Bucket list ideas: 60 ideas to start (or finish) your list

What a bucket list is actually for

A bucket list is not a competition and it is not a to-do list. It is a way to decide, in advance, what you want your time to be spent on. Without it, the days fill themselves with whatever is urgent. With it, you have a short answer to the question "What do I want more of?"

It also does a second job: it makes you notice what you actually want. Many people find that half their first draft is things they think they should want. The useful part comes when you cross those out and keep the ones that make you curious.

If you share your life with a partner, a bucket list is also a quiet way to talk about the future without making it heavy. "Where do you want to go?" is easier to answer when there is a list on the table.

How to write a list you will use

1. Write fast, edit later. Set a timer for ten minutes and write without judging. Aim for thirty to fifty items.
2. Sort into categories. Travel, adventure, food, learning, creative, personal and relationships work for most people.
3. Mark the size. Tag each item as small (under an afternoon), medium (a weekend or a small budget) or large (needs saving, planning or time off).
4. Keep a balance. A list full of large items will stay a wish list. Aim for roughly half small, a third medium and the rest large.
5. Pick three to start. One small, one medium and one large. Put dates on the small and medium ones.
6. Review every few months. Cross off, add and swap. A list is allowed to change.
7. Keep it visible. On a wall, in a notebook or a shared note. A list that you never see stops working.

Small bucket list ideas (an afternoon or less)

These are the ones to start with. They cost little and give you momentum.

• Watch a sunrise from a place you chose.
• Write a letter to your future self and open it in a year.
• Eat a meal at a restaurant you have always walked past.
• Try a food you have never tried.
• Take a different route home and notice what you have never seen.
• Visit a market in your own city as a tourist.
• Sleep outside, even in the garden.
• Learn to cook one dish from scratch.
• Send a handwritten postcard to a friend.
• Spend a day without social media.

Travel bucket list ideas

Travel is the most common category and the one people most often postpone. Add specific places, not just "see the world". The list below is general. Check what is open, allowed and safe for you before you plan anything.

• Visit a country where you do not speak the language.
• Take a train journey that takes more than a day.
• See a famous landmark in person.
• Spend a week in a small town instead of a capital.
• Stay somewhere unusual, such as a cabin, a boat or a treehouse.
• Go on a road trip with no fixed plan.
• Visit a place connected to your family history.
• See the northern lights or another natural event.
• Travel somewhere alone.
• Take a trip with a friend you have not seen for years.

Adventure and outdoor ideas

Some of these need training, equipment or permits. Only do what is safe and legal for you, and use qualified guides where needed.

• Hike a multi-day trail.
• Try snorkelling or diving with a qualified instructor.
• Go camping in a place with no phone signal.
• Learn to surf, ski or snowboard.
• Ride a hot air balloon.
• Climb a mountain you can see from home.
• Try kayaking or canoeing.
• Go stargazing in a dark-sky area.
• Swim in a lake, river or sea in every season.
• Run a race, however short.

Food and drink ideas

• Cook a meal from every country on a map you pick.
• Visit a farm or a vineyard.
• Take a cooking class.
• Bake bread from scratch.
• Eat at a market stall in a place you are visiting.
• Grow a vegetable or herb and cook with it.
• Host a dinner party for people who do not know each other.
• Try a tasting menu once.

Creative and learning ideas

• Learn a musical instrument well enough to play one song.
• Write a short story or a diary for a year.
• Take a pottery, painting or photography course.
• Learn the basics of a new language.
• Make something with your hands: a shelf, a quilt, a piece of jewellery.
• Read a classic you have always avoided.
• Learn to dance.
• Take an evening class on anything.
• Start a blog, podcast or small project and finish it.
• Learn first aid.

Personal growth ideas

• Do something that scares you a little each month.
• Say yes to an invitation you would usually refuse.
• Learn to say no kindly.
• Take a solo day off and plan it for yourself.
• Write a list of things you are proud of.
• Reconnect with someone you lost touch with.
• Volunteer for a cause you care about.
• Take care of a small habit for thirty days.
• Make a will or plan your finances with a professional, if it applies to you.
• Visit a doctor or dentist you have been postponing.

Relationship and family ideas

These can be done with a partner, family or friends. For a more couple-focused list, see our couples bucket list.

• Recreate a favourite old photo.
• Cook a family recipe with the person who knows it best.
• Write letters to each other for a year.
• Take a trip together somewhere neither of you has been.
• Learn something new together.
• Start a yearly tradition.
• Spend a weekend phone-free.
• Renew your promises in your own words.

Ideas for a shorter horizon

You do not have to write a lifetime list. A shorter horizon is often easier to follow.

• A season list: fall, winter, spring or summer. See our fall bucket list for an example.
• A year list: twelve items, one per month.
• A before-you-turn list: ten things before your next birthday.
• A city list: ten places in your own city you have never been.
• A weekend list: five small things for the next two days off.

Bucket list ideas by budget

If money is the thing holding your list back, sort it by cost before you give up on it.

• Free: a sunrise, a letter to your future self, a phone-free day, a walk in a part of town you have never visited, a call to someone you lost touch with.
• Under a small budget: a class, a new food, a picnic, a day trip, a second-hand instrument, a book you have avoided.
• Needs saving: a long trip, a course, a diving or ski holiday, a big family gathering.

Open a separate pot for the third group and add a small amount each month. A list item with a number next to it feels much more real than one without.

How to work through the list

• Pair every big item with a small step. "See the northern lights" becomes "look up the best months" and "open a savings pot".
• Do small items on regular days. A list of only large goals never gets started.
• Tell someone. Saying it to another person makes it more real.
• Take a photo or write one line after each item. You will enjoy looking back.
• Do not wait for perfect timing. There is rarely a perfect time. A good enough time is fine.
• Allow the list to change. If you no longer want something, cross it off without guilt.

What to do with items that scare you

Some bucket list items are exciting and frightening at the same time. A few thoughts.

• Cut the scary item into steps. Learning to swim in deep water starts with one lesson in a shallow pool.
• Find a guide, a class or a friend. Doing it with someone makes it easier.
• Decide what a first step looks like and book it. The booking is often the hardest part.
• Accept that some items may stay on the list. Not everything needs to be ticked off.
• Check safety and legality. If an item is risky, take professional advice.

Mistakes people make with bucket lists

• Copying someone else's. A list from a website may not match you at all.
• Only big items. You will wait for the perfect trip that never comes.
• No dates. A list without dates is a wish.
• Too many. A hundred items is a list that will never be finished.
• Never looking at it. Put it somewhere visible.
• Treating it as a measure of your life. A bucket list is a tool, not a verdict.

Keep going

Once you have your list, put the first small item in your calendar this week. The rest follows from momentum. If you want ideas for shared time, try things to do with your partner, date night ideas or questions to ask your partner.

Where Buffaly fits

Buffaly is an iPhone app for couples who are already together. You connect with a 4-character code and share one heart. When you tick off something from a shared bucket list, either of you can log it. Try Something New adds 40 percentage points to the shared heart and lasts 30 hours, Have Fun adds 40 and also lasts 30 hours, and a Date adds 80 and lasts 48 hours. The heart slowly empties, so it shows when you last made time for each other. Buffaly does not suggest what to do. It records that you did it.

What Buffaly is not: it is not a quiz or content app, not a messaging app, and it does not share your location. It is an entertainment tool, not a medical, psychological or counselling service. The download is free. Using Buffaly needs a subscription, and one subscription covers both partners; the price is shown in the App Store in your own currency before you subscribe. It needs an iPhone with iOS 17 or later; there is no Android version yet.

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