6 entertaining last minute things to do this summer

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I’m a planner but making plans right now is hard. The world is slowly starting to return to normal and some people will be getting the itch to make plans. I know I certainly am. Everyone has an opinion right now but let me tell you this, as long as you are staying safe and being sensible I say go ahead and have some fun! With that in mind here are 5 fun things to do this summer if you plans are a bit thin on the ground.

Book a last minute staycation

There’s going to be a big rise in staycations for the next few years. Even though international travel is allowed right now I think with the ever changing rules people just feel better booking a trip in their own country. We indulged in a last minute night away a couple of weeks ago and it was so good for the soul.

I have a whole post packed with amazing tips for having a great staycation that I wrote quite a while back so I definitely recommend checking that out. I’ve been a fan of staycations as a cheap, last minute getaway for the longest time now. Who knew you’d all be joining me in 2020?!

If a staycation is going to be your main holiday then you might want to book somewhere nice. However I prefer to spend my money on activities and good food rather than a hotel room. The likes of Travelodge and Premier Inn do just fine for somewhere clean and comfortable to sleep and shower. If it’s a last minute getaway you’re more likely to get a room at one of these places too.

Booking a staycation in the current climate

There’s a few things to keep in mind though when booking a staycation in the current climate so I’ve done my best to think I’ve all the things you need to consider for your little getaway:

• Many hotels won’t hold on to your luggage which is fine if you’re travelling by car. Not so great if you’ll be using public transport. We’ve recently started using backpacks for our staycations as it’s easier than having a case. Even more so as we travel by train which now means when we get to our destination we can’t leave our luggage anywhere.We prefer backpacks as it means we can keep them with us at all times and they’re pretty lightweight.
• You will have to book almost everything in advance. Museums, restaurants, etc are all best to be booked in advance right now and some places won’t accept walk ins. Check ahead of time if you need to book anything.
• Pack the essentials – the bag essentials list just got bigger. You’ll definitely need a face mask/covering and I recommend having your own hand sanitiser too. If you get dry skin like me from all the hand washing and sanitising you’ll definitely want to put some hand cream in your bag too.
• Try to go cashless – Lots of places are only accepting or prefer you to pay contactless. The contactless limit in many places has been increased because of this.

Set yourself a reading challenge

If you don’t have any other plans. Now is the time to either set yourself a reading challenge or get ahead with an existing challenge. I set myself a yearly challenge on Goodreads but I’ve had a bit of a slump recently so I’m definitely going to be getting back on track over the summer.

One of my favourite bloggers Hayley from Happily Ever Homebody posts amazing bookish content so I highly recommend checking her out if you need some new book recommendations. She’s always doing lots of reading challenges too and I’m constantly blown away by how many books she gets through!

I personally find reading to be the best distraction from not actually having any plans. When the weathers nice I’d happily spend the entire day sat in the garden reading. It’s the only activity I can think of that completely takes you somewhere new. Imagine doing that over and over again in the summer!

If you’re looking for some books guaranteed to grab your attention the you should take a look at my 21 amazing books you need to read this year post.

Tend to your home and garden

We all went a bit crazy in lockdown for tackling DIY projects and doing up our gardens didn’t we?! Now places have opened back up a bit more though it’s not as hard to get your hands on all the essentials you need to carry out a home makeover. We’re really lucky because my fiance’s dad is super handy so often helps out with projects and in turn my fiance learns lots of new stuff so he can do more DIY too. However if you’re not very savvy when it comes to DIY there’s still lots of easy and relatively cheap things you can do to make a difference to your home and garden:

• Paint – painting is just about the easiest thing you can do to transform a room. There’s no need to splash the cash on expensive paint brands either. We’ve used Johnsons and Wickes own paint around our home and never had any issues.
• Freshen up the accessories – new cushions, throws, bedding, candles etc can all change the feel of a room.
• Tidy the garden – gardens can be super expensive to makeover but just a simple tidy up can make the world of difference. Keep the grass cut, tidy up any weeds, pressure wash the patios and dot a few potted plants or hanging baskets around the place and it’ll feel much fresher.

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Learn something new

If you have no other plans then it’s the perfect time to learn something new. There’s so many different things you can learn if you really want to dedicate the time to a new hobby or side hustle. There’s lots of blogging tasks you can learn too. Blogging is a never ending game of learning so if you don’t fancy taking up something completely new then dedicate some more time to learning blog things.

Here’s a list of things you could spend your summer learning about:

• Cross stitch – there are lots of cross stitch kits out there if you’re a complete beginner.
• Learn a language – Duolingo is a great free app with a wide range of languages to learn through daily lessons.
• Learn how to improve your blog – no matter how long you’ve been blogging there’s always something new to learn. I have a free 7 day course that will help you improve your blog in just one week. It’s all done via email and each day you’re set a brand new set of challenges that will help you get into good blogging habits and make your blog fabulous!
• Calligraphy – there are lots of hand lettering kits available for a good price.
• Focus on Pinterest – Pinterest can be an amazing tool for your blog and dedicating time to learning how to use it properly is definitely time well spent. I cannot recommend investing in Mariam from The Boss Babe Chronicles Pinterest guide because it’s quite easily the best Pinterest guide I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot).
• Do an online course – there’s an online course for pretty much everything you could think of. During lockdown I enrolled on a course from the Centre of Excellence. They often have great deals on all their courses and I managed to grab one for £29. It was purely because it was something I was really interested in and I love learning. I’d definitely do another course from them when they’re on offer because they’re really good and very detailed.

Recreate your favourite holiday food

If you’re missing your favourite holiday dishes then why not have a go at recreating them at home? You could even turn it into a themed night in. Tapas and paella for a Spanish night, try out homemade pizzas for an Italian night. The options are endless. You could “visit” a different country every week!

Of course we can’t forget about dessert either, you could set up your own dessert parlour and have a range of different desserts available. I mean you could even skip on the main if you wanted and just go all out on the dessert front, because why not?!

Practice self care

When you have lots of spare time on your hands then it’s a great chance to focus on yourself and focus on your well-being. Looking after yourself should be a top priority for maintaining a healthy relationship with yourself and boosting those positive feelings.

I have a whole post dedicated to practising self care in summer that’s packed with ideas on how to have a great summer while being mindful of your well-being. If you’re struggling with self care I also have a free well-being week guide with 7 days of self care activities, motivational quotes and well-being tips so you should definitely grab that!

Not having plans is perfectly O.K. it’s a time to remind yourself that your needs are important and that it’s perfectly fine to focus on yourself and what you want.

Do you have any plans for this summer? What do you like to do when your plans are non-existent? Let me know in the comments.

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