Looking for ways to fill your time over the long weekend coming up? Sophomore Kate Jeffries compelled a list of 20 unique and fun ideas for activities that are sure to keep you entertained for many weekends to come.

By Kate Jeffries

1. Go stargazing in Portola Valley (Windy Hill/Skyline)
When you and your friends are in need of a night of relaxation and time to enjoy each other’s company, stargazing is a perfect activity. Hills (Windy Hill Open Space Preserve, Skyline Blvd., etc.) and rooftops are especially good spots to establish your setup to stargaze. Depending on the time of year, remember to dress warmly and maybe even bring some pillows and blankets with you.

2. Scooter racing
Although it may seem childish, getting a bunch of friends together on a quiet street or track to race razor scooters is always a fun activity. Razor scooters are around 30 dollars, but the price can vary depending on where you purchase yours from. If you don’t already own a Razor scooter and don’t want to purchase one, you can always race bikes or skateboards as well.

3. Project a movie on the side of your house and watch outside
For those of you wanting to spice up your movie nights, watching a movie outside on a warm evening is the perfect way to do it! All you need to do is connect a projector (around 50 to 100 dollars) to your laptop and set it up facing towards a blank side of your house. Then get cozy with sleeping bags and pillows to enjoy the movie.

4. Split your friend group in half and have a weekend-long prank war
This activity requires more planning initially, but has a super fun end result for both teams! First, your friend group must set the guidelines for the prank war, (when does the war start/end? What is the price limit? etc. ) to make sure all participants are on the same page. Then, your group must divide into two different teams and each team must discuss their plan of attack.

5. Go to an orchard to pick your own fruit
For a super fun afternoon with friends or family, berry picking is not only a great option, but a delicious one too. Starting in late May at Portola Valley’s Webb Ranch, you can pick your own berries on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. There is a small entry fee of $4 per person (unless you are 4 and under or older than 65 in which case you get in for free) in addition to the $5 per pound of fruit you pick.

6. Slip and slide in the rain
For those of you who love just being in the rain, this is the activity for you! All you need is a slip and slide (which are sold for around 30 dollars), but you could always just use a plastic tarp if you don’t want to purchase a slip and slide.

7. Go to the beach in HMB and watch the sunrise
For those who are both willing to wake up early and drive for 20 to 30 minutes, watching the sunrise in Half Moon Bay is definitely worth the early wake up call! Now, the sun rises around 7 in the morning, so it would be best to arrive around 15 minutes before to pick a spot to get set up so you don’t miss the actual sunrise itself.

8. Go people watching at Stanford Shopping center/Burlingame Ave
It may sound like a strange thing to do in your free time, but just going to a popular spot and observing people is surprisingly fun and entertaining! Places that would be great for people watching would be spots like Stanford Shopping Center and Burlingame Avenue. Also, if you get bored of people watching, you could always browse the shops or stop by one of the many restaurants for a tasty snack.

9. Buy cupcakes/donuts and deliver them to friends and neighbors
If you and your friends are feeling especially generous, delivering a sweet treat such as cupcakes or donuts to your friends is guaranteed to make everyone happier! This would be an especially fun thing to do if you know one of your friends had a bad week or is stressed out; sometimes just letting them know someone cares about them is very comforting and helpful in high stress situations.

10. Pour bubble bath in a hot tub
For those who have a hot tub they are willing to sacrifice, pouring a big bottle of bubble bath in it is bound to be fun. Depending on what kind of bubble bath you want to use the price will vary, but a you can get a sufficient bottle of bubble bath for anywhere between 20 to 30 dollars.
*If you are planning on trying this activity, make sure to ask your parents first to make sure the bubble bath formula doesn’t affect the chemical balance in the hot tub*

11. Do a challenge (cinnamon challenge, smoothie challenge…)
Doing a viral challenge with friends is always an activity that is guaranteed to cause lots of laughter. Another nice thing about viral challenges is that most if not all of the items needed can be found at home. Some fun ideas to consider are the smoothie challenge, the cinnamon challenge, the 100 layers challenge, the marshmallow challenge, etc.

12. Go to the Farmers Market on Santa Cruz Ave
Although the Santa Cruz Avenue Farmers Market might at first seem uneventful, spending a morning browsing the different stands is not only interesting but also enjoyable. All the vendors are super friendly and many of them give out free samples which are delicious and allow you to try many different foods. The Santa Cruz Avenue Farmers Market in particular is open every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m..

13. Indoor Skydiving
The majority of students at Menlo have yet to turn 18 years old and thus cannot participate in actual skydiving in the near future. However, going to a place such as iFly in San Francisco gives you a similar experience without even jumping out of a plane. This is great activity to plan in advance with a bigger group since it is on the more expensive end and more time consuming.

14. Laser Tag
Laser Tag may seem slightly childish however it is definitely an activity people of all ages can enjoy. The two most convenient laser tag places are Laser Quest San Jose and NorCal Laser Tag San Jose. If you want to plan your visit ahead of time and are willing to spend more money, you can book the place to yourselves and are guaranteed to play with just your group. However, if you decide at the last minute to go laser tagging, you can stop by without giving them any advanced notice and will be guaranteed to play just there will be other players outside of your group in the game as well.

15. Shaving Cream Fight
Having a shaving cream fight is a great activity for a warm spring or summer afternoon with friends. There are many possibilities for this activity so it depends on what your group wants to do. You could always just use the shaving cream itself or you could fill some water balloons with the shaving cream and throw them at each other. Shaving cream is around five dollars per can and if you chose to use water balloons as well, they are around ten dollars for 100 water balloons from Amazon.

16. Paintball
Similar to laser tag, paintball is easily an activity that all ages can participate in and enjoy. A convenient place to go for paintball is Santa Clara Paintball which has 10 acres of space with 12 different playing fields. Santa Clara Paintball also offers outdoor laser tag as well.

17. Camping in your backyard
For a warm summer night when you want to get out of the house without completely leaving, going camping with some friends in your backyard is the activity for you. Although many of the items needed could probably be found at your house, tents are around 60 dollars and sleeping bags can range anywhere between 30 to 50 dollars.

18. Cupcake wars/baking competition
If you and your friends are in the mood to bake and want to put a fun twist on it, having a baking competition is the perfect way to have some fun in addition to enjoying some delicious sweets! Since there will be limited kitchen space, you should divide your group into no more than three different teams. Also, you should specify some other rules such as how much time everyone gets, the price limit, etc.

19. Go to Color Me Mine
Color Me Mine is always a great idea when you want to have some time to relax and destress with friends or family. You can pick and paint any piece you want in the store and then they will cook it for you within just a few weeks. For those under 17 and under it costs 8 dollars to paint (in addition to the price of the item you choose to paint) and 10 dollars for participants 18 and older.

20. Go karting
For all the speed demons out there, go karting would definitely be an activity you would enjoy. In spite of it being a bit of a drive, K1 Speed in San Francisco is a great location with a super fun course that everyone is bound to enjoy.