Couples Bucket List
Big dreams and small ones, to save, plan and tick off together.
- Time
- 10–20 min to build
- Players
- Two people
- Best for
- Anniversaries and New Year
- Deck
- 100 ideas in 5 categories
How to use these bucket list ideas
- Pick a category from the menu under the card, or keep “All categories”.
- Read the idea on the top card. If you both like it, put it on the calendar.
- Swipe the card away, or tap “Next idea”, for another. Ideas do not repeat until you have seen the whole category.
- Tap the heart to save an idea on this device, or tap “Make a 20-idea list” for a list you can copy.
When to make a bucket list together
A bucket list is easiest to make at a turning point, when you are already thinking about the year or the years ahead.
New Year
Save ten ideas and pick the three you will do before summer.
An anniversary
Look back at the year, then swipe for what comes next.
A long trip
Travel and Adventures, read out on the road, often turn into the next trip.
Ways to build your bucket list
Swipe and save
Swipe through together and tap the heart on everything you both want to do. Your saved list is your bucket list, and you can copy it anytime.
One big, one small
For every big dream you save, save one you could do this month. The small ones keep the list moving.
A list for the year
At the start of a year, tap “Make a 20-idea list”, keep the ones you like, and paste them somewhere you will both see.
Tips for a bucket list you finish
- Put a date on one idea before you close the page.
- Mix categories. Travel takes planning; At home can happen tonight.
- Celebrate the small ticks. A finished list item is a date worth remembering.
All 100 couples bucket list ideas by category
The complete list, grouped by category. The cards above draw from the same list, so you can read ahead here and pick there.
Adventures
Small thrills and big ones, each with a story at the end.
- Watch a sunrise from somewhere you had to hike to reach.
- Sleep under the stars on a clear night, far from city lights.
- Paddle a canoe or kayak all the way across a lake.
- Float above the countryside in a hot-air balloon.
- Find a beach where the waves glow at night and walk the shoreline.
- Hike a full-day trail and eat a picnic at the top.
- Rent a tandem bike and see how far you get before you swap seats.
- Take a sailing lesson and spend an afternoon on the water.
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- Snorkel over a reef or a rocky shoreline.
- Go zip-lining through the tops of tall trees.
- Camp for a whole weekend with your phones switched off.
- Stay up for a meteor shower and count the shooting stars.
- Cross a long suspension bridge on foot at golden hour.
- Ride horses along a quiet trail.
- Try indoor rock climbing and take turns holding each other’s rope.
- Build a snow fort on the first snowy day of the year.
- Explore a cave on a guided tour.
- Pick a direction, drive for an hour and explore wherever you stop.
- Swim in a calm pool at the bottom of a waterfall.
- Climb to the highest point in your region and leave a note in the summit log.
Travel
Places near and far to see side by side.
- See the northern lights together.
- Take a long train journey and watch the country roll past.
- Visit the towns where you each grew up and give each other the tour.
- Go on a road trip with one rule: no highways.
- Visit a country where neither of you speaks the language.
- Spend a night in a cabin with no neighbors for miles.
- Go whale watching from a small boat.
- Return to the same national park in all four seasons.
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- Spend a night in a lighthouse, a treehouse or somewhere just as odd.
- Wander a night market and try a dish you can’t pronounce.
- Let one of you plan a whole trip as a surprise for the other.
- Take an overnight ferry to an island.
- Spend a week somewhere with no plan beyond breakfast.
- Travel by bike from one town to the next.
- Find the oldest building in a city you visit and learn its story.
- Revisit the spot where you had your first date.
- Spend a winter holiday somewhere warm, or a summer one somewhere cold.
- Watch a total solar eclipse together.
- Travel for two weeks with only carry-on bags.
- Be tourists in your own city for a whole weekend.
At home
Cozy projects and rituals that need nothing but a free evening.
- Cook a three-course dinner from a country neither of you has visited.
- Build a blanket fort and watch a movie inside it.
- Bury a time capsule together and put the dig-up date in both your calendars.
- Plant a garden, even if it’s just herbs on a windowsill.
- Make a photo album of your first year together, by hand.
- Host a dinner for friends where you cook everything as a team.
- Finish a thousand-piece puzzle from first edge to last piece.
- Bake bread from scratch and eat it while it’s still warm.
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- Have a screen-free weekend of board games and long meals.
- Recreate the meal from your first date at home.
- Paint a wall, a mural or an old piece of furniture together.
- Read the same book and talk it through over breakfast.
- Have a picnic on the living room floor on a rainy day.
- Collect the dishes you each grew up with into one handwritten recipe book.
- Make a playlist that tells the story of your relationship in order.
- Watch every film by one director in order, one a week.
- Stay up all night talking and make pancakes at dawn.
- Build something with your hands: a bookshelf, a birdhouse or a bench.
- Throw a theme night with music, food and outfits from one decade.
- Keep a jar of good moments all year and read them on New Year’s Eve.
Learn together
New skills you’ll be clumsy at together before you’re good.
- Take a dance class and learn one dance well enough to show off.
- Learn a few hundred words of a new language before a trip.
- Learn to make fresh pasta by hand.
- Take a pottery class and keep the wobbly bowls.
- Learn to find the constellations you can see from home.
- Learn to recognize ten birds by their songs.
- Learn CPR and first aid together.
- Learn to play a duet on piano or guitar.
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- Take a photography walk and teach each other one trick each.
- Learn to swim a new stroke, or learn to swim at all.
- Learn to identify wild plants on a guided nature walk.
- Learn to fix a bike, from flat tires to squeaky brakes.
- Take a cooking class in a cuisine you both love.
- Teach each other a skill the other has never tried.
- Learn to bind a book by hand and fill the first one with photos of the two of you.
- Learn to surf, even if you spend most of the day falling off.
- Learn to juggle three balls without dropping one.
- Take an improv class and survive it together.
- Learn some basic sign language and use it across a crowded room.
- Learn watercolor painting and paint the same view side by side.
Give back
Ways to help that leave a place, or a person, a little better.
- Volunteer at a food bank once a month for a year.
- Run or walk a charity race side by side.
- Plant a tree somewhere you can visit for years.
- Join a beach or park cleanup and fill a bag each.
- Foster a shelter animal for a few weeks.
- Cook a meal for a neighbor who’s had a hard week.
- Donate blood together and enjoy the snacks after.
- Help build or repair a home with a volunteer group.
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- Leave a thank-you note and a small treat for your delivery driver.
- Teach a free class in something one of you is good at.
- Walk dogs at a local animal shelter on a Saturday morning.
- Fill a backpack with school supplies for a family who needs it.
- Read aloud to children at a library story hour.
- Visit a care home and listen to the residents’ stories.
- Build a little free library or seed box on your street.
- Do one kind thing for a stranger every day for a week.
- Organize a clothing swap and donate whatever is left.
- Give a day of your vacation to a conservation project.
- Help an older neighbor with the garden or groceries for a season.
- Write thank-you letters to five people who shaped your lives.
Frequently asked questions
How many couples bucket list ideas are there?
There are 100 ideas, 20 in each of five categories: adventures, travel, at home, learn together, and give back. The cards and the list on this page use the same set.
How do we save our bucket list?
Tap the heart on any card to save it on this device, then open Saved to see and copy your list. Nothing is uploaded, so copy it somewhere shared if you both want it.
Are there cheap bucket list ideas?
Yes. At home, Learn together and Give back are full of ideas that cost little or nothing, next to big ones like the northern lights.
What is the difference from the date ideas pages?
Date ideas are for this weekend. A bucket list is for the years ahead. See fall date ideas and winter date ideas for something to do soon.