These before baby bucket list ideas are 100 things to do before a first baby arrives: eat dinner out at nine at night, hang one empty frame for the first photo, keep the list of names you did not choose.
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Start with To keep for later
For the two of you, On your own, For the home and To keep for later hold 25 ideas each. The last group cannot be done afterwards: write down what bread, a stamp and a film ticket cost today, write down how you found out and who you told first, film a tour of your home as it is today.
Plans and keepsakes only
Nothing here is about health, the pregnancy or caring for a baby; those are questions for your doctor or midwife. 52 cards are tagged One evening because they fit between dinner and bed, such as write the list of who to phone and in what order.
Questions and answers
What should couples do before the baby comes?
See a late movie on a weeknight, take one last trip as two, be the last two to leave a party, and choose one ritual of yours that the baby will not change.
What should I do for myself before having a baby?
The On your own group has 25: spend one whole day alone doing exactly what you choose, read the novel that has sat by the bed for a year, and write your own parents a letter before you become one.
What are free things to do before the baby arrives?
58 cards are marked Free: clear one drawer in every room for baby things, press a flower from the month they are due, and make a playlist of what you listened to this year.
What keepsakes can I make before the baby is born?
Write the baby a letter to open at eighteen, save the front page from the day they arrive, put aside a coin from the year they are born, and collect one recipe in each grandparent's own handwriting.
🎉Be the last two to leave a partyFree. Say yes to the next invitation and do not look at the clock.
🎭Book middle-of-the-row seats for a concert or a playSave up. Look at what is on next month and choose the seats that are hard to leave.
📚Choose a book for each other in a bookshopSmall cost. Split up at the door and meet at the register.
🗓️Choose one ritual of yours that the baby will not changeFree. The Sunday walk, the Friday film: name it and say it out loud.
👗Dress up and go somewhere that calls for itSmall cost. Choose the place first, then the clothes.
🍽️Eat at the restaurant you keep saving for an occasionSave up. Book it for a weeknight this month.
🌙Eat dinner out at nine at nightSmall cost. Book the latest table they have.
📍Go back to the place where you first metFree. Take one photo there, in the same spot if you can find it.
🥐Have a brunch that lasts until threeSmall cost. Choose a place that does not hurry people and bring the weekend paper.
🌳Lie on the grass in a park for an afternoon with a book eachFree. Take a blanket and nothing that needs charging.
🎄Pick the holiday traditions you will keep from each familyFree. Each of you lists three, and you keep at least one from each list.
💃Push the table back and learn one slow danceFree. Find a beginners' video and clear the kitchen floor.
🎬See a late movie on a weeknightSmall cost. Pick this week's film and the last showing of the night.
🏺Sign up as a pair for a beginners' classSmall cost. Pottery, drawing or bread: book the next session that has two places.
🏨Sleep one night in a hotel ten minutes from homeSave up. Book a Saturday and pack one bag between you.
🖼️Spend a day in a museum at your own speedSmall cost. Read every label in one wing and stay for lunch.
🛌Spend a whole Saturday with no plan and no alarmFree. Cross the day out on the calendar and tell nobody you are free.
📵Spend an evening at home with both phones in another roomFree. Choose the night and leave them charging by the front door.
🍳Spend three hours cooking one dinner togetherSmall cost. Choose a recipe with a long list and shop for it together.
👶Swap baby photos and guess who the baby will take afterFree. Ask both families to dig out the albums.
🥞Take a weekday morning off for a slow café breakfastSmall cost. Both book the same morning and sit until the cups are cold.
🧳Take one last trip as twoSave up. Choose somewhere you can drive to and book two nights.
🚆Travel to see the friends who moved awaySave up. Phone them tonight and offer two weekends.
📺Watch a whole series from the first episode to the lastFree. Agree on one tonight and promise not to watch ahead.
✏️Write a list of names each, then swapFree. Ten names on a sheet, and no talking until both lists are done.
On your own 25
📞Ask a friend with a toddler what they wish they had doneFree. Phone tonight and write the answer down.
🎁Buy yourself one thing that is not for the babySmall cost. Decide what it is before you go into the shop.
📱Clear your phone so there is room for a year of picturesFree. Move the old photos to a drive tonight and empty the trash.
🍜Eat at a restaurant alone with a bookSmall cost. Ask for the table by the window.
🧶Finish the hobby project you left half doneFree. Take it out of the cupboard tonight and leave it where you can see it.
🏡Go away for a weekend with your friendsSave up. Ask who is free next month before you look at places.
🌃Go to an evening talk or a reading on your ownSmall cost. See what the library or a bookshop has on this month.
🎬Go to the movies alone in the afternoonSmall cost. Pick the film nobody else wants to see.
👪Have a day out with your own mother or fatherSmall cost. Ask where they would like to go, and drive.
🥗Have a long lunch with your closest friendSmall cost. Send three dates and let them choose the place.
🛋️Have your oldest friend to stay for a nightFree. Offer a date this month and plan nothing else.
🥘Learn five dinners you can cook in twenty minutesSmall cost. Try one new fast recipe each week and keep the winners.
🧵Learn to knit a plain square, then a hatSmall cost. Buy one ball of thick yarn and a pair of big needles.
📖Read the novel that has sat by the bed for a yearFree. Move it to your bag today and read on every journey.
✉️Seal a note to yourself to open on their first birthdayFree. One page on what you expect, sealed and dated.
📚Spend an afternoon in a bookshop with nowhere to beSmall cost. Leave your watch at home and read first chapters.
🗓️Spend one whole day alone doing exactly what you chooseFree. Put it on the calendar and tell your partner the day is taken.
🛏️Spend one whole Sunday in bed with a book and a trayFree. Buy the Sunday paper on Saturday and switch the alarm off.
🧺Stroll every aisle of a market with nothing to buySmall cost. Leave the list at home and stop at every stall that smells good.
📓Take a notebook somewhere quiet and write for a morningFree. A library desk or a park bench will do. Write down whatever comes.
🎨Take the one-day workshop you keep putting offSave up. Look for a Saturday course this month.
👴Tell your oldest relative the news in personFree. Phone to say you are coming, and bring a photo.
🍝Walk your old route to school in the town you grew up inSmall cost. Pick a Saturday and photograph the house, the school and the shop.
📝Write the handover note for your leave, earlyFree. List what only you know how to do and who should know it next.
💌Write your own parents a letter before you become oneFree. Thank them for one thing you only now understand.
For the home 25
🤝Ask friends with older children what they can lendFree. Send one message to everyone and keep a list of who offered what.
🛠️Build the crib together in one eveningFree. Lay out every bolt and read the instructions through before you start.
🧹Choose the corner where the baby will sleep and clear itFree. Carry everything out of it tonight and decide later where it all goes.
💡Choose the night-light and try it in the darkSmall cost. Switch everything else off and see how much it shows.
🗄️Clear one drawer in every room for baby thingsFree. Start with the room you sit in most.
🐕Decide who will look after the dog or the cat on the dayFree. Ask two people, so there is a second if the first is away.
🚙Drive the route for the big day once, at nightFree. Note where to park and which door is open late.
🚗Empty the car and clean it inside and outSmall cost. Take out everything that is not bolted down, then vacuum.
🍲Fill the freezer with dinners for the first weeksSmall cost. Cook double of whatever you make this Sunday.
🔧Finish the one repair you keep stepping overSmall cost. Write down what it needs and buy it this week.
📦Give away what you have not used since you moved inFree. One box per room, and out of the house by Sunday.
🖼️Hang one empty frame for the first photoSmall cost. Choose the wall you pass most often.
🖼️Hang the pictures that have leaned on the wall for a yearFree. Find the hammer and do the biggest one first.
📋Keep a list on the fridge of everyone who offered to helpFree. Write the name and what they offered, the moment they say it.
🛏️Make up the spare bed for whoever comes to helpFree. Clean sheets, a lamp and a spare key on the pillow.
🎒Pack the bag for the big day and leave it by the doorFree. Write the list tonight and tick things off as they go in.
🌳Plant a tree or shrub that will grow up with themSmall cost. Choose the spot now and ask a nursery when to plant.
🚼Practice folding the stroller until it takes one handFree. Ten times in the hallway, then once into the car.
📚Put up a shelf for children's books and its first fiveSmall cost. Choose five you both remember.
🪑Set up one chair with a lamp, a table and a place for a cupFree. Try the chairs you own and move the best one.
🧻Stock the cupboards so nobody has to shop for a monthSmall cost. Walk the house with a list: soap, bulbs, batteries, stamps.
🧺Wash and fold the smallest clothesFree. One load, folded into the drawer by size.
📝Write a one-page guide to the house for your helpersFree. Where the towels are, how the washer works, what the dog eats.
💌Write each thank-you note the day the gift arrivesSmall cost. Keep cards, stamps and a pen in one drawer.
📱Write the list of who to phone and in what orderFree. Agree on the first five names and who calls whom.
To keep for later 25
📝Ask each grandparent to write about the day you were bornFree. Give them paper and a date to send it back by.
💌Ask friends and family to write one wish each on a cardSmall cost. Hand out blank cards at the next gathering and collect them in a tin.
📚Buy the book you loved as a child and write inside the coverSmall cost. Add the date and one line about who read it to you.
📦Choose a box for the first hat, first card and first shoeSmall cost. Label the lid and put it where you will not lose it.
🍰Collect one recipe in each grandparent's own handwritingFree. Ask for the dish you remember, written out by hand on a card.
🎥Film a tour of your home as it is todayFree. Walk through every room and say what happens there.
📖Film each grandparent reading their favorite storyFree. Take the book on your next visit and film on your phone.
📷Have a proper photograph taken of the two of youSave up. Book a photographer, or ask the friend with the good camera.
📓Keep a notebook of the waiting months, a line each nightFree. Leave it on the pillow so you cannot skip it.
📃Keep the list of names you did not chooseFree. Fold both lists into the baby book once the name is settled.
🗓️Keep this year's wall calendar with everything still on itFree. When December ends, roll it up and label it.
🎞️List every film, song and book you want to show themFree. Five each tonight, on a sheet you keep adding to.
🎧Make a playlist of what you listened to this yearFree. Add twenty songs tonight and name it with the year.
🌸Press a flower from the month they are dueFree. Lay it between two sheets of paper inside the heaviest book you own.
🪙Put aside a coin from the year they are bornSmall cost. Check your change for the year and tape one inside the keepsake box.
🎙️Record yourselves telling the story of how you metFree. Prop up a phone, press record and let each other interrupt.
📞Save one voice message from every grandparentFree. Ask each to leave a message for the baby, and back them up tonight.
📰Save the front page from the day they arriveSmall cost. Ask a relative now to buy that day's paper.
📸Take a photo of the two of you in the same spot every monthFree. Choose the spot tonight and set a reminder for the first of each month.
🖼️Take a portrait of each other on an ordinary day at homeFree. No posing: at the stove, on the sofa, in the doorway.
✋Trace both your hands on a page, with room for a small oneFree. Date it and keep it flat until there is a third hand to add.
✍️Write down how you found out and who you told firstFree. Write it tonight, while you still remember what was said.
🌳Write down the family tree as far back as anyone remembersFree. Phone the oldest relative on each side and ask for names and towns.
🧾Write down what bread, a stamp and a film ticket cost todayFree. Keep this week's receipts and copy the prices onto one card.
✉️Write the baby a letter to open at eighteenFree. One page each, sealed in one envelope with the year on the front.
How this list was compiled
All 100 lines were written for this page; nothing is copied from another list. 10 of the ideas are also, in other words, on another idea page of this site. The rule for getting on the list: it is a plan or a keepsake that is easier to do, or can only be done, before a first baby arrives. Each line gives the cost in words (Free, Small cost or Save up; no prices are given), then the first step. Cards tagged One evening fit between dinner and bed. Left out on purpose: anything about health, the pregnancy, the birth or how to care for a baby, and anything that depends on alcohol, gambling, dieting, cold-water dips, heights, trespass or pranks. No product, place, price, date or rule is stated as a fact. Groups: 25 ideas each for For the two of you, On your own, For the home and To keep for later; by cost, 58 Free, 34 Small cost and 8 Save up. 52 cards are tagged One evening. Read and counted on 2026-10-08. Licence: own work