30 Things to Do Before You Turn 30
Your 20’s are known to be the season of living your best life, learning to discover and love yourself, traveling, making a family, settling down, and so much more, but your 30’s hit different, that’s why you need a 30 things to do before you turn 30 bucket list.
What is the 30 Before 30 Challenge?
The 30 before 30 challenge is a list of things you want to accomplish before turning a milestone age.
These are ideas for inspiration on what to include on your 30 before 30 bucket list.
As we move through our 20’s and into the daunting 30’s that we learn to love, I can’t help but think about my last few years in my 20’s and what I want to do with those precious moments.
Thirty may be around the corner for some of us, but let’s kick off those remaining years before then and live it up to the fullest! I had a roommate back in college who always used to say, “Life has its moments, but I hope to cherish all those good, bad and ugly moments with all of my being!”
1. Run a marathon (or half marathon)
Whether you’re a former athlete, gym enthusiast, couch potato, or the occasional walk-runner, we can all experience our first marathon or half-marathon. If you set the goal in your mind, you can do it on your own standard and no other! Find a group of friends to train with, get a fired-up playlist going, and get to it!
2. Travel to a new state/country
If you have the means, take the time and travel a bit! Get a map and throw a dart at it and travel to where it lands, cross off another state you visited, or visit family in another state. There are so many options and such a big world to explore!
Using the Wanderlog app as free vacation planner is a game changer. You can map out your itinerary in the palm of your hand and see all the points on your map. You can also invite your travel partner so you can both coordinate your itinerary together.
Whether you go by yourself, with your significant other, with or without children, or bring your family pet along, it’ll be a trip to remember!
3. Take a cooking class
This is a big one for me! I don’t know about you, but I want to be that mom who has all the house parties and host my kids’ friends and their parents over for meals and treats.
So, I can’t have burnt entrees and tasteless tarts at that rate! Cooking classes are becoming more and more popular over the years and gives you great techniques to use in your own kitchen! Plus, it makes for a fun date night!
4. Take a dancing class
What better way to relieve stress in life than dancing the worries away? I can personally tell you I am not coordinated when it comes to dancing, but it gives myself and others a way to engage with ourselves through physical activity as well as self-care in a fun and low-key environment!
Whether you take a class on salsa, hip-hop, ballet, tango, or ballroom, you’ll be sure to experience a great time with others and dance the night away! Check out Fred Astaire near you!
5. Swim with dolphins (or sharks)
Try a new activity and swim with dolphins (or sharks if you’re willing to do that). Swimming with dolphins and/or sharks is a long-time Florida activity that many people travel for and do while living in Florida. Find the perfect location for it and either face your fears or enjoy the time with the animal you chose to swim with!
Where to swim with dolphins
Florida has a few options, like Discovery Cove in Orlando. You can opt in for dolphin swimming alongside other aquatic adventures. The Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys is another spot where you can get up close and personal with these marine mammals
Where to swim with sharks
If you want to experience the amazing and thrilling sight of sharks up close with cage-diving, you can find these excursions in Palm Beach, FL., Hawaii, the Bahamas, and other tropical places.
6. Explore new hobbies
Motherhood can bring on some hardships sometimes, such as losing interest in your old hobbies. Well, this is a perfect time to learn a new hobby and find something you enjoy that is outside your daily chores, jobs, and other responsibilities.
These hobbies can be as simple as gardening, knitting, reading, drawing, and dancing. Your hobbies can also be something you get to explore and grow in, such as:
- photography
- painting
- interior design
- pottery
- jewelry design
- blogging
- podcasting
and so much more! Don’t let yourself be limited to the simple life, let yourself grow into something beautiful and refreshing instead!
7. Establish an exercise routine
As we get older, exercise is key to staying healthy and maintaining our healthy lifestyles. Exercise routines look different for everyone!
Some prefer going to the gym each morning, some prefer yoga and pilates, some prefer classes and programs specific to their exercise needs, etc. Find what works best for you and your daily schedules and keep active for yourself and your family!
8. Learn a new language
Remember when you took that foreign language class back in high school and forgot it all as time went on? Well, now is a great time to pick up a new skill and learn a new language!
There are so many other languages spoken in our area that so many of us don’t know how to speak to those who know it. It would be a huge benefit to our community and for ourselves to develop a new language skill set and grow as individuals!
9. Change your looks
We all go through phases with our looks and fashion tastes, so let this be your next adventure in that! Between hairstyles, clothes, accessories, the world is open to possibilities! And, in my opinion, it’s not just in appearances you can change your looks, but also in how you present yourself to the world. You want to feel confident and comfortable moving into this new season of your life, so choose something that is all you and no one else. Be true to who you are and feel confident and ready to take on your 30’s!
10. Be kind to yourself
Life brings on the good, bad and ugly at varying seasons in our lives. Being kind to yourself, also known as self-compassion, allows you to treat yourself with understanding and being able to acknowledge that you are human and we all have our differences and things don’t always go as planned. Being kind to yourself means to not compare ourselves to others, as we often do, and learning to forgive and recognizing our failures and struggles and see them as opportunities to grow and learn.
11. Go to a concert
Like I said earlier, live it up in these years before your 30’s! Going to a concert is the best as a young adult, especially with a group of friends! Choose your favorite artist/band you have all over your music playlists and blare in your car on the way to work or out on the town and enjoy the night!
12. Go camping
Remember as a kid when your parents took you camping? Or when you made that trip to go camping with your friends and it never went through?
Camping gives you a perfect opportunity to get in touch with nature in this world of technological advances and enjoy the fresh air!
If youre not really into camping, check out glamping! You can see all about this glamping experience to get the idea, but I highly recommend!
Gather your closest friends or your family, get the marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolates, and get to building that fire-pit for a fun night out! Also, don’t forget the bug spray!
13. Take family photos
If you have a family of your own, your closest relatives, or your significant others, take the time before you dive into your fabulous 30’s and take some high quality family photos! These photos will be precious to hold onto and look back at in life when you take updated ones as you grow older and see how everyone grew over those years.
14. Live without technology for a week
Now, I know we live in a society where this doesn’t sound remotely possible, but try to give up a piece of technology (or multiple) for a week. That can be your television, phone, laptop, or tablet. See what a difference it makes in your time management and also how you interact with others. We live in a fast-paced world, so let yourself slow down a bit and enjoy the little moments with those you love or allow yourself to focus more on yourself as you move into the next 10 years of your life.
15. Try 30 new foods
Whether you’re a food connoisseur or the pickiest of eaters, try 30 new foods and see what a difference it makes in your daily meals and recipes! Some foods a lot of people don’t normally eat or aren’t the most highly raved about food are black licorice, oysters, anchovies, and caviar. Form your own opinion on foods that others may or may not like and see if you end up adding them into your diet over the next season in life!
16. Read 30 new books
For the book lovers out there, this will be an easy check off your bucket list, but for those that aren’t avid readers in your free time, try it out! Reading is a great hobby to get into as it is, but let this be a challenge to you to read 30 new books and dive into varying genres to see where you fall in the book spectrum. And if you aren’t a fan of reading books, try it as an audiobook!
17. Book a family vacation
Okay, moms! This sounds great and all, but if you book the family vacation, be sure to actually go and make the most of it! Find the vacation spot you and your family have been talking about for quite some time and make an itinerary for it.
Find the local hot spots, the best coffee f(or those early mornings where the kids are ready to go), and the best restaurants to feed the family! Make it a memorable trip and don’t forget to take all the pictures for the memories to look back on.
18. Make a highlights list of what you did in your 20’s
Making a highlights list of your 20s is a great way to reflect on your 20s and also use it as a reference for when people ask you what your favorite moments were in those years. Whether you went on extravagant adventures throughout your 20s or if you were career-focused or family-focused, you had moments where you had pure joy and excitement that you can’t wait to tell others about!
19. Try 30 new recipes (and save the “keepers”)
Trying new recipes freshens up what you cook for your family on a weekly basis and allows yourself to find some fun and innovative ways to cook, even with the same ingredients you usually use. Try 30 new recipes before you turn 30 to see what you like and what you don’t, but don’t forget to save those recipes wherever you store them if that are “keepers” to you and your family.
20. Learn self-defense
You can never be too over prepared nor under prepared for what could happen! Take a self-defense class with your friends and grab dinner afterward! It’s always good to know how to defend yourself but also a fun way to exercise and grow in your personal life. Learn some new skills and stay safe!
21. Go wine tasting
For all you wine connoisseurs out there, find the best wine tasting events in the area (or if you are traveling, find the best one near you) and try all the variety of wines they have! Learn how to differentiate between the flavors, how they make the wine, and grab yourself a bottle for later.
Make it a girls trip and enjoy the time together, relaxing and unwinding.
22. Find your mom village
Motherhood was never meant to be done alone! Find your mom village, seek out those who are in similar life events, moms with children the same age as yours, or find moms who work or stay at home with their children as you do either way.
The more we find other moms who can support and lift each other up, the more we are able to support each other as a community and as mothers as a whole. Find a local mom group, go to the mom groups at the libraries or parks, call that one mom you’ve been meaning to talk to the last few months now and grab a coffee or lunch together. Motherhood is tough enough, let’s lean on each other and support each other as we grow older together.
23. Print photos off of your phone or computer
This may sound like a no-brainer for some, but for those who are tech-savvy, this doesn’t come to mind as easily. We tend to keep our photos on our phones or computer of our loved ones and store them on social media. Why not print them out and put them in a frame in your home to display for all to see? This gives you the opportunity to walk by those photos and smile at the sweet memories and sweet faces you see in those frames. Memories are precious, display them for others to see and for yourself!
24. Buy your first home
Whether you are renting or just haven’t had the means to do so, try and buy your first home before you turn 30! This huge milestone in a person’s life brings on such joy and excitement as you make a home for your loved ones and those who walk over the threshold of it.
Fill it with all your favorite furniture, family photos, favorite people, best meals, amazing scented candles, and enjoy the beauty that is in having a home for your family to grow in together.
25. Start your dream career
You went to college, got that certification, worked your way up the corporate ladder, made those business connections, or turned that dream into a reality. Start your dream career how you always dreamed you would! It may not happen exactly as you imagined or might not be as glamorous as thought to be, but pursue that dream career with your whole heart and do what’s best for you and your family in that.
Your passions in life are important to creating the life you want for you and your family so don’t give up and chase after those dreams full-heartedly!
26. Volunteer for a cause you believe in
Volunteering gives you the chance to positively impact your community by giving back your time and skills while also maintaining connections with others as you meet new people through the opportunities to volunteer.
If there is a certain organization or cause you believe in that you’ve been wanting to support more in-depth and are able, volunteer with them and be the one to make a difference in their cause while also building new skills for yourself to utilize in the future. Giving back to the community is the biggest thing we can do to make a lasting difference!
27. Find a mentor
Finding a mentor can help you develop professionally and personally by providing guidance, advice, and support to help you achieve your goals you set for yourself. A mentor can be someone you look up to, a colleague, a neighbor you aspire to be like, a spiritual leader, or a family member. When looking for the right mentor, just remember to make sure you are both compatible with each other and agree to respect one another and be there for each other when life gets tough.
28. Practice self-care
Learning to grow personally and love yourself wholly in your 20s is a process, but a necessary process that will help you as you continue to grow older and learn through more life experiences. Practicing self-care now, and as you get into your 30s will benefit you long-term, such as by lower your stress by improving your mental and physical health and building resilience in your life.
Self-care can be done in many, many ways and we have grown as a society in how we can implement self-care into our own individual lives. Find the technique that works best for you and make it a part of your routine!
29. Go on a girls trip
Your girls group chat is calling! Plan that girls trip to a new city, new state, or new country to spend quality time and enjoying the scenery and venues of that location. Coordinate the Pinterest-inspired outfits, grab your flight tickets, and head out on an adventure of a lifetime with your favorite girls!
30. Plan your dream 30th birthday party
You are turning 30 soon, so start to plan that party you’ve been wanting!
Set up the guest list, coordinate the color theme, get the venue, and plan to have your favorite food and drinks there to celebrate this huge milestone and new season ahead!
You should consider your interests, favorite places and foods, and the vibe you want to create!
Some themes could be “Kiss your 20s goodbye” or a decade-themed party. Regardless of your theme, cherish those around you who are in attendance or not, reflect on your last 10 years in life and spring forward into the excitement and anticipation of what the next 10 years will look like for you!
This 30 Things to Do Before You Turn 30 list is for inspiration purposes, no pressure! Enjoy your young years!
