To Do

The Complete List

Read the story of the list

• 1. Write an non-fiction book that people will actually want to read
• 2. Spend some time traveling around Europe.
• 3. Make sure someone has a reason to believe in miracles
• 4. Milk a cow
• 5. Re-visit the Bahamas
• 6. Learn to speak Spanish
• 7. Own my very own house
• 8. Go on a safari in Africa
• 9. Play with dolphins
• 10. Have my own business (be my own boss)
• 11. Learn ballroom and swing dancing
• 12. Own a convertible, preferably a Mustang
• 13. Run for President
• 14. Have a garden. Grow vegetables, herbs and flowers
• 15. Learn to play acoustic guitar
• 16. Write a novel
• 17. Research my family’s history
• 18. Learn the constitution and all the amendments
• 19. Have two children
• 20. See a green iceberg
• 21. Have a beautiful wedding, complete with honeymoon to an exotic location this time
• 22. Get a makeover
• 23. Have a message sky-written to someone
• 24. Become a great speech giver
• 25. Donate an organ
• 26. Suddenly decide on and leave for a trip
• 27. Sip a mint julep at the Kentucky Derby
• 28. Take yoga classes
• 29. See the aurora borealis
• 30. Pay for the next car at a toll booth
• 31. Organize a food drive for the needy
• 32. Karaoke
• 33. Be able to explain Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
• 34. Become a master of the deadpan delivery
• 35. Build a tree house or a club house
• 36. Spelunk
• 37. Hang-glide
• 38. Shake hands with someone famous
• 39. Light a candle in the Holocaust Museum’s Hall of Remembrance
• 40. Crash a ritzy party
• 41. Fill an oversized bank with change and use the money for a gambling trip
• 42. Do something scandalous
• 43. Lobby
• 44. Learn to drive a stick shift
• 45. Spend one month without television
• 46. Visit a tropical rainforest
• 47. Make a religious pilgrimage
• 48. Participate in a moonlit drum circle
• 49. Write a letter to the editor
• 50. Have my ancestor’s names engraved on the plaque at Ellis Island
• 51. Invent or patent something.
• 52. Take an acting class
• 53. Do an open-mike night
• 54. Dry some flowers
• 55. Clean out closets annually, make donation to Good Will
• 56. Donate books
• 57. Take a natural mud bath
• 58. Read to children
• 59. Scuba dive
• 60. Discover a hidden talent
• 61. Ride an ostrich
• 62. Volunteer as a docent in a museum
• 63. Drink the healing waters on Margaret Island in Budapest
• 64. Have a crazy fun water gun fight
• 65. Travel alone
• 66. Prepare a grand, seven-course meal for close friends
• 67. Ride a pogo stick or a unicycle
• 68. Relax in hot springs in Iceland
• 69. Visit Coney Island
• 70. Horseback-ride on the beach at dawn
• 71. Learn to sew
• 72. Use my dog to carry a secret note to someone on his collar
• 73. Start a new political party
• 74. Finish a marathon
• 75. Crochet or knit a sweater
• 76. Parasail
• 77. Write a teacher a thank you note
• 78. Interview friends and family with a video camera
• 79. Bungee-jump off a bridge
• 80. Go on a scientific expedition
• 81. Fossil-hunt
• 82. Build a savings account
• 83. Make homemade bread (without a bread machine!)
• 84. Memorize my three favorite poems
• 85. Attend the Olympics
• 86. Leave someone a $100 tip
• 87. Hot-air balloon
• 88. Press some flowers
• 89. Cut a demo tape at a recording studio
• 90. Go skinny dipping
• 91. Make a time capsule with magazines, CDs, photographs, letters and T-shirts, etc
• 92. Ride a train across the United States
• 93. Ride a bicycle built for two
• 94. Spend a week at a spa
• 95. Stay at a monastery
• 96. Learn American Sign Language
• 97. Learn to sail
• 98. See the Great Wall of China
• 99. Volunteer at a National Park
• 100. Paint my bedroom red, black or hot pink for at least a little while
• 101. See a show at a planetarium
• 102. Learn to say the alphabet backwards
• 103. Sit in the skybox at a sporting event
• 104. Catch the bouquet
• 105. Hike the Appalachian Trail
• 106. Take the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg
• 107. Stay at a parador in Spain
• 108. Sit in first class
• 109. Have one truly amazing one night stand
• 110. Bottle my own preserves
• 111. Buy a $100 bottle of wine and share it with old friends
• 112. Have breakfast in bed for two delivered
• 113. Have a violinist play for me by the dinner table
• 114. Send “just thinking of you” cards frequently
• 115. Have my palm read
• 116. Order a huge, delicious birthday cake for myself
• 117. Stomp grapes in Tuscany
• 118. Hire a designer to create personal stationary
• 119. Teach someone to read
• 120. Hire someone to do my spring cleaning
• 121. Be a guest of honor at a party
• 122. Build a birdhouse
• 123. Watch a baby being born
• 124. Indulge a private fantasy
• 125. Dress up like Santa and really get into it
• 126. Perform a citizen’s arrest
• 127. Memorize the Gettysburg Address
• 128. Figure out the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne
• 129. Play a funny April Fool’s Day prank
• 130. Drive a Maserati
• 131. Learn at least ten constellations
• 132. Buy a star and have it named for someone
• 133. Ride an elephant
• 134. Write an article for the National Enquirer or some other tabloid
• 135. Plant a tree
• 136. Keep a terrific journal
• 137. One day spend $1000 on at least five things
• 138. Make my own beer
• 139. Be the hero of my own life
• 140. Throw a coin in the Fontana de Trevi in Rome
• 141. Get a Master’s degree
• 142. Ride a gondola in Venice
• 143. See a live performance of Beethoven’s Sixth
• 144. Take a helicopter ride
• 145. Go wine-tasting in Sonoma County, California
• 146. Go to an Italian opera
• 147. Visit Ayers Rock in Australia
• 148. Kiss the Blarney stone
• 149. Learn the names of 10 wild plants and be able to identify them
• 150. Inspire someone
• 151. Meet and really speak to three genuine eccentrics
• 152. Send Valentines to everyone
• 153. Make a giant chocolate chip cookie
• 154. Give a rousing or moving speech
• 155. Learn a new word everyday for a whole year
• 156. Build an igloo
• 157. Watch kittens being born
• 158. Ask questions! Question everything – sexuality, faith, values, and especially my lawyer
• 159. Drive a bus
• 160. Write a letter to a public figure that I admire
• 161. Ride a camel through the desert
• 162. Mosh
• 163. Watch Cartoon Network for 24 hours
• 164. Sketch the ocean on a deserted beach
• 165. Plan an entire solo weekend
• 166. Compose a steamy love letter
• 167. Get a pedicure
• 168. Play a game of Strip Monopoly
• 169. Keep in touch with friends
• 170. Consult a plastic surgeon
• 171. Have custom bookcases built
• 172. Impress the boss
• 173. Make chocolate chip pancakes
• 174. Go line-dancing
• 175. Be frivolous
• 176. Get out of debt
• 177. Travel the globe
• 178. Interview grandparents about their childhoods
• 179. Invest in the stock market
• 180. Train a seeing-eye dog
• 181. Learn the second stanza of the “Star Spangled Banner”
• 182. Plan a picnic for one
• 183. Predict the next big thing
• 184. Have a house on the ocean
• 185. Mediate a dispute
• 186. Memorize all the dialogue of my favorite movie
• 187. Love more than once
• 188. Dance with glee
• 189. Invite my employees to my home for dinner
• 190. Write my memoirs
• 191. Take a cooking class
• 192. Get pierced somewhere besides my ears
• 193. Achieve washboard abs
• 194. Slide down a banister
• 195. Witness a miracle
• 196. Swim in each of the seven seas
• 197. Buy something at Tiffany’s
• 198. Rent a Virgin Island
• 199. Attend a Hollywood premier
• 200. Spend a weekend in the Waldorf-Astoria
• 201. Solve a mystery
• 202. Have a signature color
• 203. Have a bonfire with hot apple cider and s’mores
• 204. Write my own vows
• 205. Take a wine-tasting class
• 206. Sew a quilt
• 207. Attend a high school reunion
• 208. Run for office
• 209. Write my name in wet cement
• 210. Conduct a symphony orchestra
• 211. Dance at my grandchildren’s weddings
• 212. Dance at my great-grandchildren’s weddings
• 213. Learn to eat with chopsticks
• 214. Learn to whistle with two fingers
• 215. Make a perfect soufflé (preferable chocolate)
• 216. Restore an old house
• 217. Bicycle through Amsterdam
• 218. Take a milk bath
• 219. Debate the definition of art in a smoky café
• 220. Learn to inline skate
• 221. Bathe in the light of the full moon
• 222. Start a dream journal
• 223. Watch a professional belly dance
• 224. Do a voice-over
• 225. Learn how other cultures give birth
• 226. Study the ways different cultures pay their respects to the deceased
• 227. Build a huge and elaborate snow castle
• 228. Build an enormous snowman
• 229. Nurse a sick bird back to health
• 230. Read the Bible and the Koran
• 231. Sleep on satin sheets
• 232. See a ghost
• 233. Have a tea party
• 234. Put glow-in-the-dark stars in my bedroom
• 235. Protest something
• 236. Levitate someone
• 237. Have a séance
• 238. Learn how to say “I love you” in at least 10 languages
• 239. Learn how to sing “Happy Birthday” in 3 languages
• 240. Learn how to give a great back rub
• 241. Be a deejay
• 242. Be a character in costume at a kids’ party
• 243. Be in a Snapple ad
• 244. Have my name mentioned on national television
• 245. Seduce someone
• 246. Get seduced
• 247. Be someone’s hero
• 248. Adopt a whale
• 249. Go Christmas caroling
• 250. Have my own radio show
• 251. Attend a Democratic or Republican convention
• 252. Get dressed up and have brandy at a piano bar
• 253. Hang a hammock in the living room
• 254. Send a message in a bottle
• 255. Make a photo album or collage for someone
• 256. Smile at someone on the bus
• 257. Learn to love wrinkles
• 258. Sleep on sun-dried sheets
• 259. Make homemade ice cream
• 260. Buy a car with cash
• 261. Get quoted in a major magazine
• 262. Be on the cover of Time magazine
• 263. Create something that will be admired in the next century
• 264. Donate something anonymously to a needy cause
• 265. Visit the house where I was born
• 266. Work at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving
• 267. Grow a giant pumpkin
• 268. Stop complaining
• 269. Rethink the seven deadly sins
• 270. Adopt a highway or a beach
• 271. Write an unnecessary thank-you note
• 272. Wear a disguise
• 273. Be invited to the White House
• 274. Carry someone else’s burden
• 275. Be able to do a one-armed pushup
• 276. Write something to be read at my funeral
• 277. Start a tradition
• 278. Hold a boa constrictor
• 279. Play Santa for a needy family at Christmas
• 280. Visit the Biosphere in Arizona
• 281. Throw flower petals instead of rice at my wedding
• 282. Attend an art opening
• 283. Take a four-year-old to the zoo
• 284. Make a statement on a billboard
• 285. Go fishing
• 286. Invent a new word and spread it around
• 287. Have a professional chef deliver meals for a week
• 288. Write my own obituary
• 289. Get a great, fulfilling job
• 290. Pay respects on the beaches of Normandy
• 291. Be fed a succulent pomegranate
• 292. Get a really good foot massage
• 293. Learn some birdcalls
• 294. Have something named after me
• 295. Learn to knit
• 296. Frame and display all accomplishments
• 297. Lie on the couch and feed chocolates to my lover
• 298. Dance until dawn
• 299. Watch the sun rise on a Hawaiian isle
• 300. Try Hatha Yoga
• 301. Learn to carve a turkey like a chef
• 302. Fly upside-down
• 303. Get past twenty pushups
• 304. Own a king-size bed
• 305. Take a walk in the woods on a snowy night
• 306. Learn to juggle
• 307. Plan the perfect crime and sell it to Hollywood for a movie
• 308. Compete on “Jeopardy”
• 309. Place a bet with a bookie
• 310. Visit every state at least once
• 311. Write an anonymous letter to someone
• 312. Tend bar
• 313. Invent creative and loving names for my body parts
• 314. Sip Jack Daniel’s
• 315. Wine and dine someone who deserves it
• 316. Organize a potluck supper
• 317. Do some work for Habitat for Humanity
• 318. Ride a cable car in San Francisco
• 319. Have my own stand at a carnival
• 320. Learn to play Bridge
• 321. Do something incredible anonymously
• 322. Submit a manuscript
• 323. Leave someone a surprise in my will
• 324. Add a codicil to my will to tell people why I love them
• 325. Listen to whales
• 326. Watch a Little League game
• 327. Sit on the fifty-yard line at the Super Bowl
• 328. Keep an aquarium
• 329. Get good at black and white photography
• 330. Pan for gold
• 331. Have my portrait done in oils
• 332. Write a personal note in every Christmas card
• 333. Put $20 in the slots
• 334. Tell ghost stories in a pitch-black room
• 335. Address the UN
• 336. Slow dance on the porch in the dark
• 337. Proclaim a holiday
• 338. Perform a magic trick
• 339. Mend a broken heart
• 340. Have phone sex
• 341. Own an expensive diamond
• 342. Have a closet lined in cedar
• 343. Have a fireplace
• 344. Get paid what I am worth
• 345. Send dozens of postcards for no particular reason
• 346. Get a facial
• 347. Climb the cone of a volcano
• 348. Have a motto printed on my checks
• 349. Get married, well, remarried
• 350. Slide down a brass fire pole
• 351. Know the difference between aa and pahoehoe
• 352. Drink the milk from a coconut with a straw
• 353. Have enough to retire gracefully
• 354. Take the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty
• 355. Take a course at Harvard
• 356. Wear silk pajamas
• 357. Have sex like it’s a gourmet meal
• 358. Fall asleep counting my blessings
• 359. Try fencing
• 360. Learn to Mambo
• 361. Testify before Congress
• 362. Get good at pool and darts
• 363. Go whale-watching
• 364. See the Loch Ness monster
• 365. Find a masterpiece at a garage sale
• 366. Meet a lover at the door wearing nothing but Saran Wrap
• 367. Water ski
• 368. See Stonehenge
• 369. Hit the bell at a carnival
• 370. Have all of my Christmas presents wrapped
• 371. Hike in the Swiss Alps
• 372. Partake in a demonstration
• 373. Walk on stilts
• 374. Take a hansom cab ride
• 375. Leave the bed unmade for a month
• 376. Move an audience to tears
• 377. Share a mouthful of wine with a lover
• 378. Travel Route 66
• 379. Skydive
• 380. Get a bit part in a TV show
• 381. One month pay all bills with checks written in crayon
• 382. Be the life of the party
• 383. Call a psychic hotline
• 384. Take silly pictures in a photo booth
• 385. Service my own car
• 386. Ride in a stretch limo
• 387. Smile relentlessly and be nice to a grumpy person
• 388. Read The Story of O to a lover
• 389. Study the laws of physics
• 390. Wear stripes, florals and plaids together
• 391. Live in California (again)
• 392. Take a bubble bath built for two
• 393. Own my own plot of land
• 394. Write poetry while sitting in a Parisian cafe
• 395. Learn Morse code
• 396. Serve on a jury
• 397. Write a love note in lipstick on the bathroom mirror
• 398. Sign autographs
• 399. Annoy Howard Stern
• 400. Study the facade of Notre Dame in Paris
• 401. Pay my respects at Auschwitz
• 402. Buy a friend a gift for no reason at all
• 403. Write to a lover in code
• 404. Use handcuffs
• 405. Leave a $50 in a blind person’s cup
• 406. Revel in raw sex
• 407. Fall in love
• 408. Start a pillow fight
• 409. Invite friends over for a slumber party
• 410. Send someone a dozen red roses
• 411. Track down someone who influenced me
• 412. Make a cranky person laugh
• 413. Start a nude room at a party
• 414. Cast a spell
• 415. Bathe in a champagne tub in the Poconos
• 416. Memorize all the Presidents of the United States
• 417. Have a love affair with a movie star
• 418. Throw an adult prom
• 419. Play footsie in a swank restaurant
• 420. Sweep someone off his feet
• 421. Be swept off my feet
• 422. Give a bus driver a present
• 423. Donate money to my high school
• 424. Create my own love potion #9
• 425. Choose a bridesmaid’s dress that everyone loves
• 426. Learn how to skip rocks
• 427. Watch a session of Congress from the visitor’s gallery
• 428. Attend the seventh game of the World Series
• 429. Put my hands in Marilyn Monroe’s handprints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre
• 430. Indulge in a two-hour body massage
• 431. Deliver a home-cooked meal to a sick friend
• 432. Wear a lei
• 433. Ride the Orient Express
• 434. Learn a dirty joke that would make a nun laugh
• 435. Rage, rage against the dying of the light
• 436. Spend one whole day daydreaming
• 437. Go down in a submarine
• 438. See and report a UFO
• 439. Moonlight with a hobby
• 440. Sell something on the internet
• 441. Send unsigned Valentines to co-workers
• 442. Plant an indoor herb garden
• 443. Swim in the Dead Sea
• 444. Spend the night in a pyramid
• 445. Learn Braille
• 446. Scuba-dive for jewelry in a public lake
• 447. Walk a marathon with a disabled entrant
• 448. Enlighten a racist or a homophobe
• 449. Shoot craps
• 450. See bighorn sheep in Estes Park in Colorado
• 451. Hold up an attention-getting sign outside the “Today Show” window
• 452. Live long enough to get a birthday greeting from the President
• 453. Be hypnotized
• 454. Buy a subscription to a “something-of-the-month” club
• 455. Have a tree full of meaningful Christmas ornaments
• 456. Send steaks and/or lobsters to someone
• 457. Share my umbrella with a stranger
• 458. Start a sing-a-long in an elevator
• 459. Study voodoo or Santeria
• 460. Take a mineral bath at Saratoga Springs
• 461. Call a radio talk show
• 462. Take a flying lesson
• 463. Hire a personal shopper
• 464. Read and live the Kama Sutra
• 465. Gather my favorite recipes into a cookbook
• 466. Buy the house a drink
• 467. Be a flight attendant
• 468. Fill the bed with rose petals
• 469. Ride in a convertible south on U.S. 1 (PCH) in California in the springtime
• 470. Leave lots of snacks for the baby sitter
• 471. Re-enact a love scene from a movie
• 472. Get a precise and expensive haircut
• 473. Get fit
• 474. Make a thermos full of margaritas and watch fireworks
• 475. Spend one New Year’s Eve in Times Square
• 476. Eat a one-pound box of Godiva in one sitting, guilt-free
• 477. Sleep with a ghost in the room
• 478. Take a helicopter to the top of a mountain and hike back down again
• 479. Watch an egg hatch
• 480. Fall head-over-heels in love
• 481. Take a bus or train trip through the Andes
• 482. Drink champagne with a crazy straw
• 483. Visit the Galapagos Islands
• 484. Spend a night in a lighthouse
• 485. Have a personal trainer for awhile
• 486. Squeeze a glass of fresh orange juice
• 487. Re-take the SAT’s
• 488. Sell Girl Scout cookies
• 489. Make love in the back of a limo
• 490. Enjoy the view from the roof
• 491. Study t’ai chi
• 492. Construct a crossword puzzle and submit it to a newspaper
• 493. Throw a masked ball
• 494. Be able to make a delicious cheesecake
• 495. See the woods of Vermont in early October
• 496. Start a rumor and see how fast it comes around
• 497. Decide on a favorite color and a lucky number
• 498. Try acupuncture
• 499. Fly in the Goodyear blimp
• 500. Take part in a rain dance
• 501. Watch beavers build a dam
• 502. See a full solar eclipse
• 503. Rent a jukebox for a party
• 504. Ridicule the Ku Klux Klan
• 505. Get a vanity license plate
• 506. Take a lie detector test
• 507. Eat real key lime pie in the Keys
• 508. Lend money with no questions asked
• 509. Learn first aid
• 510. Moped in Bermuda
• 511. Go snorkeling in St. John
• 512. Come home for a nooner
• 513. Meet a lover at a motel
• 514. Serve in the Peace Corps
• 515. Set up a scholarship
• 516. Grow a garden of wild flowers
• 517. Jump out of a cake
• 518. Orbit the Earth
• 519. Go undercover with a voice recorder
• 520. Experience virtual reality
• 521. Pledge money to public television or public radio
• 522. Master a kinky technique
• 523. Memorize “Jabberwocky”
• 524. Go to Brazilian Carnival
• 525. Be able to tie a granny, a bowline, a clove hitch, and a sheepshank
• 526. Leave a present for the postal carrier in the mailbox
• 527. Make homemade tortillas
• 528. Attend the Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley, Washington
• 529. Have a luau
• 530. Create a story quilt
• 531. See the Taj Mahal
• 532. Stop a mall from being built
• 533. Admire Red Square at midnight
• 534. Surprise someone with Swedish fish
• 535. Put flowers on the untended grave of a stranger
• 536. Own a kooky umbrella
• 537. Ride a swan boat in Boston Public Gardens
• 538. Write all that I remember of my family history for the next generations
• 539. Send a friend flowers for no particular reason on no special day
• 540. Write a letter to the editor praising someone in public life
• 541. Sing at a wedding
• 542. Cast a write-in vote
• 543. Raise a child to be a wonderful person
• 544. Sponsor a needy child
• 545. Compose a fairy tale
• 546. Ably describe honky-tonk, ska and bluegrass
• 547. Get a full-body tan
• 548. Frame all past and present business cards
• 549. Rappel
• 550. Cross the international date line and get to yesterday
• 551. Be a painter’s model
• 552. Cook dinner in the fireplace
• 553. See Michelangelo’s David
• 554. Shake hands with the President of the United States
• 555. Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans
• 556. Take a Jell-O bath
• 557. Be a game show contestant
• 558. Do the I Ching
• 559. Go to an open casting call
• 560. Walk over hot coals
• 561. Lobby for more women on U.S. currency
• 562. Host a foreign exchange student
• 563. Ride every roller coaster in the continental U.S.
• 564. Ride across Ireland on a bicycle
• 565. Create my own fragrance
• 566. Distinguish the difference between Ionic, Corinthian and Doric
• 567. Wear flowers in my hair
• 568. Own a handknit sweater
• 569. Have an ice cream flavor named after me
• 570. Visit the site of the Titanic wreck on the ocean floor
• 571. Visit another planet
• 572. Have chocolate con churros in Barcelona
• 573. Ballroom dance at the Rainbow Room
• 574. Ride a bicycle through Bordeaux
• 575. Attend the Blessing of the Animals at New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine
• 576. Know what a key grip does
• 577. Run through a car wash
• 578. Have my home drawn in charcoal and framed
• 579. Deliver a baby
• 580. Be in the Guinness Book of World Records
• 581. Eat a ripe mango
• 582. Tour a brewery
• 583. Pick an animal to be my mascot
• 584. Study witchcraft
• 585. Tour the Prado, the Louvre, the Hermitage, the Metropolitan and the Uffizi
• 586. Take a self-defense course
• 587. Volunteer to take care of babies with AIDS
• 588. Buy a video camera
• 589. Take karate lessons
• 590. Learn to read Tarot cards
• 591. Play spin the bottle
• 592. Learn enough about cars to confidently buy a used one and change my own oil
• 593. Take a cruise
• 594. Play the field
• 595. Collage my life story
• 596. Find a pair of amazingly fabulous movie star sunglasses