It's good to have a list of mood boosters for those times you're feeling low, so I decided to create one. Hopefully you'll find something that sounds like fun. C'mon, get happy!
- Eat fairy bread. Bonus points for using cookie cutters to make shapes.
- Buy a hula hoop and practise tricks in your garden.
- Give yourself a neon pink/yellow/blue mani or pedi. Try OPI or Butter LONDON for great shades.
- Watch LEGO Death Star Canteen.
- Buy a colouring-in book or download and print and get scribbling! Recycle as wrapping paper when you're finished.
- Make cupcakes and decorate with extra sprinkles.
- Shout yourself a fresh bunch of flowers.
- Collect free brochures at a travel agency and start planning your next holiday.
- Pack a picnic with sangas, strawberries and pink lemonade. Invite your best friend, Mr Big or fly solo.
- Chew bubblegum. Blow enormous specimens of bubblehood. Pop loudly.
- Buy cute stickers like these. Use everywhere.
- Adopt a fabulous new name, whether you insist your friends call you Starlight Suspenders from now on or you just use it as your online moniker.
- Wear big, bad-ass earrings. Strut.
- Invade a photobooth with a friend. Go crazy.
- Write what's bothering you on notepaper. Place in an envelope. Bury it.
- Book in for a massage or have a friend with magic fingers give it a go.
- Visit a psychic (even for a laugh if it's not your thing).
- Dye your hair the brightest colour you dare.
- Buy a roaming gnome, take quirky photos of him and send him overseas to a hostel with his Aussie pics and a note. Include a return address or Facebook page to hear about his international exploits.
- Tickle someone or something, even if it's your own fancy!
- Dress up for no reason. Take pictures in pin-up girl poses.
- Splurge on luxurious lingerie or spruce up existing dacks by sewing on cute bows.
- Collect pretty papers and try your hand at origami.
- Send a postcard to a foreign land.
- Join Compingclub.com for free and start entering competitions.
- Experiment by adding fruit, Nutella, sprinkles, popcorn, chocolate topping or lollies to icecream. Aim for surprising combos.
- Buy cute fake tattoos and wear them on naughty body parts!
- Become a pinball wizard at your local burger joint or video game arcade.
- Memorise three funny jokes for when you're asked to tell one in future.
- Solve a 9-letter word puzzle.
- Make yourself a soda spider.
- Fill a friend's letterbox with a little present (think Juno filling Paulie Bleeker's mailbox with Tic-Tacs!).
- Rediscover the joys of magic popping gum or hi-sour lollies.
- Read One Red Paperclip or Yes Man.
- Enrol in a fun short course and learn archery, to play the harmonica or to make beaded jewellery.
- Have a hairdresser blowdry your hair.
- Try making balloon animals using a kit.
- Learn a party trick like rolling your tongue or wiggling your ears.
- Build a loungeroom fort from quilts, blankets and chairs. Have a Sex and the City marathon.
- Help someone by replying to a questions on Yahoo! Answers.
- Pop bubblewrap.
- Visit a playground and play on the swings.
- Set yourself an eBay or Etsy challenge. Find the cutest, cheapest trinket and shout yourself.
- Slather yourself in moisturiser and slip between the covers of a newly-made bed.
- Try learning striptease in the privacy of your home.
- Ring or email your local radio station. Request a song, leave a message or enter a contest.
- Learn to say "bite your bum" in several languages, just in case.
- Solve a mystery jigsaw puzzle.
- Crack open a Kinder Surprise egg.
- Make yourself a bento box lunch.
- Hunt for our bobble-hatted hero in a Where's Wally book.
- Try using up odd ingredients at home to create a makeshift cooking masterpiece.
- Sign up to volunteer or complete a challenge for charity.
- Play squares/handball against a wall with a tennis ball.
- Write a letter to your favourite magazine. You may even win the monthly reader prize!
- Go for a long walk with a good friend.
- Pick yourself a bunch of flowers and arrange them in a vase, jar or teacup.
- Wear outrageously large false lashes. To the supermarket.
- Get a firemen calendar for your perving pleasure. "Hello 911? I'm on fire..."
- Grow a jar of alfalfa sprout seeds. Enjoy on buttered bread.
- Assemble a vision board of magazine tear-outs, photos and postcards that inspire you.
- Inflate a whole packet of balloons in your living room.
- Check out a freebies web site and write away for perfume samples, shampoos, coffee and more.
- Evoke your inner minx with leopard print.
- Register to become a mystery shopper. Getting paid to shop = win!
- Apply to be in a magazine using a site like SourceBottle.
- Visit an online job site and apply for the wackiest roles you can find. That giant human hotdog mascot role is waiting for you.
- Explore a beautiful plant nursery or secret garden.
- Wander vintage stores for retro bargains.
- Get a bouncy ball with rabbit ears and make like a bunny.
- Play old computer adventure game, Leisure Suit Larry. Endearing and dirty all at once!
- Jazz up your look with a fascinator, flower or headband. They're not just for the races.
- Learn to breakdance.
- Relax with a chocolate biscuit and a copy of Vogue.
- Sing along to the radio, Singstar or YouTube.
- Write a little "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. Include your pals as characters and email or post them a copy.
- Join a book club (in person or online).
- Find a mentor (try searching online).
- Knit yourself a rainbow-coloured woolly scarf this week.
- Start a miniature dolls house in your wardrobe!
- Browse your local library and borrow a mystery novel or craft book.
- Go on a free food scavenger hunt.
- Have someone else wash your hair. Lazy, but luxurious!
- Indulge in gooey fondue or take fruit and custard out on a picnic. Dipping = fun and delicious.
- Learn all the lyrics of an iconic song, like Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby to bust out at karaoke nights.
- Play correspondence chess or Scrabble.
- Cuddle up to a fluffy animal.
- Go on one of those kiddy rides outside supermarkets!
- Pay someone a compliment. It'll make you smile too.
- Find a Book Crossing book.
- Day-glo underwear -- look into it!
- Create a bucket list at 43 Things.
- Enjoy a pot of exotic tea.
- Have a long, hot soak. Go crazy with the bubble bath.
- Watch your favourite childhood program or film. My picks? Sesame Street, The Muppets and Uncle Buck.
- Sit in a grassy patch of sunshine.
- Start planning your next birthday party and compile a list of presents you'd love.
- Introduce more glitter into your wardrobe, stat! Eyeliner? Nail varnish? Stilettos?
- Play with water balloons in the back yard.
- Read Becks and the City. ; )
How do you give yourself an instant pick-me-up? Share your tips below.
