorite!
55. Go on a staycation
56. Collect seashells
57. Go ice blocking
58. Stay up past midnight
59. Pick berries (then use them for this strawberry poke cake!)
60. Eat ice cream before it melts
61. Make s’mores or s’mores bars if you don’t have access to a fire
62. Have a water balloon fight
63. Play beach ball volleyball
64. Plant flowers
65. Get a mosquito bite
66. Eat corn on the cob
67. Travel somewhere you’ve never been
68. Go to a museum
69. Find a dinosaur (maybe on this dinosaur hunt)
70. Spend a day barefoot
71. Lay on grass and look at the stars
72. Drink ice cold lemonade
73. Have a family slumber party
74. Swing on the swings
75. Go to a baseball game
76. Send a postcard
77. Go to a fair
78. Go to camp or camping (and play these camping games)
79. Hike a mountain
80. Run a race
81. Take a picture by a colored wall
82. Make homemade ice cream
83. Relax in a lazy river
84. Ride a roller coaster
85. Order pizza at the pool
86. Buy a new pair of sandals (these Sanuks are my favorite)
87. Go fishing
88. Play frisbee
89. Drink a tropical drink
90. Go to a splash pad
91. Sleep in
92. Find a sunflower
93. Float in a pool
94. Wave a flag
95. Try 12 flavors of ice cream (this sweet and salty ice cream is one of our favorites)
96. Have a backyard BBQ (this summer bingo would be a fun addition)
97. Go see a show (any of these Disney movies coming out this summer would be perfect)
98. Find a double rainbow
99. Play until the daylight is gone
100. Play hopscotch outside.

Playing It Safe Summer Bucket List Ideas

Since I know things are a bit crazy right now and you may not be doing things like riding roller coasters and going to festivals, I put together a “playing it safe” version of this summer bucket list as well! It replaces many of the actual activities in the list above with things you can do outdoors or from home.

For instance, making something tie-dye instead of riding a roller coaster. You can see the full summer bucket list below!

How to Make Your Own Summer Bucket List

The best part about a bucket list is that it should be all your own. I’ve given you 100+ ideas of things to do this summer. Feel free to pick and choose from this list of summer bucket list ideas and create one that’s perfect for your own family!

And unlike my list, feel free to get specific. If there’s a place you want to eat, add that specific restaurant to your list.

There’s a blank printable included in the PDF below that you can use to create your own summer bucket list!

Get the Free Printable

Enter your first name and email address below to get the free printable.

You’ll receive a copy to your email shortly after that includes a 4-page PDF:

• The regular summer bucket list
• The playing it safe summer bucket list
• Two blank summer bucket lists

If you can’t see the form below, click here to get to the form to enter your info.