502 - 510 Fun Things to Do!

                                Photo by Michael Chritton from the Akron Beacon Journal

502 - Notice and document unusual weather events!  The above photograph features snow rollers which appeared all over the Akron, Ohio area recently.  I have never seen anything like them in my whole life!  They are formed when snow is slightly wet and packable and very windy conditions occur.  They range in size from about 12 inches to 2 feet.  My husband, Tom, and I went to the site of the photograph to see this phenomena for ourselves.  The field where they were looked like an extraterrestrial landscape!  Later that day, I saw another grouping of them in the middle of a traffic roundabout.  I was so excited, I kept driving around the circle! Imagine my happy amazement when I arrived home later that day to see them in our side yard!  I must admit I ruined the magical terrain with footprints as I took photographs to remember them by.

503 - If you are intrigued by something and are having trouble finding other people who are also interested, form a club!  Most libraries will let you reserve a room for free for meetings.  Then you can post flyers and advertise it.  I know a woman who put together a club for people who like to make altered books.  Now they get together once a month and have fun doing altered books together.  In our close circle of friends and family, some of us have formed a "Bad Girls Club".  We haven't ever done anything really bad, but once in a while we declare a meeting and make jokes about just how bad we are!

504 - Eat in different places in your house.  Who says you always have to eat at the kitchen or dining room table?  Try putting a tablecloth on the floor of your living room and having a meal there.  For those of us who enjoy four seasons, a picnic on the floor might be a fun way to remember that outdoor picnics are around the corner.  

505 - If you are a tea drinker, and have lots of different kinds of teas, mix up your tea bags so the next cup of tea will be a mystery!

506 - Play with Legos® -- most children have all different kinds, and would be happy to have a Lego® fun fest with you!

507 - Write words on rocks with a permanent pen and line them up to form a poem or an interesting sentence.  You could even put magnetic strips on them and put them on your refrigerator.

508 - Play with a Zen meditation sandbox.  These are small trays filled with sand that come with some little stones and a rake to make different patterns with.  It is very calming to rake the sand and place the stones in different configurations.  

509 - Organize your books by category.  If you're feeling really wild, you could alphabetize them, too!

510 - Have a photo mug made.  These are not very expensive and are available at most drugstores.  If there is a baby in your family, these mugs would be hugely appreciated.  You can also have mugs made from photographs of your personal artwork!

501 Fun Things to Do!

501 - Hire a musician for a private concert!  My Dad and I are big fans of Tina Bergmann, who is a widely known and highly regarded hammered dulcimer player.  So for a Christmas present, I gave my Dad a session with Tina.  She put on a really fantastic foot-stomping show.  We invited family and  a lot of our friends.  It was the best present I ever gave him.

488 - 500 Fun Things to Do!

488 - Build a snowperson in your yard.  This is an especially fun activity when children are involved.  Their creativity helps make the snowperson very unique.

489 - Photograph snow works of art all over your neighborhood.  If there is good packing snow, then there will be snow sights to see!

490 - Build a snow fort.  What could be more fun than playing in a snow fort?

491 - Have an old movie marathon.  You can even pick a decade, look up acclaimed movies for that time period, rent a few movies, and settle in for some fun!

492 - Take a cooking class.

493 - Make a whole meal from new recipes.

494 - Visit historical sites in your city.

495 - Read about the history of your city, county, and/or state.

496 - Go swimming.  You can do this even in the winter at your local indoor pool.

497 - Take a walk with a friend.  My friend Judy and I even walked our way through two Winter seasons.  We walked through any kind of weather and laughed in the face of snow and ice!

498 - Make a time capsule including items that represent you and your family's life.  Hide it in the basement or bury it in your yard.

499 - As a gift, give new parents a baby time capsule.  They can put in all kinds of their baby's memories -- first shoes,  a lock of hair,  photographs, records of baby accomplishments; whatever seems right.

500 - Design and make your own t-shirts or sweatshirts.  This is a great idea for reunions, groups of friends, and family get-togethers.

Halfway to the goal of 1,000 Fun Things to Do!  

Hooray!  Yahoo!  Yippee yo yo YO!

474 - 487 Fun Things to Do!

474 - Take a selfie in a silly way to commemorate any occasion.

475 - Make a New Year's resolution to have more fun in the upcoming year!  Forget those difficult resolutions like losing weight or keeping your home completely organized.  If you like, you could combine serious resolutions with having more fun, but remember that the fun one is the most important one of all!

476 - If you have a camera with interchangeable lenses, try a new one.  There are all kinds of unusual lenses available, for instance a kaleidoscope lens which creates fun and unusual images.

477 - Take photographs of things reflected in windows.  I love taking photos of my red VW Beetle (Molly Marie McGee), and I often get interesting shots of her in building windows which might include interesting signs.

476 - Sing yourself to sleep silently.  I collect interesting ways to get to sleep, and one night I was thinking of songs I like, and started hearing myself singing them, but not out loud.  I know this sounds slightly weird, but it really works!

477 - Get someone a bunch of balloons -- either for a special event or for no reason at all.  There is nothing quite as festive as a bouquet of cheerful balloons.

478 - If someone sends you flowers, take a photograph of them to show to the sender to show your appreciation.

479 - Take photographs of old buildings before they get torn down.   Then take photographs of the new structure that is the replacement.  It is interesting to have a record of the evolution of your town.

480 - If you are picking up someone for an adventure on their birthday, decorate the inside of your car with crepe paper streamers and signs.  You can even put signs on the sides of your car that say, "Honk!  It's _________'s birthday!".

481 - Start a book club by picking a spot and gathering some friends together.  Everyone can help decide which books to read.  You can either read the book together aloud, or have each person read a chapter before the meeting.  Even if everyone doesn't know each other at the beginning, wonderful camaraderie develops just by the ways that participants react to the books being read.  I belong to a book group that meets weekly, and we have become close and loving friends over time.

482 - Page-a-Day calendars often have wonderful artwork that you can turn into greeting cards for all occasions.  I have a Mary Engelbreit calendar which has fun pages which I sometimes use for cards for my friends and family.

483 - Get a makeover done for free at a department store's cosmetic section.  It's really fun to get new ideas, but you have to be careful not to get carried away in buying new make-up that you might not ever use!

484 - Watch a TV marathon of one of your favorite shows.  Get some snacks and settle in for a great time!

485 - Set a goal and achieve it.  You don't have to set huge and difficult goals -- reaching some small goals here and there can be quite satisfying.  A recent goal of mine is to get to 500 fun things to do before January 1, 2014!  My friend Dottie says, "It's fun to get things done!"

486 - You can send 4" x 6" photographs as postcards.  If you want, you can back them with card stock to make them more sturdy.  This is a fun way to surprise your family or friends.

487 - Ask people what their activities were during a recent time frame.  A long time ago, I did a survey of about 20 friends and family about what they did on the previous Saturday night.  The answers were very interesting and some were even very fun.  I found that list recently, and now it means more than ever because some of the people have passed on, and I have a record of their lives for a very precise period of time.

461 - 473 Fun Things to Do!

1.  Hire a balloon artist to dazzle your family!  This is Gregory Wheeler who does the most magnificent balloon creations I have ever seen.  He does parrots that perch on shoulders, wild octopuses, fish that blow bubbles, and more!

462.  Pick your own fantasy balloon animal (even if you are not a child!).  Here is my fabulous pink flamingo held by my grandson, Nathan

463.  Have a balloon artist make a wild balloon hat for you.  When people look at you, they will know right away that you are a person with a big sense of fun!

464.  Have someone rub a balloon on your head, creating static electricity which makes your hair stand on end!  Hooray!  This is my good-natured husband, Tom.

465.  Hire a balloon artist to entertain at a kids' party for lots of fun.  A balloon artist would even be hilarious at an adult's party, bringing out the little kid in everyone!

466.  Fill someone's car with balloons for a fun surprise!

467.  Give some balloons to a child.

468.  Release balloons (ecologically correct) in celebration or in memory of someone.

469.  Put tags on balloons you are going to release with an invitation for people to call you and let you know where they found your balloon.  Include permission for them to call you collect.  My sister, Barb, used to have her family and friends release hundreds of red, white, and blue balloons on the Fourth of July.  The year we put tags on them, we got calls in Ohio from Pennsylvania and New York state.

470.  Add balloons to a sign for a party or a yard sale.

471.  Learn how to make balloon animals.

472.  Give balloons to someone for their birthday or other celebration.

473.  Take a ride in a hot air balloon!  The experience is beyond description.   One of my friends just got married during a hot air balloon ride!

456 - 460 Fun Things to Do!

456 - Enjoy a community bonfire.

457 - Roast marshmallows over a bonfire.

458 - Use roasted marshmallows to make S'mores!  (Graham crackers on the outside with Hershey's chocolate bar segment, and roasted marshmallow inside)

459 - Sing songs around a campfire.

460 - Tell ghost stories late at night around a bonfire.

448 - 455 Fun Things to Do!

448 - When a team you have been rooting for wins a tournament, get your camera out there and take a photo of the proud winners!  This is a group shot of "The Americans" baseball team right after winning the Doylestown, Ohio tournament.   My grandson, Nate, is in the first row on the left and my son, Kevin, is the coach in the blue shirt.

449 - Grab a popsicle, find a swing, and relax in motion.  This idea comes from my friend, Deborah.  Thank you!

450 - Make up a bedtime story for someone, who doesn't necessarily have to be a child.  This fun suggestion comes from my friend, Ruth.

451 - Do some people watching at an airport.  I think this is the best place to observe the hustle and bustle of humanity as they come and go -- they have either been on an adventure, or are about to go on one. 

452 -  Watch the moonrise with some friends.  It is newly spectacular every month!  

453 - Take a photo of the full moon.  This was just taken with a cell phone, but I have a photographer friend who recently took a picture of the full moon, and it looked like it could be in a science book! 

454 - When you take books on vacation, read a few pages in so you won't be disappointed.  I am an avid reader, and this idea has saved me a lot of aggravation.  I like to read 1/3 of the way in for a few paragraphs, and 2/3 of the way in also.  Often the first paragraph is the best one in the whole book.  If I read at least 20 pages, I usually know for sure if I have a keeper.    I don't do that with mysteries though, for fear of spoiling some surprises!

455 - Find a wooden chair and paint it in bright and fun colors.