Everything is better with a bit of a theme. I really believe that. It can make boring things more exciting, even on the tightest budget!
Last summer, when I was stuck at home being sick for months, I had what I called my Old Single White Man Summer. I got very invested in a football team (so deeply that I might be an AFC Wimbledon fan for life) and tried a bunch of different types of (non-alcoholic) beer. I also dove into the concept of the one person microwavable meal. Surprisingly delicious actually! My summer went from a forgettable couple of months of being sick, to an experience I don't think I'll forget anytime soon.
The past year, another theme has emerged in my life: living like it's the 90's. Inspired by a deep desire to get the f*ck off my phone for once. Yeah, all I can say is that that remains a work in progress. But I have made a lot of small changes in my life so far and it has actually been really great!
It turns out, my brain loves being off of my phone and putting a little bit more effort into life. It makes me feel much more connected to the activity. And, in turn, it makes me feel more grounded and less stressed in my everyday life.
Now I don't think the 90's lifestyle is something everyone desires, but if you have read this far, maybe you do! So let's have a 90's summer together!! The grungy, homy, analog life of the 90's.
I'll share what I've learned in the past year about different types of physical media and I'll talk about all my favorite 90's activities for summer!
Of course, this post should serve solely as inspiration, please pick and choose whatever sounds appealing to you! I will include as many tips as I can for doing these things on a budget. The nice thing about the 90's theme is that most things can be thrifted, borrowed or loaned! So I hope, even if you have no budget or free time this summer, you can still have a fantastic time! Want to save this blog? Here is an image to pin! (This pretty collage was created by my lovely sister Jorieke, thank you!!)
The 90's
I also want to reconnect to where I live, going out into local nature and making nostalgically slow small talk in the grocery store. Slow, intentional, imperfect and local. That's my personal goal for my 90's summer.
One of my favorite places to get books are little free libraries. These are small cabinets filled books in front of gardens, in parks or other public spaces. You can borrow books or swap them out for books you no longer want. I like how the smaller selection really forces you to take a good look at each book and I've stumbled across so many awesome books that I might never have picked up otherwise. Occasionally, these little free libraries also have things like CD's or DVD's! You can find often find maps of their locations online. I found my local ones on Facebook, but I also like to pay attention around me when I'm driving somewhere new. There is nothing like spontaneously stumbling across a cute cabinet filled with books, magical!
If you are like me, however, and you love a variety of music, you don't have the biggest budget and probably couldn't hear the difference between an MP3 file and an LP in a blind test: CD's are a great option! I used to have a bright pink CD Radio player, so for nostalgia's sake, I looked for a CD Radio player at my local thrift stores. I preferred physical second hand stores over something like Facebook marketplace, because I wanted to make sure that everything worked well in person. I found quite a couple CD players that seemed fine at first glance, but struggled to actually read a CD: so make sure you test your player with an actual CD in it, in store!
So I went a little further into the 90's, and for most people, a little into the 2000's, and opted for DVD's instead. They were more widely available in Dutch thrift stores and at garage sales/flea markets. In fact, one of my local second hand shops sells 4 DVD's for 1 euro. For the average price of a streaming service, I was able to build a library of all my favorite shows. I cannot express the joy of realizing I'll be able to watch Gilmore Girls each fall and I'll be able to put on my favorite Grey's Anatomy episodes whenever I want.
I know a big part of summer is going outside, but for me slowing down also means having fun at home, not always having to be out and about or doing something big like hosting a big dinner. Just small, lovely activities that you can do anytime you feel like it.
By the 90's, cards and letters had already become way less commonplace, but I still argue they fit the theme of our 90's summer absolutely perfectly!
On Instagram one day, I was introduced to the concept of creating a personal curriculum and I adored that! You spend a day (or more!) picking a topic you are interested in and narrowing it down to a sizeable range. For example, I love poetry and after looking through different kinds of poetry, I decided to study the English Romantic Era of poetry. You then go look for sources, I picked up The Oxford Book of English Verse as my guide and found some online sources to go with it. You then decide on how you want to go about your daily learning. If you are learning a language, perhaps you want to learn about 1 topic of words each week: prepare those topics in advance by finding some video's and wordlists and have those ready to go for each week. Personally, I didn't want anything bound by time, so I decided to simply work my way through the poets and poems in The Oxford Book of English Verse in order.
- Create stickers out of old magazines by gluing the pictures onto sticker paper, or sandwiching them between transparent tape.
And unless that's totally your vibe, you don't have to go for a basic puzzle book that your grandma probably has laying around. There are so many fun puzzle books these days! Like murdle or murdoku: sudoku like puzzles where you solve a murder! There are also other puzzle books that revolve around solving a murder via a variety of puzzles, if you want more diversity in one puzzle book!
And if you aren't really one for number based puzzles (like me!) check out something like The Language Lover's Puzzle Book, which has a bunch of fascinating puzzles and brain teasers related to real (and occasionally invented) languages.
Chalk is inherently very fun to me. Turning a gray, boring sidewalk into a fun, colorful oasis? Yes, please! Just puttering around with a couple of colors and drawing whatever you feel like is a low pressure way to spend time outside. And unless you have the grumpiest neighbors ever, it might help you connect to people in the neighborhood in a lowkey way.
A way to spice up your daily walks is to choose a color or letter to be on the look out for, and see how many you can find! Keep an open mind, if a branch is hanging in a T shape, it counts! You can take pictures (a collage with all pictures of your chosen color are very fun to create afterwards!) or just keep track on a little note pad. It's funny how much more accomplished you can feel after a walk where you feel like you've found something new!
Recently, the Dutch bird protection society did a great tour in my local park, experts pointed out the birds (and their songs!) to help us recognize them. I had to wake up early for it, on a Saturday, so it truly holds weight when I say: it was worth it!
Another fun thing that can get you paying more attention in nature, are edible plants. Now, this hobby takes a little bit more commitment, since a mistake can be costly. However, there are plenty of plants that are abundant, very recognizable and delicious! Just like birdwatching, this is a local hobby. Try to look for people in your area with the needed expertise (if you are lucky, you can find a foraging club or course near you!), purchase a local guide or find an online content creator who lives in your country/state/general area. I forage by two rules: 1. only forage little from what is abundant and 2. only put it in your mouth if you are 100% sure!
I also bought a membership to my local history society, which organizes meetings, readings and excursions. And, they also have somewhat of a clubhouse, where I can get a cup of coffee and a chat whenever it's open! It felt like finding a hidden pocket of joy in the city I've lived my whole life!
However, maybe you have a different vibe you are aiming for. So if you have moment, sit down, put on some music and muse about what you are looking for in your 90's summer. Make a mood board, pick a couple nice sounding words or create a color palette: anything to get your brain thinking about what you would like your summer to be.
Physical Media
The change I have made that made the biggest impact, was my return to physical media. I was born in 2001, I basically grew up on streaming! Once upon a time I had a cute little radio CD player and a big, vintage tv that played VHS. But by my early teens, once I had a little bit of spending money, I wasn't buying any physical media besides the occasional book.
People who love physical media will often talk about how special it is to own something in the digital age. How you are essentially building an archive of media you think worth preserving for the future. But although I love that sentiment, I think I mostly love physical media because it is, well, physical.
Scrolling for hours through the Netflix on the couch to find something to watch is no where near as fun as my cabinet of DVD's. Sitting on the ground while I look at the cover art, reading the descriptions and letting the names of the cast slowly move through my memory, remembering where I have seen them before. Contemplating what I want to see, instead of waiting until my streaming service tells me what I should want to watch. I know it's a bit of a buzz-word, but it feels like I am acting intentionally, instead of mindlessly consuming.
The more I started looking for these types of alternatives for my phone, the more I found them!
Reading - Books, magazines, the paper and cookbooks
I think perhaps the most popular form of physical media is the paper book. There is nothing quite like a cheap paperback to keep you company while you wait for a train, take a break on a walk or sit in a waiting room!
I've always loved books, but I quickly realized that reading can come in so many other forms. Magazines for example, are perfect for visual inspiration and articles to read while eating or having a break. And bonus: if you find pretty ones, you can cut out pictures to turn into stickers as a fun activity! By thrifting, I could get a bunch of magazines in one go for cheap. But if you are lucky, your local library might also have magazines you can borrow! If you are specifically looking for something to replace your social media scrolling, magazines are the way to go. The bite size pieces and pictures are similar to a social media, just slowed down, without risking hours of doom scrolling.
Another thing I rediscovered was my local newspaper. Not wanting to spend too much on a newspaper subscription, I figured my local newspaper was a good bet. And it turns out, I probably prefer it over the national news paper! Because the big news topics reach me anyway, through tv and online. But I can't always say the same for my local news. Nowadays, I'm the first to know what's happening in town and it makes me feel more part of the community. A local newspaper doesn't even have to be your local newspaper. If there is a community you miss or feel far away from right now (your college town, where you grew up, the town your grandparents lived), I highly recommend checking to see if you can subscribe from where you live right now.
And lastly, I can highly recommend buying cookbooks or creating your own physical recipe book/card box. I cannot overstate how much more relaxing it is to not need my phone when cooking or baking! Add your own notes with post it's or directly write your adjustments in the cookbook to really make it yours to cherish forever.
Music - Vinyl, CD's, MP3 Players, Radio, Self made playlists and albums
The second type of physical media I got into, was music. I drooled over gorgeous vinyl players and pretty, large LP covers. But financially, I knew I would never be able to build a music library big enough for my everyday use. If you are someone who loves to listen to music intently, love the sound and physical aspect of vinyl and you happen to be lucky enough to be in a cushy financial situation: perhaps vinyl is your best choice! If you are someone who really only listens to a couple of albums ever, it could also be a good choice. Displaying the big covers is a fun way to interact with your favorite albums daily, even if you don't always listen to them. And there is something so calming about the spinning of an LP.
Look out for trusted brands, like Philips and Sony. There are a lot of cheaper players that often look super cute, but won't last long and have noticeably lower sound quality that can get annoying after a while. I eventually found a Sony CD Radio player for €10, in perfect condition. I have had it for three years now, and it still works like a dream!
Building my CD library wasn't very hard either. I purchased most CD's for a euro or two at thrift stores and soon had a bunch of my favorite albums. I went in with an open mind, looked what was there and quickly build a collection of a couple of nostalgia kicks (I bought all the albums of my favorite childhood band, oh the joy of adult money!) and some of my favorite albums. I would recommend not going in with too strict of a list (I know, apologies to the manifestations girls), it's much more fun to be surprised by what is on offer!
If the physical clutter of vinyl or CD sounds like a nightmare to you: I get it. For many people, music streaming was a godsend. If you are still keen to change the way you listen to music to get a little closer to the 90's vibe, I think we should travel to the early 2000 and check out MP3 players.
Picking specific songs and albums, to load them onto your MP3 player is still a whole lot more intentional than streaming! I have not seen many MP3 players in my local thrift stores, but thankfully you can get a new one for around €20, and they come with Bluetooth now! A seriously convenient update.
One way to fill your MP3 player is by ripping CD's the old fashioned way. I have used the software Exact Audio Copy to rip my own collection. It has a small learning curve, but once you've got it set up, it is very easy to use! However, this is another area I would also highly recommend using some of our 2026 tech to improve your experience. Bandcamp and Qobuz are two awesome platforms where you can still buy music files. That way, you are directly supporting artists just like when you buy a new physical album, but cheaper! And if you temporarily cancel your streaming services and put that money to buying files, you can build a good library quickly! And even if the MP3 player doesn't work out, you will own these files forever and you can play them on any device you have!
Movies & Shows - DVD's, VHS, Local Media
Don't worry, I won't go into detail about everything I despise about the current state of streaming services (and trust me, that takes a lot of strength because I have opinions!!!). Let's talk about where to watch stuff outside of your regular old Netflix or Disney+.
If you are thinking of 90's, I imagine you are also thinking of VHS tapes. In some places (aka, I've seen an American post about this) VHS tapes are still widely available at thrift stores. This surprised me, because I remember VHS's mostly as something finnicky and vulnerable to disaster.
But what about Blu-Ray? To be quite honest, I did not know the difference between DVD's and Blu-Ray's, I went straight from DVD's to streaming and assumed Blu-Ray's were just a kind of DVD with extra features. Turns out, they are completely different type of disc! In short, Blu-Ray allows for higher quality video, so you get your stuff in proper HD. If you are someone who loves high quality visuals for movies and you don't mind paying for it, Blu-Ray is absolutely the way to go.
If you want to play both DVD's and Blu-Ray, make sure to get a Blu-Ray player, they will be able to read both formats. Just a regular DVD player won't be able to read Blu-Ray. I went for DVD's only, so I bought a simple DVD player for my TV at the thrift store, but I also bought an external player for my laptop. These are cheap little things, smaller than a DVD case, that you connect to your laptop via USB connection. I love it for watching DVD's in bed, in the kitchen or the garden.
If you'd rather not log your laptop around everywhere, you can also look into DVD players with a screen. Facebook marketplace is often filled with vintage TV's with an internal DVD player, lovely to add in a bedroom or kitchen. But you also have these nice portable players, mostly used for road trips, that are perfect little players you can use anywhere. Put it somewhere when you're cleaning, watch a DVD while you eat take out in the car, watch a movie during a picnic, you get the picture!
Besides switching to DVD, I also subscribed to a national streaming service for a couple of euro's a month. It has way less choice than a big international streaming service, which makes it much more intentional for me. This is just another way for me to feel more connected locally!
Indoor Activities
A Reading Party
Reading is fun in and off itself, of course. But occasionally I like making the activity a little more special by throwing a reading party. This can be done by inviting housemates (or friends who live close) but I usually just throw one for myself (and the cat).
I pick out a lovely ambience video on YouTube from Calmed by Nature or Autumn Cozy, during summer I usually go for a pretty river or otherwise sunny landscape. Autumn Cozy also has a few fun 1970/1980 themed ambiences, which might suit our theme even better. Both these channels create these ambiences by hand and have strong stances against Ai. So you can feel good about supporting artists while you are enjoying some pretty scenes as a background to your book!
I then add a special drink, a book friendly snack (like frozen grapes or chocolate) and lounge around with my book for several hours. Chores? Of course not, it's a party! It creates a sense of calm to plan to read for a good while, instead of trying to read in between things.
Writing Cards and Letters
Dig out those stickers you never actually used and gather your craft supplies to create something beautiful to send to someone! I love the excitement of posting something I know is going to make someone's day.
If you're not sure who to send something to, don't worry! There is probably a charity nearby that knows exactly who could use a little sunshine through their letterbox! I've send cards through a Dutch charity called Feestje op de Deurmat (party on the doormat), which operates entirely on Instagram. You simply comment under one of their posts and you receive an address in your dm's. There are a lot of these charities around that allow you to send things like letters to the elderly or happy cards to cheer up kids in hospital.
Do you not enjoy crafting and aren't that bothered about making something physical but you do love writing? Perhaps you'd like to write a digital letter about (your) mental health to a stranger, to reduce stigma and create a moment of comfort for someone struggling! You can participate via Letters to Strangers!
And if that sounds a little too deep or complicated for your idea of summer, check out the slowly app to find a digital, international pen pal! The best part about the app is that letters will take as long to arrive as a physical letter would. So you still get that slowed down, special experience, but on a budget and without fuss!
Create your own summer curriculum
I know, the best thing about summer as a child was specifically the fact that your braincells got a well deserved break from constantly having to learn new things. But as adults, we spend most of our time doing things we've already learned: way less time is spend learning about new things or developing a new skill.
And the best part about being an adult is that you have full control over your learning experience! But just deciding 'I want to learn about this', without further planning can get demoralizing pretty quickly. This is why lot's of people feel like they require a class or workshop to learn something new. And although I think those are great options, I think they can also be a bit of a pricey luxury not everyone has access to.
The biggest joy of this experience was realizing how much fun I was having learning about new stuff when I could just dive into a Wikipedia rabbit hole whenever I wanted and I could skip whatever I wasn't interested in. If you'd like more inspiration for creating your own curriculum, I found a lovely blogpost here that goes further into detail!
Easy little crafts
I love a one off, quick craft and I think they are the perfect way to spice up your summer even when you have no time off. Here is a list of some ideas!
- Draw or paint cards and bookmarks (seriously, Pinterest is full of awesome ideas!)
- Make friendship bracelets (like these easy cardboard loom bracelets!)
- Paint a wooden Jenga set, you can even add silly little challenges to the blocks to spice up the game!
- Make stamps from potato's
- Make a paper chain garland. I love the whimsy of a simple paper chain, but you can also make other cute things out of strips of paper, like these cute flowers!
- Make a suncatcher or windchime out of old CD's, trinkets and beads
- Create a little magazine (also called a zine) about something you love
- Create a sunprint using turmeric
Board or card games
I am a notoriously terrible game player. Once someone starts explaining rules and I have to wait for my turn in silence: I am zoned out. But even I cannot deny the allure of a night of boardgames. Even if you are just a spectator, or are talking too much to pay any real attention to the game: the coziness of sitting around a boardgame is reminiscent of sitting around a campfire and thus automatically evokes great coziness for me. It's also a nice way to plan a hangout with friends, without spending money.
Want something to do when you are bored on your own? Solitaire isn't the only game you can play solo with a deck of cards. You can find 14 other single player card games in this blogpost I found!
Puzzle books
Of course, most of these activities are for when you have time to spend at home. Puzzle books are a fun indoor activity on the go, great for a break at work, in line for a coffee or your commute.
And if you aren't really one for number based puzzles (like me!) check out something like The Language Lover's Puzzle Book, which has a bunch of fascinating puzzles and brain teasers related to real (and occasionally invented) languages.
Outdoor Activities
The older I get, the more I feel like I need a purpose to go outside. As a child, I remember just stepping outside, wandering till I found something to do. I'd make a parkour for the ants, pick flower leaves to make my own perfume or make up elaborate 'what if' scenario's to play out (if you need someone with urban espionage experience, I'm your gal!). But these days, if I'm going outside it's with the strict purpose of a walk around the block or to tick something off my to-do list. And that, in my humble opinion, is not very whimsical, 90's summer of me. So I've made a list of other things that will get me outside, out into the world this summer. One of my overarching goals is to become comfortable spending time outside, even if I'm just wandering or sitting in a place I'm not sure you are allowed to sit.
Chalk
Besides writing encouraging quotes, creating a little game or pretty drawing, another great way to use chalk is to write down the names of the plants in your neighborhood. Use a plant identification app or local plant guide (check your local library and thrift stores!) to find out their names, write them down and add a little arrow to make it clear what you are talking about. This type of 'graffiti' has been used to increase people's awareness of local plants, which I think is so cool and fun! You can read more about that here!
Car bingo
When I was young, the drive to the campsite was one of my favorite parts of our summer holiday. Staring out the window for hours, with my carefully created playlist keeping me company, I just loved it! If your drives are boring this summer, let's spice them up! My favorite, easy option is to create a car bingo before the drive. The more specific, the better. It doesn't even take much more time, but it's funny how even a drive you've done a hundred times can feel different once you start paying attention in a different way!
Color or alphabet walk
The picture to the right is a collage from a blue color walk, by the Sustainable Teacher. You can read a short musing about this walk, to inspire you, here!
Roller skating/skate boarding
Honestly, need I say more? Roller skating is such a lovely way to make use of the excess of asphalt most of us live amongst! Of course, roller skating with four wheels feels the most 90's and is a lot of fun to learn, especially if you are someone who loves to dance or move to music! If you are lucky, you might even have a place close by that can teach you the basics. If not, no worries, we've got YouTube! Check out this 7 minute video where Dasia Sade covers all the basics for you to get started!
If you prefer to race or skate long distances, you might prefer roller blades, where the wheels are positioned behind each other. That makes them more similar to ice skates (which, I as a Dutchie approve off, of course!).
And of course, skate boarding is also a fantastic activity on wheels to practice during the summer! Skateboards are very easy and cheap to get second hand, if you feel like the wheels aren't rolling great anymore, you probably only have to replace the bearings, which is fairly cheap and easy to do, here is a YouTube tutorial!
Bird watching
Of course, you don't need a course. Another great way to learn about birds is to find a birding guide local to your area! They are often even available as e-books, if you aren't as much of a physical media fan as I am. E-books do have a great advantage, you can load up several guides, and decide which one is the handiest when you get where you are going!
If you want to upgrade your experience, you can buy or borrow a pair of binoculars. It has a bit of a learning curve (I cannot say I have had much luck with it myself) but it does greatly broaden the amount of birds you will be able to spot. And I personally think it looks adorably quaint to have them hanging around your neck.
Foraging edible plants
Not confident enough in your skills to eat what you forage? Try to 'forage' for decor! A bouquet of grasses with some wildflowers, shells, pretty leaves or stones: there are plenty of fun things to bring indoors for a bit of summery whimsy! If you only have small flowers near you, repurpose a small pot (like garlic or a pill bottle) and turn it into a tiny vase for tiny flowers! The smaller, the cuter!
Local events
My favorite way to get out and about is to go to local events. Will they be shiny and well organized? Most likely not. Will you feel a sense of community and have a very unique experience? Very likely! Find events through flyers at the library and supermarket or in the local newspaper! If you still have a Facebook page, this is also a fantastic way to find local events, just look up the name of your town or region to see what people are posting! Fairs, garage sales, theatre performances, guided tours, poker nights, craft or knitting groups, you'd be surprised how much of the social scene you haven't discovered yet!
Can't find anything you like? Consider starting something up yourself! Ask around at the library or any other type of community center like a café or bookstore and see what kind of options other people would be excited about! I recently came across this book about the importance of gatherings and how you can organize your own, and it has rave reviews! So check out The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker if this is something you'd like to learn more about. Of course, if connecting with strangers isn't on your wish list, you can do all of these ideas with friends, family or colleagues as well!
Hopefully this was plenty of inspiration to get you thinking about your own 90's summer! If you enjoy visual inspiration, I have created a Pinterest board with all my ideas and inspiration, which you can find by clicking here!
I will be working on a watch list for a 90's summer next. In the meantime, please leave any inspiration you can share with others in the comments! And let me know if you are going to try anything out of this blogpost. You can do so in the comments or shoot me a message on Bluesky.
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