Spring Bucket List: 20 Things to Do Before Summer
It’s finally spring. The grass is getting greener, trees are starting to get leaves again, the sun stays out later, and the Earth is coming to life again.
As the days get warmer and longer, there are more and more things to do outside again. Summer is so close, and as exciting as that is, you have to remind yourself to love where you’re at now.
I love bucket-lists. A lot of times though, when people talk about their bucket-lists, they talk about big, far out things they will do “one day.” This is your reminder that you are living right now, and you can start crossing things off your bucket list today.
Here are 20 things to get you in the spring-mood and remind you to live now. Some of these are big, others are super simple. Either way, these are all things you can add to and cross off your bucket list within the next couple months.
1. Go on a desert road trip
Before it gets too hot in the desert, go on a road trip. Spring is the perfect time of year for a desert road trip. It’s warm, but not blazingly hot yet.
A few incredible places you should visit this spring:
- Moab
- Capitol Reef National Park
- Death Valley
- Sedona
- Zion National Park
- Red Rock Canyon National Park
- Valley of Fire State Park
2. Watch the sunrise
The closer we get to summer, the earlier the sun will rise. This spring, make it a point to watch the sunrise once, or twice, or every single day.
3. Have a cute picnic
If you can see the grass because it’s not covered in snow anymore, and its getting a little greener, that’s your sign to have a picnic.
4. Make a dandelion wish
How many wishes did you make on dandelions as a kid? If you’re like me, the answer is a million and one.
How many dandelions have you picked and blown out nowadays? Probably not quite as many. This spring, pick a dandelion, blow it out, and make a wish.
Remember, the wish only comes true if you blow off all the fuzzies in one breath.
5. Paint outside
Sit outside and just paint. Sit in the grass, on a rock, by a creek, under a tree, anywhere you want, and just paint something.
It can be just on a canvas or piece of paper, or you can paint a rock, your legs, or maybe a pair of jeans or shoes.
6. Learn how to longboard
Longboarding is so much fun, and it’s not too difficult to learn.
This spring, learn how to longboard so that this summer can consist of longboarding with friends, down desert roads, on empty streets late at night, to the beach, or with an ice cream cone in your hand.
7. Put flowers in your hair
Flowers are starting to bloom, be on the lookout for them.
When you find wildflowers, put some in your hair. Tuck one behind your ear, stick a few in your braid, or put some in your curls.
8. Run through a wildflower field
Look up “wildflower fields near me” and find one that blooms in spring.
Find one near you, and go to it. Depending on how far it is, you can make a whole day out of it, or just a quick stop.
Seeing a field of wildflowers is jaw-dropping. That in itself is a bucket-list-worthy moment.
If you can actually run through it, I promise it is the most indescribable, freeing moment you will ever experience. Run through the field with your hands out so you can feel all the flowers as you run past. Also, make sure you spin as much as possible.
Flowers don’t like to be trampled. Always use your judgment and only actually run through if there is a little path to do so.
9. Give your living space a little makeover
You know when you move your furniture around or add a few new wall decorations and suddenly your living space feels brand new?
This is exactly what you need as we move into spring and summer.
You don’t have to spend a dime if you don’t want to, just move around the stuff you already have. Rearrange the decorations on your wall, move a piece of furniture, or put some of your trinkets and decorations away in a box so you can pull them out in a few months and they feel brand new.
10. Hula hoop
Go outside on a sunny day and hula hoop. Play some good music, hang out, and just let yourself feel like a kid for a little while.
11. Make a spring playlist
Make a playlist of songs that feel like sunshine and happiness and everything in between.
Songs you want to sing in the car with your friends with the windows rolled down. Songs you want to listen to while laying on a blanket in the sun. Songs that feel like a day at the beach and songs you listen to when you come home a little sunburnt after a day outside in the sun.
A few of my favorite sunshine songs:
- Sugar Magnolia by the Grateful Dead
- Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson
- Eight Days A Week by The Beatles
- Lay Me Down by Dirty Heads
- Is This Love by Bob Marley & The Wailers
- The Music Never Stopped by The Grateful Dead
- Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
- Talk Of The Town by Jack Johnson and Kawika Kahiapo
- Cabin By the Sea by Dirty Heads
- Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles
12. Dance in the rain
I don’t know about you or what the climate is like where you live. For me, when it starts raining instead of snowing, that’s when it feels like spring. If it’s raining, that means it’s too warm to snow, so it’s basically summer.
The next time it rains, go outside and make a memory out of it. Dance or run or just sit there and be.
Bonus points if you do it barefoot.
13. Make a Pinterest board of what you want your spring and summer to look like
Make a board of pictures of places you want to go, things you want to try, pictures you want to re-create, moments you crave, and the overall mood of the spring and summer you want.
14. Go to your favorite spot from last summer
Before all the leaves fell and it got all cold, what was your favorite spot to go?
Maybe it’s a spot at the beach, a mountain drive, a coffee shop where you sat outside, a picnic spot, a park you walked through, a rooftop you sat on, your go-to spot to hang out with your friends.
Wherever it is, go back to your favorite spot from last summer and let all the summer memories rush back to you.
15. Go swimming
Depending on where you live, this might be very cold, and that is the point.
On a spring day that’s at least warmish, go to the swimming spot in your area. Whether it’s a lake, river, creek, pool, or ocean, go to a swimming spot and jump in the water.
If it really is hot enough to swim, then it will feel like summer and it will feel amazing. If you freeze your booty off, well, at least you still got to swim. Also, when you’re swimming there this summer when it finally is hot, you will appreciate it so much more.
16. Go to the farmer’s market
Walk around the farmer’s market and buy some of your favorite fruits and vegetables.
Bonus points if you go on the day it opens for the season.
17. Sidewalk chalk
Just like the hula hoop one, just let yourself be a kid for a little while.
I don’t know about you, but I have so many memories of doing sidewalk chalk as a kid. I remember sitting on my driveway and drawing pictures, making mazes and race tracks, and absolutely destroying a piece of chalk to make “fairy dust.”
It’s such a simple activity, yet they are the happiest little memories. This spring, go buy some sidewalk chalk. See how much your art skills have improved since you were a kid and make an elaborate mural on the sidewalk for everyone to see, or just write your name a draw a couple of flowers.
18. Change up your wardrobe
Move your winter clothes to the back and your warm-weather clothes towards the front.
Try on all of last summer’s clothes and get rid of what you don’t like or doesn’t fit right anymore because your preferences are bound to change year-to-year.
Rediscover the clothes you loved last year and make up some new go-to outfits. Buy some new clothes you love and make you feel happy and confident.
19. Lay on a blanket on the grass
Sunbathe or lay in the shade under the trees that finally have leaves again.
Do homework, find shapes in the clouds, draw flowers, take a nap, make friendship bracelets, take a nap, or do whatever you want.
20. Plan a trip for summer
Give yourself something to look forward to as you finish up the last days of chilly weather.
Start thinking of the places you want to go this summer from far out, week long trips to local day trips. Start looking for cheap flights and block out days to travel to make sure you have time off work and your other responsibilities.
Plan at least one trip for summer. Even if it’s just a day-trip or a quick weekend away.
