Summer Is Hot, Make Yours Sizzle

With school already out for the summer the question of what to do in the hot summer months is on everyone’s mind. So, whether or not you’re on summer vacation, or just looking for something to do on your day off from work, check out our list of ideas for some summer inspiration. Feel free to add your own in the comments below to keep the list growing!

Revisit the excitement of childhood summers. Get on Facebook for a hot minute and send a message to some of those friends you haven’t seen since you were in braces and toting a rolling backpack. Make arrangements to get together and catch up. Better yet, see if you can’t do something that you used to do together back in the day. Have fun with it, be a kid again! In fact, see if they will tag along with you when you’re doing all the other stuff on this list.

Play a prank, camp style. Tickle your girlfriend’s nose with a feather in her sleep. Pull the hand-in-warm-water trick when you crash at a friend’s after a fun night. Put that whoopi-cushion you have stashed somewhere to use. Hide the toilet paper. Reset your friend’s alarm to go off just before sunrise (and if you are in the mood to do something sweet to make up for it, go watch the sun rise together).

Do something you have always been a little afraid to do. Take the elevator to one of the top floors in a high-rise and stand next to the window. Go sailing. Hold a mouse. Try bungee jumping, and make sure to get a DVD of it to watch later. Do anything that gets your adrenaline going just a bit. 

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Spend some time communing with nature. The possibilities are endless no matter where you live. Go hiking, whitewater rafting, stargazing, camping, rock climbing or just weed whacking. Make some G.O.R.P. (aka trail-mix) to bring along to munch. My personal favorite for those of you lucky enough to live near by one, go visit a waterfall and dip your feet in the water at the bottom.

Another option is to take a day and visit the zoo. Even if you’re not artsy, bring a sketchbook, or a notebook along with you. Find out what animals are at your local zoo that can’t be found at many others and pay them a visit. Don’t forget to check out all the adorable baby animals there as well.

If monkeys potentially slinging poo at each other aren’t so much your thing, go on a tour of your hometown, tourist style. For anyone around the Los Angeles area, get a big pair of sunglasses and a hat, find your way to Hollywood Blvd and go on one of those tours to see where all the stars live. Take a trip to a museum of any kind, my favorite are modern art museums.

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Having spent my summers at both day camps and sleep-away camps, I know how appreciated summer activities are for youth. Volunteer for a non-profit youth organization for a session. Especially in this poor economy, volunteer opportunities are easy to find no matter what it is you want to do. If you feel adventurous, look up some local grassroots organizations that you join. See what kind of direct actions are in the works, or organize a flash mob –- be sure to bring a camera.

Here is a rad example from Sydney:

In case your ‘something you’re afraid to do’ didn’t include riding a rollercoaster, go ride one, even if it is just the ferris wheel or pirate ship. The various Six Flags locations around the country have great deals on admission right now, so find a date or a group of friends to hold your hand. Six Flags Magic Mountain has the new Terminator ride, Tatsu which makes you feel like you are flying, as well as the crazy thrill of an experience, X2. State Fair season is also coming up – just think fried everything, fun houses, and midway games with big obnoxious prizes.

Summer is hot, and sometimes air conditioning is just totally necessary. Hit the bowling alley for some Grease-style fun. For added fun, the player who gets the least amount of strikes buys a round of drinks. Another option is to bust a move at the roller-skating rink. Couples skate and the backwards skate are always interesting to watch and a fun challenge if its been a few years since you last tried to be that cool.

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Find a hill. If you can, find a grocery or convenience store that sells ice blocks. Bring a towel. Go to the top of the hill, put the towel on top of the ice block. Now sit and get someone to give you a little push. Ice-blocking – its sledding for the heat of summer. If you can’t find ice blocks, get a tarp and some buckets filled with water. Set up a slip-n-slide, like in those new Smirnoff commercials. Use noodle pool toys as speed bumps if needed. Don’t forget a way to stop at the bottom.

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Being stuck inside during the winter months can get boring. In preparation for keeping yourself occupied using some kind of technology after summer comes to an end, catch up on a new technology that you’ve been meaning to get the latest updated version. As far as communication goes, just catching up with the times and figuring out how to use your BlackBerry, the new iPhone, or Palm Pre is a good idea. Make sure you have the latest versions of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and whatever other applications you can’t tear yourself away from, on your handheld device of choice.

While your updates are downloading, go see a movie. Yes, you can do this anytime of the year, but find a limited-release film and go to the matinee. Go look at a paper, the old-school way, pick a foreign or art film, and go get your indie on!

If you are more like me, and sitting in a movie isn’t your top choice of how to spend a few hours, make a music video of your own. There are tons of online tools to help you make slideshows or videos of you and your friend’s adventures to your favorite song (or a song by a friend or yourself). Need some other inspiration? Make a promotional video for the place you volunteered, an upcoming event, a parody of recent a recent celebrity video, or with whatever political message gets you motivated. 

And, finally, you of course are going to need a fantastic playlist of your favorite songs for summer to listen to while driving to all these activities, especially if you decide to go all-out and road-trip it at some point. What are your favorite songs for summer? Post a list of the songs good enough to make your playlist, and watch for an article with which songs are good enough to be on the SheWired Summer Favorites list.