My first experience with the idea of a bucket list came from the movie Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. This movie came out in December of 2007 and it is about 2 men trying to come to terms with their lives and things they have/have not done with their time. Coupled with that, they develop a desire to complete a list of things they want to do and see.

Google Definition: Bucket list (noun): a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime. (July 9, 2017 google search)

Bucket Lists seem to be a fun idea that people enjoy. These lists can be created for all sorts of ideas from a simple Summer Bucket list, to 50 before 50 lists, travel, food, love, reading, to just about anything you can think of. Interestingly, I have never actually created my own bucket list although I do find the idea attractive. I have recently created a travel bucket list, but it revolved around the desire to travel with my children. On the same note, today I am creating a Family Time Bucket List. This is a list of things I would like to do with my husband and children before the boys reach the age where they fly the coop.

Family Time Bucket List:

1. Complete my Family Travel Bucket List
2. Have a one-on-one date with each child where we spend a good part of a day doing fun things out of the house together. Each day geared to the interests of the child (visit a museum, lunch, ice-cream and that sort of thing).
3. Set up a scavenger hunt for the family.
4. Have a family game night complete with snacks and prizes.
5. Walk (or run) a 5K race with your family (particularly the Mother’s Day Race).
6. Sleep in a tent in the backyard (this a very different experience from camping in the RV, and what child wouldn’t love sleeping in a tent?). Perhaps build in some ghost stories too.
7. Some kind of star gazing adventure.
8. Participate more in activities that screams inner child for the adult, but pure fun for the kids: water balloon fights, flying kites, running through the sprinkler, building sandcastles, splashing in puddles, and so on.
9. Hiking in some of the beautiful provincial parks that we visit.
10. Get lost in imaginative play.
11. Fishing, regular and deep sea.
12. Horseback riding.
13. Attend a sporting event (likely baseball or hockey).
14. Cir-de-sole
15. Teach them to cook, and let them trying making a family meal (i.e. pancakes for breakfast).
16. Encourage them to believe in magic and imagination.
17. Climb a tree.
18. Craft, craft, craft and create.
19. Ride a rollercoaster.
20. Eat dessert before dinner.
21. Write a story together.
22. Do some science experiments (i.e. create a model volcano).
23. Do some puzzles, car models and other building activities together.
24. Create a bucket list together and work to complete it (i.e… A summer bucket list).
25. Document our bucket list fun together via pictures and scrapbooks.
26. Hunt for treasure on the beach.
27. Create a time capsule.
28. Ride a camel.
29. Bury one of us in the sand.
30. Rafting.
31. Explore a cave (preferably on a guided tour).
32. Tree walk and zip-line.
33. Dance in the rain.
34. Skip rocks on the water.
35. Go to a drive-in movie.
36. Ride a train.
37. Go to a Family reunion.
38. Collect something.
39. Continue to make positive and fun family memories in any way we can.
40. Say “I love you” every day.

That’s 40 ideas that come to mind as a starting point. What’s your family bucket list look like? Do you have any ideas or activities that you would be willing to share?

By Shari Marshall – 2017