40 Simple Ways to Celebrate and Welcome Summer

When I was younger I wrote in my journal that summers were for living and having new experiences, and winters were for reflecting and processing everything that had happened. That was when I was a teenager and young adult, and it sure felt like that back then.

Now I feel like adventures and new experiences can happen all year around but summer definitely makes it easier with its long days and warmer weather. It can be a lot of fun to make your own bucket list at the start of the summer, with things you’d like to make happen. This post can be a good starting point if you want some inspiration.

My kids and I usually sit down sometime in May or June to collect a few things that we would love to do this summer. After our brainstorming session we write down all the summer months, or look at a calendar, and jot down when we might do what. First all the big things like trips, birthdays, visits, festivals. Then some of the smaller ideas.

Of course you don’t need to plan out EVERYTHING. That would defeat the purpose of light summer living. Just the non-negotiables.

And then hang up your brainstorming list or my printable somewhere visible to get inspired whenever you need to.

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40 Things to Do in Summer (Simple Seasonal Ideas)

1. Visit a local farmer’s market

Early summer is one of the most exciting times to visit a farmer’s market. Stalls begin to fill with fresh berries, leafy greens, herbs, and seasonal flowers. Take your time browsing and let the season inspire your next meal.

2. Make an elderflower and strawberry drink

Elderflowers and strawberries are two of the delights of early summer. Combined into a refreshing drink, they capture the flavour of the season beautifully. Serve it chilled on a warm afternoon or enjoy it in the garden on a sunny evening.

👉 Elderflower Lemon Drink with Strawberries

3. Pick herbs from your garden

Fresh herbs are one of the easiest ways to bring seasonal flavour into everyday cooking. Snip a few sprigs of mint, parsley, chives, or thyme and add them to salads, drinks, or simple meals. Even a small pot of herbs on a windowsill can provide a daily connection to the season.

4. Start a travel journal

Maybe you’re planning a big trip or you might simply want to explore close to home. Either way, summer is a wonderful time to begin a travel journal. Record places you visit, interesting observations, sketches, photographs, or favourite moments. By the end of the season, you’ll have a collection of memories to look back on.

👉 How to Start a Travel Journal ~ 9 Tips for Beginners

5. Take a slow evening walk

A simple one, but I sometimes need a reminder to do this and make use of the long evening light. Take a walk after dinner and notice the flowers, birdsong, and changing colours of the sky. Moving at a slower pace often helps us see details we would otherwise miss.

6. Make cucumber and mint water

Simple seasonal drinks can make ordinary days feel special. Add slices of cucumber and a few sprigs of mint to a jug of cold water and leave it to infuse. It’s a refreshing way to stay hydrated during warmer weather.

7. Sketch outdoors

Take a small sketchbook to a park, garden, or café and spend a few minutes drawing what you see. Focus on observation rather than perfection. Sketching outdoors encourages you to slow down and pay attention to the world around you.

8. Watch the sunrise one morning

Most of us see far more sunsets than sunrises. Choose one morning to wake up early and watch the day begin. It’s especially beautiful if you get up before the birds start their dawn chorus and then listen to them starting their day.

9. Make beeswax eggshell candles

These easy candles are a lovely way to use eggshells and beeswax. Their warm glow feels especially magical on a summer evening, whether placed on an outdoor table or enjoyed indoors after sunset.

👉 How to Make Beeswax Eggshell Candles

11. Create a pressed flower bookmark

Collect a few flowers or leaves from your walks and press them between the pages of a book. Once dried, they can be turned into beautiful bookmarks that preserve a little piece of summer.

12. Create story stones

Story stones are simple stones decorated with pictures, symbols, or characters that can be used to inspire storytelling. They are fun to make and even more enjoyable to use, whether you’re creating stories on your own or with children.

👉 How to Make Story Stones

13. Paint summer flowers

Summer flowers offer endless inspiration for artists and nature lovers alike. Choose a bloom from your garden or a wildflower from a walk and spend some time capturing its colours and shapes with paint.

14. Make a DIY sketchbook

Creating your own sketchbook can be just as enjoyable as filling it. Use simple materials to make a notebook that can accompany you on summer adventures, ready for sketches, notes, and observations.

👉 DIY Sketchbook Tutorial ~ How to Make Your Own Simple Sketchbooks

15. Make handmade postcards

Send a note to a friend or family member using a postcard you’ve created yourself. Decorate it with sketches, stamps, pressed flowers, or summer colours. In a digital world, a handwritten postcard feels especially meaningful.

16. Brew raspberry tea

Raspberry leaves have long been used to make herbal tea. Whether you grow your own or purchase dried leaves, brewing a cup of raspberry tea is a simple way to enjoy a traditional summer herb. Watch me make raspberry leaf tea in this Books & Tea video.

17. Craft mini gratitude journals

Summer often brings a collection of small joys that are easy to overlook. A tiny gratitude journal gives you a place to record sunny afternoons, garden flowers, favourite meals, and unexpected moments of happiness.

👉 How to Make Monthly Mini Gratitude Journals

18. Eat dinner (or breakfast) outdoors

A simple meal can feel special when enjoyed outside. We love to bring food outside to our outdoor table in the summer, or a picnic and books to a blanket in the garden. Everything tastes better outside.

19. Swim in natural water

If you have access to a lake, river, or the sea, take the opportunity to enjoy a swim. Or even just sitting by a body of water, dipping your toes in or letting bark boats float on a hot summer’s day can be so refreshing.

20. Read outside

Bring a book to a shady spot beneath a tree, a park bench, or a comfortable chair in the garden. We do this a lot in the summer, sometimes reading by ourselves, sometimes sharing a read aloud together on a picnic blanket. We recently got another hammock again and it’s perfect for a peaceful hour in the shade, reading a favourite book.

21. Watch the clouds

Another easy one but so relaxing. Lie on a blanket and spend a few minutes watching the clouds drift across the sky. It’s a simple activity that encourages daydreaming, imagination, and rest.

22. Go berry picking

Summer berries are one of the season’s great treasures. Visit a local farm or gather wild berries where it is safe and permitted. The experience is every bit as enjoyable as the fruit itself.

23. Brew blackberry tea

Blackberry leaves can be gathered and dried for tea, creating a gentle herbal drink with a long history of traditional use. You can also steep the fresh berries in hot water. Here’s a delicious recipe (with video) if you want to try:

👉 Healthy Summer Drink ~ Blackberry Lemon Tea (Hot or Cold)

24. Bake a berry dessert

Whether you choose a crumble, tart, cobbler, or simple berry cake, summer fruits deserve to be celebrated. Baking with seasonal ingredients is one of the easiest ways to bring the flavours of summer into your home.

25. Spend an afternoon offline

Choose one afternoon to put away your devices and enjoy the season without distractions. Read, sketch, garden, take a walk, or simply sit outside and observe the world around you. Sometimes the most memorable summer moments happen when we unplug for a while.

26. Start a nature journal

A nature journal doesn’t have to be complicated. Take a notebook outdoors and record what you see, hear, and wonder about. Sketch a flower, describe a bird’s song, or note the changes you notice throughout the summer months.

👉 How to Start a Journal for Nature Study

27. Try nature study for beginners

Nature study begins with observation. Choose one plant, bird, insect, or natural object and spend a few minutes looking closely. You may be surprised by how much you discover when you slow down and give something your full attention.

👉 Follow along with this Nature Journal With Me Video.

28. Draw leaves, feathers, shells, or seed heads

Collect a few small treasures from your walks and use them as drawing subjects. The goal isn’t to create a perfect piece of art but to notice details you might otherwise overlook.

29. Visit a local nature reserve

Spend a morning exploring a woodland, meadow, wetland, or coastal path. Visiting different habitats can introduce you to new plants and wildlife while providing a refreshing change of scenery.

30. Go rockpooling

If you live near the coast, rockpooling is a wonderful way to explore the hidden world revealed by the tide. Look carefully for tiny crabs, sea snails, anemones, and other fascinating creatures. Remember to observe gently and leave everything as you found it.

31. Watch insects in the garden

Choose a flowering plant and spend ten minutes simply watching. Bees, butterflies, hoverflies, and beetles all play important roles in the ecosystem, and observing them can be both relaxing and fascinating.

32. Listen for evening birdsong

As the day begins to cool, take a few minutes to listen to the sounds around you. Different birds become active at different times, and an evening walk can reveal a whole new soundtrack to the season.

33. Make tomato, sweetcorn, and bean salad

Few dishes capture late summer better than a colourful salad made with fresh seasonal produce. Sweetcorn, tomatoes, and beans combine to create a simple meal that celebrates the abundance of the harvest season.

👉 Tomato and Sweetcorn Black Bean Salad with Quinoa

34. Cook garden vegetable soup

As vegetables become plentiful, a hearty soup is a wonderful way to use what is growing in the garden. Every batch will be slightly different depending on what is available, making it a true reflection of the season.

👉 Easy Garden Vegetable Summer Soup

35. Freeze berries for later

Set aside some of summer’s abundance for the months ahead. Frozen berries can be used in smoothies, baking, and breakfasts long after the season has ended.

36. Dry herbs for winter cooking

Harvest herbs while they are at their best and hang them to dry in small bunches. It’s a simple way to preserve summer flavours and enjoy them throughout the year.

37. Finish your travel journal

Take some time to add the final notes, sketches, photographs, or reflections from your summer adventures. Even small local outings deserve a place in your memories.

38. Gather your favourite summer photographs

Choose a few images that capture the season for you. They might be photos of family picnics, flowers, landscapes, or quiet everyday moments. Collecting them now makes it easier to revisit those memories later.

39. Reflect on the season

What brought you joy this summer? What would you like to do more of next year? Spending a few minutes reflecting on the season helps preserve not just the memories but also the lessons and experiences it brought.

👉 Journal With Me ~ Seasonal Reflections and Intentions

40. Create a summer memory page

Gather sketches, pressed flowers, ticket stubs, photographs, or journal entries and arrange them on a single page.

Frequently asked questions

What are the easiest ways to celebrate summer if I have very little time?

Choose tiny, sensory rituals you can fold into normal life. A jug of cucumber mint water on the counter, an evening walk after dinner, ten minutes of sketching in the garden. These take almost no time and still mark the season as special.

How do I celebrate summer with kids without it feeling like school?

Lean into the unstructured ideas: rockpooling, berry picking, story stones, watching clouds, swimming in natural water. Hand them a small notebook and let them collect their own summer in their own way, with no prompts from you.

What is a slow summer bucket list?

A slow summer bucket list is a gentle collection of seasonal experiences chosen for joy rather than achievement. It tends to focus on sensory things, nature, handmade projects, food from the garden, and quiet memory keeping, instead of expensive outings or packed itineraries.

How can I keep summer memories without taking endless photos?

Keep one small journal or scrapbook for the season. Sketch a shell, press a flower, write one sentence about a swim, tape in a ticket stub. By late August you will have a tiny handmade record that means far more than a phone full of photos.

Summer can feel endless when we’re in the middle of it, yet somehow it always seems to pass more quickly than we expect. The long evenings, garden flowers, ripe berries, and spontaneous adventures become memories before we know it.

I hope you enjoyed this list of ideas and found something that inspired you to celebrate this wonderful season.

If you would like more gentle, seasonal ideas like these, you can [subscribe to my newsletter] for slow creative living prompts, simple craft and journaling projects, and seasonal lists sent straight to your inbox. It is the easiest way to keep this kind of quiet inspiration close all year long. Thanks very much for reading, and we’ll talk to you soon.

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Happy summer. 🌻