9 things everyone in NJ should sneak in before summer ends

It's that desperate time. That time when Labor Day weekend is far too close and the end of summer weighs on us with every missed opportunity. Time seems to slip past us with cosmic sleight of hand. You get a little sad and wish you had done more to enjoy your summer.

Here are nine things to do before the summer of 2016 slips away for good. These are especially for those who are very busy working adults, who took staycations instead of vacations, who lament the fact we can count the days left til Labor Day on both hands.

1) Be irresponsible and get an ice cream waffle sandwich. If you can't get back to the boardwalk to grab one, go to the grocery store and make your own. You'll feel better.

2) Get an offensive T-shirt, the rude kind you find for sale in Seaside Heights, and wear it with a pair of sandals. If you can't do this at the beach, get one from Amazon and wear it all day at the mall or anywhere you go. It will feel more like summer with impractical footwear and a shirt that is low class.

3) For those who haven't been able to make it to an MLB game this summer, realize you still have your Somerset Patriots with home games all this weekend and another on Labor Day, and your Trenton Thunder with a 4 game homestand throughout the whole Labor Day weekend. Not major league but so much more affordable, so much closer to home, so doable, and will be so worth it to get a little more summer feel.

4) Pick a remaining hot day and purposely drive all day with the a/c off and all windows rolled down. Trust me on this, you will automatically be more connected to the final days of summer and you'll remember it fondly in the cold of winter.

5) Get just a little more color. Whether you're already sporting a tan or as pale as a snowman, there's still time to get outside to get just a little color. It doesn't have to be the beach. It can be yardwork or the park. It will mentally make you feel better. If you are too busy consider a tanning bed. It will force you to relax for at least ten minutes and you can pretend you hear seagulls.

(Vin Ebenau, Townsquare Media)

6) Win something, anything, from a boardwalk-type game. I regret that this is the first year I was at the boardwalk several times and didn't play those games. (At Seaside the popular prize this year seemed to be the poop emoji hat, and maybe that's why I stayed away.) If you can't get to the boardwalk to do this, get to a fair or carnival. If you can't get to a fair or carnival, play a crane game in the lobby of a movie theater or go to a Chuck E. Cheese if you have to but DO IT. I'm telling you it will feel more like summer.

7) Sleep elsewhere if you've only done a staycation. Spending a week at a beach house is the best if you can do it. A night in a hotel room anywhere, shore or not, at least makes you know you've done something this summer. If you're tapped out, drink too much and spend the night on a friend's sofa or ask your kids if you can stay over their apartment. I swear just mixing it up a little by sleeping someplace else will psychologically scream summer.

8) If you're completely crushed for time and haven't gotten proper Jersey shore exposure this year, at least buy one of those candles that smells like the Jersey shore (think homesickcandles.com) or even walk down the aisle at your drugstore and quietly pop open and sniff all the suntan lotion.

9) Maybe you couldn't get to the Bruce shows or any huge arena show. There's still great music in a summer atmosphere at Jersey clubs. In fact if you want a true summer feel check out the Summer Stage at Stone Pony in Asbury Park for Friday night's (8/26) Blues Traveler/Wallflowers show or next Friday's (9/2) Willie Nelson & Family. There's nothing like a summer concert and there's still some summer left.

—Jeff Deminski