Winter’s not done, but spring planning has started.
There’s something about the first properly warm day after winter that makes me want to reorganise my entire life. Windows open, suddenly convinced I need more plants, every outdoor activity I ignored for three months comes back on the table.
Come along with me as I mentally drag myself out of my winter hibernation and make some plans to actually enjoy spring while it’s here.
Get Outside
- Go for a walk somewhere new. A track, lake, park or street that’s different from your typical walk.
- Have your first picnic of spring, whether that includes an actual basket or just leftovers on a blanket.
- Visit a botanical garden. Best time of year for it, and usually free.
- Go looking for spring flowers.
- Take your coffee outside and actually sit with it for ten minutes without scrolling.
- Eat dinner outside the first warm evening you get (and before the mozzies arrive).
- Watch the sunset. Spring is the perfect medium for this: the sun’s not setting at 5pm like winter, but you also don’t have to wait til 10 or later like in summer.
- Read outside.
- Go for an evening walk, now that it’s not pitch black by 6pm.
- Visit a nursery or garden centre. You don’t have to buy anything.
Give Home a Spring Reset
Not a deep clean. Just a few small shifts after months of everything being closed up.
- Open every window for the afternoon on the first genuinely warm day and air the whole place out.
- Wash the winter blankets before you pack them away. You will be glad come next winter.
- Switch over the bedding to something lighter.
- Declutter one small area. A drawer, a shelf, a toy basket. Not the whole house.
- Buy or pick some flowers and put them somewhere you actually see and enjoy them.
- Plant something. Herbs, flowers, strawberries, whatever really, but even better if you can eat it eventually.
- Set up an outdoor spot to sit. Wipe down the chairs, drag out a cushion, claim a corner.
- Make a spring playlist for windows-down driving once it’s warm enough.
- Give one room a mini refresh – move a cushion, swap the artwork, add flowers. Just enough to give your space new life.
Spring Food + Drinks
Everything tastes better outside.
- Get your first iced coffee (or matcha, or tea) of the season. Unless you’re like me and drink iced coffee even when my face is freezing off.
- Go to a farmers market and buy something you wouldn’t normally pick up.
- Bake something with berries – muffins, a crumble.
- Make a lemon dessert. Another springy ingredient that can’t go wrong.
- Have ice cream outside. The easiest item on this whole list.
- Try the café you’ve driven past a hundred times.
- Pack yourself a nice lunch. Not for a work day, just because. Eat it somewhere nice.
- Make a spring drink at home. Iced tea, lemonade, infused water, whatever sounds yummy.
- Cook dinner with something in season and build a meal around it.
Things to Do With Kids
- Do a nature scavenger hunt. Almost no prep, keeps them occupied for way longer than expected, and gets us all out in the warm(ish) weather.
- Take the chalk outside and hand it over.
- Plant something together. Ideally something fast-growing enough they don’t lose interest. We love growing peas. The kids eat them fresh off the plant despite refusing to give them a chance when they’re on their dinner plate 🙄.
- Have an after-school picnic. Snacks or dinner, straight to the park.
- Make art outside, so the mess stays outside too.
- Collect nature bits for a craft. Different coloured petals can be made into “paints” and sticks and leaves always add a bit of fun.
- Fly a kite. Pick a windy day so you’re not running around for no results.
- After dinner family walks. This is one thing I really miss during the crappy weather months. I am looking forward to bringing these back this spring.
Out & About
- Take a day trip somewhere new within an hour or two of home.
- Find somewhere with spring blossoms botanical gardens, orchards, some regional towns go all in.
- Take your first beach trip. Doesn’t need to be swimming weather.
- Leave one afternoon completely unplanned and decide on the day, based on weather and mood.
free activity bucket list for springtime
Make Your Own List
A couple of bigger outings, a few easy ones, and some so simple you can tick them off on a random Tuesday: that’s really all a spring list needs.
Get it down now, so when spring actually arrives you’re not stuck deciding what to do with all the perfect weather.
What are your favourite spring traditions?
Olivia