Senior Year Bucket List: 60 Things to Do Before You Graduate

6 min read · Brainrot Test

A senior year bucket list is a set of things you want to do before you graduate, from big traditions like prom and senior sunrise to small side quests with your friends. Below are 60 senior year bucket list ideas sorted by season, so you're not cramming everything into the last two weeks. It works for US high school seniors, Year 13 in the UK and grade 12 in Canada.

If you already know your phone will try to eat half of senior year, Brainrot Test shows how much of your attention runs on reflex and gives you one two-minute drill a day to take it back: Check my brainrot.

Quick terms: "Senior year" is the last year of high school in the US. In the UK it's Year 13 (or upper sixth at sixth form). In Canada it's grade 12, and "grad" is the big end-of-year event. Every high school bucket list idea here works for all three.

Fall semester ideas

Fall is when everyone's excited and nobody's stressed yet. Use it.

Do a "senior sunrise": watch the sun come up with your class on the first day.
Decorate your parking spot or locker (if your school allows it).
Go to every home game in one season, even sports you don't understand.
Wear something ridiculous to a spirit day.
Take your senior photos somewhere meaningful to you.
Join one club you were too nervous to try before.
Go to homecoming, or a fall formal, even if you're not into dances. (Going without a date? Read going to prom without a date, same rules apply.)
Have a pumpkin-carving night with your friend group.
Visit a college, uni or job fair you're actually curious about.
Finish your applications early and celebrate with a dinner out.
Go to a corn maze or haunted house.
Learn every teacher's first name. Use one, once.

Winter ideas

Do a holiday movie marathon with your friends.
Go sledding or skating like you're eight again.
Do a Secret Santa with your friend group.
Throw a small New Year's Eve party (here are New Year's Eve party ideas for teens).
Write a letter to yourself to open in ten years.
Make a friend group time capsule and pick an opening date.
Try a new cuisine at a restaurant none of you have been to.
Go to a school play or concert and cheer way too loud.
Start a group playlist that everyone adds one song to per week.
Take a winter day trip to the nearest big city.

Spring and prom season ideas

Spring is the main event. Prom, grad, college decisions, and the weather finally being nice.

Go to prom (or grad, or the leavers' ball).
Plan a promposal, or be part of someone else's.
Do a "senior skip day" (only if it's a school tradition, not your own invention).
Have a bonfire with your friends.
Go to a drive-in movie, or set up a projector in someone's backyard.
Take a road trip, even if it's just two hours away.
Have a picnic in a park you've never been to.
Go to a concert together.
Wear your college or uni hoodie on decision day.
Sign up for a 5K or charity run as a group.
Learn to cook one real meal before you leave home.
Spend a full day with no phones as a group. Harder than it sounds.

Last weeks of school

These are the classic senior year traditions to fit in before the last bell.

Get your yearbook (or a leavers' shirt in the UK) signed by everyone.
Write thank-you notes to two teachers who mattered.
Eat lunch with someone you never talked to.
Take a photo in every classroom you had a class in.
Do a harmless senior prank that your school will laugh about (check the rules).
Walk the halls one last time on your own.
Go back to your elementary or primary school to say hi.
Have a last lunch at your usual spot.
Swap contact info with people outside your friend group.
Throw your cap at graduation, or at least wear it with pride.

Senior year bucket list with friends

The best senior bucket list for friends is mostly about memories, not money.

Have a sleepover like you're 12.
Go stargazing somewhere dark.
Make a friendship video montage.
Recreate an old photo from when you first met.
Go to a theme park.
Cook dinner for your parents together.
Get matching bracelets or keychains.
Camp in someone's backyard.
Learn a TikTok dance together and film it once (just once).
Take a photo booth strip at every event all year.
Spend a full day doing whatever the youngest friend picks.

Solo senior year ideas

Write down three goals for after graduation.
Learn to drive or get your license.
Get a part-time job and save for something specific.
Read one book for fun that's not on any syllabus.
Spend one day fully offline and notice how it feels.

Make your own list

A senior year bucket list template doesn't need to be fancy. Here's one you can copy into your notes or turn into a senior year bucket list poster for your wall.

Item	Season	With who	Cost	Done?
Senior sunrise	Fall	Class	Free	☐
Bonfire	Spring	Friends	Cheap	☐
Road trip	Spring	Friends	$$	☐
Thank-you notes	Last weeks	Solo	Free	☐

How to build it:

Pick 20 to 30 items. Sixty is a menu, not a homework assignment.
Spread them across seasons so spring isn't overloaded.
Put dates on the first five right now.
Print it and stick it somewhere you'll see daily.
Tick things off with your friends as you go.

Here's the problem: you'll make this list, feel inspired for a week, and then the year starts slipping away in 30-second clips. That's not a character flaw. It's what phones are built to do.

Brainrot Test makes that drift visible. Seventeen taps about what you actually do when you pick up your phone gives you a brainrot score from 0 to 100, re-measured every Sunday. Each two-minute detox drill ends in one real-world phone action with a timer, so you're doing the list, not scrolling past it. Check my brainrot

Senior year bucket list for college seniors

Final year of college or uni? Swap in: go to every campus tradition once, have dinner with a professor or tutor, visit the city's top sights you never got round to, take a class just for fun, and organize a last dinner for your flatmates or roommates.

Get more of senior year off your phone

Take Brainrot Test before you start your list and get your score and tier in a couple of minutes. Then do one two-minute drill a day, with a streak that pauses instead of resetting if you miss a day. Duel your friends and see who ends senior year with the lowest score.

Check my brainrot

FAQ

What should be on a senior year bucket list?

Mix big traditions (senior sunrise, prom, signing yearbooks) with small side quests (a bonfire, a road trip, stargazing) and a few solo goals (learn to drive, thank a teacher). Spread items across the year so spring isn't a scramble.

What are fun things to do senior year with friends?

Sleepovers, bonfires, road trips, backyard camping, recreating old photos, a theme park day and a friend group time capsule. Most of the best senior year bucket list ideas cost little or nothing.

What is a Year 13 or grade 12 bucket list?

It's the same thing as a senior year bucket list high school version, just for the UK (Year 13 or upper sixth) and Canada (grade 12). Swap "prom" for the leavers' ball or grad and "yearbook" for a signed leavers' shirt.

How do I make a senior year bucket list poster?

Pick 20 to 30 items, group them by season, and write them on a big sheet with a checkbox next to each. Add photos as you complete them. It doubles as a keepsake at the end of the year.

How many items should be on a senior bucket list?

Twenty to thirty is realistic for one school year. Pick from a bigger list like this one, then put dates on the first five so they actually happen.