What do I want to do before I die? It’s a question we ask ourselves all the time. We have a finite amount of time on earth, and it’s a great idea to write down some of the things we want to do in that relatively short amount of time. It’s a great idea to have a bucket list.
But why stop with one bucket list? We may have a career bucket list, a family bucket list, and a best friend bucket list. The delineation is key. There may be a little overlap, but defining the things we want to do in each category helps us keep track of them and makes the lists more manageable. Today, we are going to look at the best friend bucket list.
What is a best friend bucket list?
If you’ve been living in the English speaking world over the past fifteen years, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the term “bucket list.” The term is a product of the 2007 film, aptly titled The Bucket List, about two old men who set out on an adventure to complete items on their bucket lists before they die. It was a great concept and a very well received movie.
In the years since its release, people have really run with the idea of the bucket list. It’s a great way to add meaning to our lives and understand what is truly important in them. A best friend bucket list is simply a list of things we want to do with our besties before we go.
Best friend bucket list ideas
While each friendship is unique, many humans enjoy the same types of things. You can look at one person’s best friend bucket list and know instantly that it’s needed on yours. Some of these BFF bucket list ideas may be perfect for your list, and others may make you cringe. It’s okay. Your list is your own, and it should include the things that are important to you and your best friend.
Travel
Humans are nomadic by nature. We have traversed the globe as a species and continue to crave the thrill of experiencing new places and people. What better way to do that than with your best friend. Any best friend bucket list is incomplete without at least a few ideas that involve travel, so it’s a good place for us to start.
Explore your hidden hometown gems
The simplest way to dip our toes in the travel waters is to start with destinations that are nearby. Exploring local historical places, wonders of nature, and even oddities is a great activity to enjoy with our BFFs. Many of us never find the time to do the touristy things people do when they visit our hometowns, so checking them out may make you just a little more proud of the place you live.
Take a road trip
If you’re feeling a little more adventurous, try taking a road trip together. Flying somewhere for a weekend getaway is great, but sometimes the journey is what it’s all about. Few things in life are better than cruising through the countryside, listening to your favorite music with your favorite friend. There are probably lots of fun places to go with your best friend within a half day drive. Find one and go!
Travel to a country you’ve both always wanted to visit
Experiencing new places and cultures is both exhilarating and nerve racking. It’s great to see new things and see how people live around the world, but if you don’t speak the language, you can start to feel a little lost. Get lost with your best friend, and you’ll find it easier to open up and soak in the scenery.
Go backpacking
If you think you want to spend more than just a little time in a new place, why not spend a couple of weeks or months there? Backpacking with a friend forces you to live on the bare necessities and teaches you to rely upon one another like you’ve probably never done before.
Go camping
There’s no more perfect way to spend quality time with someone than to go camping with them. The solitude, the scenery, the silence, everything lends itself to introspection and sharing the things you’re thinking and feeling. When you’re looking for things to do with your best friend outside, camping takes the cake.
Entertainment
If something is worth seeing, seeing it with your best friend makes it a can’t miss event. Every best friend bucket list should include the events that make your other friends jealous and things that challenge your comfort zone. Let’s look at some fun activities to do with friends.
Go to a festival
If you like your camping a little more lively, try attending a festival with your BFF. You can see some of your favorite acts and discover new favorites together. Bonus points if you make a road trip out of it.
Attend a random concert
You don’t have to travel across the country or wade through a sea of people to find a new favorite band. Try going out with friends to see someone you’re unfamiliar with at a venue near you any time you feel like you need a little newness in your life. If you’re looking for local inspiration now, check out this upcoming show.
Go to Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras may be the biggest annual party in America. It’s weeks of music, parades, and costumed revelry that culminates on Mardi Gras Day, also known as Fat Tuesday. It’s also one of the most fun places to go with your best friend. Pro tip: start your trip the Saturday before Fat Tuesday. That way you can spend four days partying and use the rest of the week to explore the beautiful city of New Orleans.
Go to Vegas
If you’re planning a party vacay outside of Mardi Gras season, Vegas is on everyone’s list of favorite places to go out with friends. It’s a year round party with warm weather, and you can get dressed up and do all the fabulous things two best friends should be doing together.
Take a spontaneous trip
Not all trips need to be planned. One of the best spontaneous things to do with your friends is to take an impromptu trip. It doesn’t matter where you go. Pick a city you’ve never visited or a mutual favorite for your destination. Doing it last minute adds to the excitement.
Do something dangerous
Doing new things can be scary. Some of the best places to go with your best friend are the places you are too scared to visit by yourself. Whether you’re going to a bridge you plan to jump off of, a tattoo parlor where you’ll make a permanent decision, or to a leasing office to enter into a year-long living contract, you’ll feel better having your best friend by your side.
Skydive, bungee jump, or parasail together
If you want to tick something really scary off your bucket list, it’s always easier to do it with a friend. Lots of us say we’d skydive, bungee jump, or go parasailing if one of our friends did. Well, buck up. The two of you will talk each other into it and have an amazing best friend bucket list story for the rest of your lives.
Get matching tattoos
If you aren’t into the rush of performing death defying stunts, maybe matching tats are a little more up your alley. It’s a great badge to show membership in your two person wolf pack, and it’s an exciting experience, whether it’s your first or fortieth tattoo.
Sing karaoke together
If you’re looking for something less permanent, maybe a karaoke duet is more your jam. Take turns singing verses, choose a favorite duet, or if one friend doesn’t sing, choose a hip hop classic and give that friend “hype man” duties.
Carve your initials in a public place
Maybe it’s an old booth in your favorite dive bar. Perhaps it’s a tree by your favorite park bench. Finding a public place to carve your names or initials gives you a great reminder of your bond every time you return to that place.
Live together
This may be the most dangerous item on the best friend checklist. If the two of you are incompatible as roommates, it will test the strength of your friendship. But, if the two of you complement each other like you know you do, it can be one of the most rewarding times of your lives.
Create something unique to your friendship
We may have a lot of friends over the course of our lives, but we only get one or two absolute besties. Creating quirks and traditions that are unique to the friendship you share with your BFF are a must have on any best friend bucket list.
Create a secret handshake
You’ve seen all the cool kids doing it, and now it’s your turn. It can be simple or complex but make it fun. Creating a secret handshake with your bestie lets the people of the world know that there’s something the two of you know that they don’t.
Create a dance routine
Creating a dance routine is another one of the all-time cool things to do with friends. Find a song you both love, and get down with some exaggerated and interactive moves. It’s a great way to show everyone exactly how much time the two of you have on your hands.
Build a time capsule
Create a snapshot of this time in your lives by building a time capsule. Fill it with some of your favorite things, and include letters to each other. When you open them 10, 20, or 50 years down the road, it will be a great window into all the ways you’ve grown together.
Create traditions
No matter what things best friends do together, we all like to revisit some of our favorites. Creating traditions will allow you to celebrate and remember all the great times you’ve had over the years. Simple traditions give us things to look forward to throughout each year, and taking pictures along the way helps turn the traditions into neverending visual stories.
Make a best friend bucket list!
There’s no better way to know all about your bestie than by building a best friend bucket list together. By talking about all the things you want to do in your lives, you’ll learn what makes your friend tick. You’ll probably even come up with some best friend hangout ideas you’ve never thought of.