Here is a list of ideas to make some summer magic happen in your life.
Experience Music – restaurants and bars with live music, concerts at big venues, park series concerts, festivals, record stores or attending the symphony!
Find a way to play with animals – wildlife rescues, aquariums, goat/puppy yoga, hire landscaping goats, sometimes Airbnb has random experiences for this, and ride horses.
Take. Your. PTO.
Find a lot of places with your favorite food and have a competition to find the best. My husband and I are on the hunt for the best blackened grouper sandwich in the Tampa Bay area. I started a Google Maps list to track our progress and thoughts.
Meet new people – see this blog post for more ideas on this.
Local events – use the beautiful resource of the internet to find out about cool things happening in your area.
Host a game night with friends. Or find some bingo or trivia events.
Themed brunches! Especially drag brunches.
Play tourist. You know all those flyers at the state welcome center, go to some of those places. These can also usually be found at grocery stores or museums and other attractions. Hit up the history and art museums, theme parks or do a hop on/hop off type of city tour. Learn more about your city and its history.
Host a board night where everyone brings a themed food board. Classic charcuterie, french fries, breakfast, pizza rolls, Chick-fil-A, etc. You could also plan a potluck style gathering where you have a theme and everyone brings a dish within the theme.
Play with bubbles or a sprinkler.
Go to the beach, swim in a pool, go river tubing or play at a lake.
Have a picnic.
Read a book with a friend and meetup to discuss or join a book club.
Start a journaling habit. You could free write for a few minutes a day or get a journal with prompts in it.
Shop thrift stores, antique stores and markets.
Create art. Whatever this looks like for you. Bring out some markers or colored pencils and just draw. Get an art kit at a local craft store. Learn a new skill like knitting or sewing. You don’t have to be great at it – go into with low expectations and you might surprise yourself.
Watch movies. Plan movie marathons at home within a theme or watch a full series. Setup a projector in your back yard and watch under the stars. Go to a drive-in movie theater. Beat the heat with the nice AC of a movie theater along with concession snacks or even full meals at some of the fancy theaters.
Go to open houses.
Send postcards from cool places when you travel. Or get a bunch of postcards from your area and send to friends who live somewhere else.
Take a trip – drive or fly to a cool place to explore.
Staycation – get a hotel room or rental in your city for a change of scenery.
Find hidden gems.
Embrace nostalgia. Think about the things you loved to do when you were younger and do some of those things. Maybe this looks like bowling, roller skating or sitting outside of Sonic at for half priced drinks from 2-4 (or is that an oddly specific nostalgia just for me?).
Notice street art.
Connect with friends who live far away from you. Plan something to connect whether that is a facetime date or a shared trip.
Go stargazing on a clear night.
Watch a rain storm or thunderstorm from a patio.
Join a sports league or learn a new sport, like pickleball!
Go camping at a state or national park.
Hit up happy hours for food and drink specials.
Watch the sunset over the water.
Trying fishing and eat what you catch.
Nashville, Raleigh, Charlotte and Tampa only – join offline to find new restaurants in your area and get exclusive discounts each month. Offline also hosts member events where you can meet other food people in your city. If you are interested, follow this link with my referal code for a free month!
Attend a group fitness class. Even more fun if it is a themed event like rooftop yoga with brunch included.
Go paddle-boarding, canoeing or kayaking.
Visit an orchard or farmers market for local produce.
Go birdwatching. Learn about different species native to your area.
Host a food contest. This could be something where people bring their versions of a food or you do a blind tasting of something and rank your fave. I did the blind tasting version of fast food chicken sandwiches (Popeye’s won for regular and KFC won for spicy).
Make a summer bucket list. Hopefully this post gave you some inspiration to get started! Let me know what you put on your list. Tag me on @vibrantbadass when you create your list! If you want me to help you with your specific list by personalizing for your area, reach out on Instagram or email brigid@vibrantbadass.com.