I’m very conscious that many of the suggestions for things to do before you die, or to add to your bucket list, require significant cash, significant time off work, or travelling the length and breadth of the globe (which we probably shouldn’t do for the sake of the environment). Not to mention that many of them are downright scary!
But not everyone wants to, or can, travel the globe; have oodles of spare cash or time; or be scared out of their wits. So I’ve put together a bucket list of things to do, most (though not all) of which you can probably do in your home town, without lots of cash or travel, and without being scared to death. Just because these things are near at hand doesn’t mean they aren’t fun, are really easy, or won’t take you out of your comfort zone.
How many have you done? And how many do you want to do? Check them off below.
| Be part of a flash mob | ||
| Compete in a scavenger hunt | ||
| Indulge in a Turkish bath | ||
| Drink real absinthe | ||
| Be part of an archaeological dig | ||
| Visit your country’s parliament and see it in action | ||
| Go camping for at least 3 nights | ||
| Pose for a life drawing class | ||
| Be nude in public and not care | ||
| Get a book signed by your favourite author | ||
| Be someone’s mentor | ||
| Be painted, drawn or photographed in the nude by someone other than family | ||
| Have a pen-pal in another country and meet them | ||
| Stay in a 5-star hotel penthouse | ||
| Cultivate a garden and grow some fruit or vegetables to eat | ||
| Have an academic article published | ||
| Dye your hair a daring colour | ||
| Attend a major sporting event | ||
| Read the Kama Sutra and put some of it into practice | ||
| Catch, clean, and cook your own meal | ||
| Attend a Japanese tea ceremony | ||
| Go Christmas carol singing at an old folks or a children’s home | ||
| Learn to say “no” rather than always “yes” | ||
| Sing in a choir | ||
| Get a piercing | ||
| Fly first class | ||
| Take that course you always wanted to do | ||
| Give a rescue pet a home | ||
| Dance naked at a summer solstice celebration | ||
| Have a bird-feeder or bird-table and see how many species it attracts | ||
| Witness a death | ||
| Ride a tandem bicycle | ||
| Go to a nudist beach | ||
| Ask somebody you scarcely know, but really fancy, out to dinner | ||
| Bury a time capsule | ||
| Sleep alone in a haunted house or a castle | ||
| Participate in a seance | ||
| Swim in the nude | ||
| Bake and decorate a cake | ||
| Eat an insect | ||
| Cook a three or more course meal for at least 6 people | ||
| Plant a tree that you never expect to sit under | ||
| Have a threesome | ||
| Fly in a helicopter | ||
| Learn a poem off by heart | ||
| Have a lover at least 9 years your junior | ||
| Have a lover at least 9 years your senior | ||
| Attend a service for each of the major religions in a year | ||
| Be a film extra | ||
| Go to a pagan handfasting | ||
| Have something named after you – a rose, a park bench, a dog? | ||
| Eat only things you cook for a month | ||
| Have a night at the opera or the ballet | ||
| Eat at a Michelin star rated restaurant | ||
| Act on a big stage or give a speech in public | ||
| Fly in a fighter jet | ||
| Witness childbirth | ||
| Go on a blind date | ||
| Host a “bring and share” dinner party | ||
| Win something at auction | ||
| Get hypnotised | ||
| Have a book published | ||
| Buy yourself that treat you always wanted but can’t justify afforing | ||
| Learn to fly a kite | ||
| Leave home | ||
| Harvest some wild fruit and use it to make something tasty to eat | ||
| Give more money than you can really afford to charity | ||
| Get lost in a maze | ||
| Have sex in a public place | ||
| Sleep on an overnight train | ||
| See the sun rise and set on the same day | ||
| Have sex in the garden or on the balcony | ||
| Visit a winery or vineyard | ||
| Do something way outside your comfort zone (eg. marathon, sky-dive, abseil) to raise money for charity | ||
| Pay a stranger’s restaurant bill | ||
| Have sex so many times in one day that it hurts | ||
| Donate blood | ||
| Give a eulogy | ||
| Make love on a train | ||
| Make love on the kitchen table | ||
| Kiss passionately in the pouring rain | ||
| Get a tattoo | ||
| See a meteor shower | ||
| Enter a photography competition | ||
| Overcome your biggest phobia | ||
| Make your own wine or beer | ||
| Stand for parliament or your local council | ||
| Have a your caricature drawn | ||
| See a solar eclipse (a partial eclipse counts) | ||
| See a lunar eclipse (a partial eclipse counts) | ||
| Create your family tree | ||
| Be on TV or radio and enjoy your 15 minutes of fame | ||
| Have a beer with one of your heroes | ||
| Go somewhere dark and marvel at the stars | ||
| Visit a strip club and get a lap dance | ||
| Shake a world leader’s hand | ||
| Go to the sauna | ||
| Share Christmas with a lonely elderly person | ||
| Have an article (or a letter) published in a newspaper or magazine | ||
| Learn how to milk a cow, goat or sheep | ||
| Take a photograph every day for a year | ||
| Sunbathe nude | ||
| Sleep out under the stars | ||
| Sit on a jury | ||
| Fall in love | ||
| Paint, draw or photograph someone other than family in the nude | ||
| Buy a one-way train ticket to somewhere you’ve never been, and go there – alone! | ||
| Have your whole body painted | ||
| Take a drawing, painting or photography class | ||
| Meet a baby tiger | ||
| Live Happily Ever After |
I wonder if anyone has ever achieved all 111 in one lifetime?
Other Sites with Bucket Lists
- 100 Things to do Before You Die
- List Challenges: 100 Things to Do Before You Die
- 50 Things To Do Before You Die
- The Bucket List: 100 things to do before you die
- 100 Things To Do Before You Die
- 100 Exciting Things I Want to Do Before I Die
- 100 Bucket List Ideas for Things to do Before You Die
- 50 things to do before you die
- Mumsnet: 50 things to do before you die
- 30 Things To Do Before You Die
© Copyright Keith C Marshall, 2018. All rights reserved.
Last updated: 30 April 2018, Keith Marshall