I Wanted a Way to Capture My Family’s Summer Memories — and Then I Found This Clever Twist on a “Bucket List”
Like childhood itself, summer has a way of flying by in a flash. Some creators are attempting to slow it down — or at least make it more memory-filled — by designing giant summer bucket list posters. As one Instagrammer, May (@mayrodrz), put it in a now-viral post, ‘The moments that seem ordinary now but won’t feel ordinary years from today. Create the bucket list. Take the photos. Laugh a little longer. Stay outside a little later. Because one day, this summer will be part of the story they tell about their childhood ☀️.” (I’ll pause now for parental sobs! 😭)
For her take on the trend, May headed to an arts and crafts store to get alphabet stickers and poster board, making a colorful, giant checklist with boxes to tick off once the activities are complete. A water park visit, making popsicles, tie-dyeing t-shirts, catching fireflies in a jar, and having a water balloon fight all made the cut for her must-do activities.
Creators like Katie Burak and Delaney Vicente put their cameras to work on their versions of the same concept, by using a large poster board or brown paper and writing down bucket-list items accompanying drawn-on frames for mini pics, like those taken on a Fujifilm Instax camera. They’re adding images taken of the kids doing the activities to the blank boxes once they’re complete. Delaney’s family’s bucket list includes low-lift adventures like writing letters to family and having sleepovers in the living room alongside bigger excursions like bowling and aquarium and Legoland visits, while Katie’s bucket list includes a family dance party, making the “biggest sandcastle,” and having a family barbecue.
To make your own family summer bucket list, start with poster board or kraft paper and decide whether you want to document your adventures with photos. If so, grab an instant camera like an Instax Mini or 2-in-1 Kodak Mini Retro, and trace photo-sized outlines onto the poster. Then, write the name of each planned activity next to each frame. (Check out these summer activity ideas for inspiration.) Prefer a simpler approach? Turn your poster into a giant checklist, adding a box beside each bucket-list item so kids can mark off each one as they go. Once your list is set, let the kids take over the decorating — just don’t forget a title. “Summer Bucket List 2026” gets the job done, but coming up with a special family name might make it feel even more memorable.
And when summer ends, the bucket list doesn’t have to. In the comments, Delaney shared that the instant camera she purchased came with a photo album, so she plans to remove the pictures from the poster and save them in a keepsake book to revisit later. Another option: Carefully roll up the completed poster, tuck it into a labeled mailing tube, and store it away. Years from now, it will become a snapshot of one very special summer.