The Lazy Genius Podcast - #429 - The Best Ideas to End the Summer

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

Summer is by no means over, but as Lazy Geniuses, we do care about living in our season and marking moments well. One of my favorite ways to do this is with opening and closing ceremonies. So today, I’m simply going to share a bunch of my favorite ideas that came from y’all about how to end the summer. Helpful Companion Links Order my new book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. The Lazy Genius Facebook Group Learn about The Playbooks here Sign up for the Latest Lazy Listens email. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, you're listening to the lazy genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi, and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 429, the best ideas to end the summer. Summer is by no means over, but as lazy geniuses, we do care about living in our season and marking moments well. The marking isn't about trying to micromanage traditions or being impressive. It's simply about naming what matters. about where we are, giving a nod to the season we're in, and then moving into the next one. One of my favorite ways to do this is with opening and closing ceremonies. So I got this idea years ago watching the Olympics. And I loved how intentionally they opened and closed the games. In fact, I always felt kind of bad for the athletes who had events that happened either before the opening ceremonies or after the closing ceremonies. Now, I don't think it happens a ton. but it does happen. I have seen it happen. And I feel bad for those athletes. It's almost like their event isn't as complete somehow. Maybe I would not feel that way if I was an actual Olympic athlete.

But like, I think you know what I mean. Think about a party that you go to or like a baby shower. I want you to imagine sitting in someone's living room, chatting with friends and strangers and like holding tiny food. It's, you know, it's a pretty good time. But if that party or that show, shower is marked in the beginning by like a really cool decorated entrance. Or maybe it ends with like a big group hug or a toast of something. Like that event, it feels heftier. It feels more meaningful because it had something that opened and closed it. I think seasons are the same way. We're coming up on the end of summer, which it will mean different things for different people. In fact, like there's a small of you who are living in the Southern Hemisphere and y'all aren't even dealing with summer right now.

Others have already started school. Some still don't start school for weeks. Some aren't even attached to the school calendar at all. Some of you are really holding fast to the fact that the last day of summer is not officially until like September 21st or whatever. But the practice, no matter what, it still stands. No matter where you live, how much or how little the school year plays into your season, what the weather's like, or when you decide to declare summer over for now. There will be some end to summer at some point for you. And you can mark that end in a meaningful way, which might bring you and your people a lot of joy.

So today I am simply going to share a bunch of my favorite ideas that came from y'all about how to end this summer. And by the end of this episode, I hope you have like even just one idea to pop on the calendar to close your summer whenever that might be. I asked for ideas on Instagram at the lazy genius and also in our private lazy genius Facebook group. Y'all, that group is huge. It is so big. It has almost 50,000 people. It is popping is popping. The folks in there, they are posting questions and ideas all the time. And the comment sections are fantastic. It's just the smartest group of people. It is a private group and heavily moderated with a lot of group rules that we care about

and enforce. So you can feel confident that it's a group that you will enjoy being in, even if you don't usually enjoy Facebook groups. So if you have been looking for a way to connect with more people who think like lazy geniuses and get help with stuff, the Facebook group is a really great place. We will put a link in there in the show notes. Also, while this episode does lean heavily on ideas revolving around kids and families, not all do.

No matter who is part of your summer closing, these ideas really can be helpful. Okay, so let's jump into some of my favorite ideas to end the summer. All right, there were a few ideas that were like heavy, heavy repeats in the comments and for good reason. It's because they're great ideas. So a ton of folks, including our family, by the way, do either ice cream or smores the night before school starts. And I am in favor of both of these ideas so much.

Sometimes that ice cream or smore meal or dessert or whatever is accompanied by sharing favorite memories of the summer. And sometimes it even expands into like doing s'mores or, you know, ice cream or popsicles or something in the front yard so that neighbors can join in. But ending with a fun, special food experience that also is like super, super easy, was high on a lot of people's list. And for good reason, like easy ice cream, sign me up. I really love how Lauren White put it. She wrote, we usually go out to a special ice cream place and talk about her. favorite moments of the summer. Simple, no prep needed, and it's a good reminder of how rich summer was, even if we didn't do anything we put on our bucket list. That is the kind of energy

that we're bringing to this episode. Good is here right now, you know? Now, you might also take the ice cream idea, like even further. Over time, like Kelly does, listen to this. This is what Kelly shared. Since I was in kindergarten, I am 40 now. Our neighbors in the cul-de-sac I grew up in have gathered on Labor Day for an ice cream party. Everyone makes a homemade ice cream or brings a topping. Now that most of the attendees are adults, there is also usually wine. Ha-ha. The grown-up kids and former neighbors are always invited. It's so lovely. We bookend the year by getting Dairy Queen on the last day of school. I still do this too, even though I am a grown up with no kids. I love this so much. Anytime that we can repeat something simple,

over time, it becomes more and more meaningful. Now, you don't have to force that. You don't have to force the repeat. But when you let something simple just live and breathe, man, some really beautiful things can come from it. Okay, another food that made a big showing was the donut. Holy moly, lots of fun donut ideas. A couple of favorites are this one from Kent and Co. We do practice wake-up donuts a few days or the day before school starts. We wake up at the time we would normally get up for school and go get donuts, then take them to the beach, which is nearby, to eat and enjoy the last day of summer. I love that. And then there's this one from McKenzie Holmes. The one we've done for years is on the back-to-school night, so like open house or whatever,

we come home and we have donuts that I order from our local bakery that are the number for the grade my kids are going into. So the fourth grader would get a four-shaped donut. We come home from back-to-school night. We eat our donuts while I ask them a back-to-school questionnaire. Fun simple questions like who their best friend is, what their top three favorite memories from the summer are, what their favorite song is, what they're looking forward to. I love it because it's really easy to accomplish no matter the energy levels I have that year. And I absolutely love having those answers saved from previous years to look back on. So good. Also, I want a donut in the shape of like 43, please. That would be so fun. Okay,

another closing ceremony that was mentioned a lot was going to the pool and having pizza. Kids are getting worn out swimming and they're getting in that last bit of like regular summer fun and adults are not having to cook. For those of you who start school the Tuesday after Labor Day, which is often the last day the pools are open on that Monday, right? That feels like a very official all closed to summer in such a great way. Jana shared this hilarious memory about the pool. When I was a kid, we belonged to a pool. The annual closing ceremony was all the kids putting on the clothes left in the lost and found and jumping in the pool. That is so amazing. I love that so much. Okay, there were also like a ton of intentional Labor Day weekend vacations and activities.

You know, for some people, school starts before then. It starts before Labor Day. But But that Labor Day, like often at lakes or in the mountains or something, people are doing, you guys are doing like fallish things that help that seasonal transition. So even if school's already started, it really is kind of the marker for you. So I love that trips are intentional markers like that. So great. Welcome aboard via rail. Please sit and enjoy.

Please sit and sit. Play. Post. Taste. View. and enjoy via rail, love the way. Aw isn't something we need to travel for, it's something waiting for us in everyday life,

whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcast. podcasts. Okay, let's get into some specific ideas here. And we're going to start with ones that

are for people who do not have kids or there aren't things that are like specifically family oriented. Okay, I do want to talk to teachers, officially teachers, because the school year does matter to you, but you might not have like your actual kids or want to do something that involves your kids for the clothes. So here are some for teachers, because a lot of you are. And obviously we love teachers so much. So I think that teaching, teaching is one of the more challenging time management and emotional. management professions that exists in this community, simply because a lot of you, a lot of you, you are juggling a classroom full of kids, you're juggling an odd schedule, you often do have your own kids and you have their school needs too. It's not that other jobs are not difficult.

Of course, they are difficult. But I really think that teaching or working in a school system somehow, it has a unique layer that can feel weighty before it's even there. and so maybe especially in this time of year. So I really love that there were some intentional decisions of our lazy genius teachers to mark their summers and enjoy special things. So if you're a teacher, listen up. So this one from Jamie Long, it's just a thoughtful way to view this season. This is what Jamie says. We like to take a day trip to someplace new in our state, maybe a place with a highly rated local restaurant or a fun place to visit on the last Saturday of the summer. As a high school teacher and coach, fall Saturdays are rarely free. So it's nice to get away for a day before the

madness starts. Isn't that such a lovely view of it? It's like holding that last Saturday is something special and spending it in a pleasant, intentional way without resenting what's coming next. Next, B. Barry 95 says, as a teacher, I usually get a pedicure right before going back to school, something I only get for special occasions. Yes, yes, yes. Do you. something special, something that even pamperes a little bit. You're about to be on your feet a whole lot. And a pedicure is a great call on multiple levels. Also very simple to make happen. So such a great one. Okay, next, Bex. Bex writes this. I'm a middle school counselor with no kids of my own, but it's still fun to mark the change of this season. That's exactly right. The last two years, my husband and I have

done something special for dinner the weekend before the first day of school. And then we do Chick-fil-A drive-through for dinner on the first day. It makes the start of the new school year celebratory, and I know I don't have to cook. Excellent, excellent plan. Y'all actually, this is for everybody. Let's just go ahead and do this. If the school year is part of your life, if you have a first day of school, I'm going to go ahead and say that you need to decide what's for dinner now. If school has not started yet, because some of you it has, if it hasn't started, like at some point before that day, Make it as easy as humanly possible by choosing an easy meal. Okay?

You can earmark your dinner, dinner budget. Like if you were to eat out, earmark that for the first day of school for that night. Or just, you know, get simple takeout. Or just know that you're going to eat like eggs and cereal in your PJs. Like it doesn't matter. Make it simple since that day will likely not be terribly simple. It also might hold like emotional weight for everyone that you can't see yet, you know? Plus it's nice to just have it.

decision off the table. So go ahead and be like, we're going to have spaghetti for dinner on the first day of school. Okay, next up. Shelly LaForge says, as a teacher with no kids, my summer closing ceremony needs to set the tone for an abrupt vibe shift. I typically do two things. I go paddle boarding by myself and I deep clean the house, like scrub the baseboards deep clean. The solitude and time in nature help me feel like myself, and the deep clean always helps me feel like I'm clearing out old energy. to make space for something new. I usually feel less frazzled when I start the school year with these two things. Oh, this is so good.

I love this. It also reminds me of another comment I saw where someone hires a house cleaner to deep clean the house the week before school starts, which is also a very smart. Okay, next step is quarter, quarter heist, so sorry, I don't know about this, but your comment sure is sweet. I have always brought my big kids, 12th, 10th, and 7th grade to my preschool classroom. to help with the bulletin boards and assorted cleaning before they go back to school. I love having my very favorite people in my classroom and having recent memories of us

prepping my room for my new batch of babies. It brings me joy to think of my kids being there, especially on tough days with lots of toddlers. P.S. The senior has learned excellent bulletin board skills. So good. So I always wanted to help teachers set up their classroom when I was a kid, like so bad. I think part of why I originally wanted to become a teacher in the first place was to be able to decorate a classroom. Like, oh, it looks so fun. Anyway, including your own kids in that when you are a teacher and you have kids, like, that's really, really sweet. Okay, we are going to move on to another similar category because another type of teacher are the homeschool parents. We have a lot of those in this community and we had several really great ideas specifically for homeschooling families.

Okay, so first one is Mama Mojure. Mama says this. As a home. homeschool family, we have a not back to school day at the playground when local schools go back. And we have the whole place to ourselves. That is so good. And not back to school day. H.S. Harp shares something similar where her family goes on vacation locally after public schools go back since places are way less crowded.

I remember when I was homeschooled that being a big perk. It was like less people around when school went back. It was kind of nice. And then Elizabeth Johnson has a super fun. idea that is it is more closely related to starting school, but it was way too fun to not share. Okay, we homeschool, so our summer schedule is not typical. But every year when we start back to school in the first day, we do a pinata after we finish our school work. It's like a fun start to the school and an end to the random summer mornings of no structure. You guys, a schoolwork pinata?

I kind of want to do that, like just because pinatas need way more airtime. We need pinatas in our lives way more. It's so much fun. Okay, one of my favorite categories of closing ceremony ideas from these comments was just aligning with something already happening around the end of summer. I labeled it when I was going through all the comments. I labeled these lucky. So many of you mentioned lucky things. Like state fairs. I love that. You go to the state fair or the county fair as your summer closes because it's already there. It's like happening. Also, according to. the comments. The Minnesota State Fair, it cannot be beat. So have fun. All of you people in Minnesota. There were also some comments I labeled as adventure ideas, things like doing a staycation at a fancy

hotel that has like a pool at a good breakfast, you know. I love that as a marker to the end of summer. Or this one from Laura Steinhouse. Last year, my five-year-old and I spent the day before school started letting the cards decide our fate. I had prepared two index cards for each portion of our day, the portions being donuts to start, a morning activity, lunch out, and an afternoon activity, and then a movie night. And each card had an option for that part of the day. For example, the first cards said duck and donuts on one, and then the name of a local donut shop on the other. So for each part of our day, I held the cards face down. I had my daughter choose one to determine which place we would go. She loved it, and it was a great way to say yes to so.

many activities I knew that she would love. I'll be keeping this tradition up every summer. This is too cute. I bet that was so much fun to do. Okay, a Joy Stoner had something really similar, actually. Joy says, every year, sometime during the last week of summer, we do a this or that day. I give them two options for all meals and activities, and as they've gotten older, I've made the two options in code, so they have to try and figure it out, things like sweet or savory. So donut shopper bagels would be the answers. Jump or climb slash wet or dry slash cold or hot. The kids have to work together as a team to figure out what we're doing and usually they do well. But as they head into the school year when it may feel like everything is dictated for them, this is really important.

I really love this. When they head into a school year, when everything is dictated for them and they don't have a lot of choices, it's fun to have one last day where they get to choose everything from breakfast to what kind of late-night treat they get and everything in between. It is a long day, but it's one of our favorite end-of-summer traditions. That's really great. And then this is Melissa's version of that's a similar idea. Since my now 16-year-old was going into kindergarten, we started a tradition on the last weekend of summer called the Back-to-School Day of Fun.

Each year, it varies from simple to more complex depending on our season. Well done. But we've never missed a year. My kids sometimes get a say, and we have a yes day vibe. Sometimes we stay local, but we do all the things one last time, like the roller rink, bowling alley, go swimming. And sometimes we venture out of town for a swimming hole or a fun mini golf hotspot. We all look forward to it every year, and it is a sweet day of together time.

That's so great. And then this is a, to me, a gold star idea from Piano Annie. Piano Annie says this. We end this summer with a yes day on the Friday before back to school. All summer long, the kids can earn points towards the yes day budget by doing extra chores, acting kind, et cetera. It keeps them motivated all summer and then there's this wonderful, silly, extravagant clothes to the season.

Dude, this is so fun for externally motivated children. What a fun way to make your summer season have a through line. Like, it's so good. Okay, let's run through some easy and fun ideas that are seriously doable like right now and do not require any forethought at all. The first one is from Blythe Lawler, who says, we chalk the driveway with each person's favorite thing from the summer, the thing they're excited about in the new school year, and a teacher's name. I love that with my whole heart. This is also an easy one, but super sweet from Nicole Roberts. My kids have a fancy spa day at home on the last day of summer.

summer. They take a bubble bath with candles and music and they paint nails. Like, there's no prep for that. That's so easy. Nicole also said that she might throw in a hair trim in there, which is very practical if you are good with a pair of scissors. Nani Patty says, we do a back to school cake and we make wishes for the school year. I saw a back to school or like end of summer cake in several places, and I love the simplicity. But like easy mark. of a celebration in that, you know? We know what a cake with candles is. It's obviously a celebration. And you just do a box cake. It's going to be great. It'll feel festive and generally pretty easy to make happen. Okay, this next one is from Best Gluten Free Life, milkshakes and Memories. We make homemade milkshakes

and watch a movie created of all the pictures and videos from this summer. Summer goes by so fast, and we often forget all the fun moments that we had. Okay, so if you have Apple products, You can probably have your photo app do this for you, or it just might be fun to make this video on purpose yourself. Or if you use the one second a day app, you can make a video of the videos, the one second videos from just all the summer days and just watch that on purpose. So I love this idea. It's so fun.

This one is so magical from Heather Lorimer. We have a shaving cream fight in the backyard. Everyone gets a can of shaving cream. we wear our swimsuits, and when we're finished, we take a photo. You have to take a photo. You have to take a photo. Then I squirt the kids down. It's super fun, relatively cheap and low effort. Y'all, please everybody do this and take photos of your shaving cream fights. I actually want to see groups of like adult friends do this. I think a shaving cream fight, it's like piniatis. We need these things to happen more often. Okay, Ashley Vicaro shared this one. The day before school, we go to a pizza place for the lunch buffet. and we get an unlimited game pass. I know. So wild. What a fun memory that is, though.

Oh my gosh. I bet your kids love that. That's so much fun. Or your grown-up. You could do that as a grown-up. That would also be rad. Again, I would like to envision, like, a group of teachers going to a pizza lunch buffet and then like playing Pac-Man for an hour.

That would be so fun. Okay, we are coming to an end here. And as we do end, I want to share my three favorite comments. So the first is from Kelly Hampton, known as ETST on Instagram. Kelly, Kelly makes beautiful stuff. She is so great, a beautiful story, a very excellent follow. Kelly wrote this. My favorite summer closing we ever did was a campfire closing ceremony, where we handed out cheap trophies to everyone in the family with their summer award, things like most smores eaten, sleep in queen, et cetera. And we still have the trophies.

displayed. As a person who regularly rotates a silly trophy amongst a couple of friends for whoever won the most wordle points that month, I'm a big fan of this. Listen, silly trophies are one of life's best joys. Or if you can't get a hold of a trophy, make like a certificate, like an official looking certificate for like a silly title of something. It's so fun to do something like that. I love that, Kelly. Thank you for sharing. Okay, next is Joanna Bow. Joanna writes, this is hyper-specific, time-consuming, and expensive. But as a family, we ride our bikes from our house to the next town over, which is on a beach path. So it's stunning, and it makes me feel so happy to live where we live. We go to the local bookstore, and the kids each pick out a book,

and then we have an early dinner at a favorite restaurant, and then ride home as the sun begins to set. Now, I know that the particulars of this are not feasible for everyone. But I'm such a fan of place. I love noticing the beauty of where you live, wherever that might be. So this idea, it just made me smile. Plus, there's a bookstore involved, and you know I'm going to love that. Okay, finally, this is my favorite comment of the bunch. It's from CMA 511.

Last year, a friend's kid wanted to do a back-to-school cookout. The kid made flyers, and the family walked around the neighborhood to distribute them. It was held in their cul-de-sac with their grill and shade tent. A couple of us split the hamburger and hot dog costs, and anyone who came brought aside. They invited all the neighbors of every age, and any kids were welcome to share a talent or performance. Sisters sang a song together. We saw dog tricks and a Lego speed build. And one kid showed off his baseball swing.

There was a dance trio to shake it off. And then a kid who came last minute decided to climb a tree as his talent. It was absolutely incredible and I hope we can make it happen again this year. Oh my gosh, you guys, the tree climbing, the tree climbing. I can't get over it. I can't get over it. And see, this was just an idea that started rolling down a hill. It was just a kid who wanted to have a back-to-school cookout, right? Sometimes we don't know what magic we will encounter with a gathering or just a simple moment until we do it. It doesn't have to be repeated, just like this commenter said.

You know, it's like, I hope we get to, but also you had the magic. But being with it in that moment is what seasonal living is all about. Be where you are. See the good that is here now. Live in your season. Celebrate the person you are today, even when circumstances are hard, or living situations are not ideal or family dynamics are tricky. taking time to do little things like breakfast for dinner in your pajamas or going to the Van Gogh exhibit

with a teacher friend before school starts or lighting sparklers in the yard the night before school starts. Those are simple, beautiful ways to mark where you are and say goodbye to this season for now. And those are the best ideas to end the summer. So one of my favorite ways to close one season and open another is to use the lazy genius seasonal playbooks. These are companions for your planner, although I don't even use a planner anymore now. I just use my playbook in a Google calendar. But these are tiny little notebooks that help you name what matters about your next season. Helps you triage, important tasks, and focus on the good of now rather than the stress of later.

The fall playbook, it runs from September to November. They're all three months long. So now is a really great time to order yours so that you have time to reflect on August. and move into September. You can get more info about those at the lazy genius collective.com slash playbooks. And I can say, without hesitation, that these are the coolest, cutest, cutest, most helpful thing that we have ever made.

I hope we sell these for years and years to come. I use mine every single day. I love it. I love it. Okay. Now, before we go, even though we just heard from so many people, we are still, of course, going to celebrate the lazy genius of the week. This week, it is Sandy Ashcraft.

Sandy writes, we recently got, a black stone griddle on our back screen porch, and we have been making a lot of smash burgers. Yesterday, I had the idea to order a huge package of ground beef, and after cooking the amount of burgers we needed, I simply browned the rest of the meat with lots of salt. Don't skip the salt. I agree with that, too, Sandy, and portioned it into bags to freeze. Now I can easily thaw a bag and season accordingly to make tacos, taco salad, spaghetti, sloppy Joe's, cheeseburger soup, et cetera, very quickly. I've decided once that will be what I always do. when we have smash burgers. It's meal prepping without any extra cleanup and very little extra time

investment. So this is an excellent idea. Now, a lot of you probably already occasionally batch cook meat, right? But what I love here is you're pairing that batch cooking with another regular cooking task like making smash burgers. So really, it's just one task. Such a great use of Decide Once and batch it, Sandy. So thank you for sharing and congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. as part of the Odyssey family and the Office Ladies Network. This episode is hosted by me, Kendra Adachi, and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Special thanks to Leah Jarvis for weekly production. Thanks y'all for listening and until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra,

and I'll see you next week. You ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.