Random Acts of Kindness

This past December we focused our Advent Calendar on Random Acts of Kindness. It was such a great way for our family to stay focused on doing for others, rather than on the gifts we were hoping to receive. February 17th is NATIONAL RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS DAY. So to help all of us celebrate, I’m providing you with lots of ways you and your family can get involved!

62 Random Acts of Kindness

1. Leave quarters in gumball machines
2. Leave quarters at vending machines
3. Leave quarters at laundry mat
4. Take shopping carts inside
5. Pay for food at drive thru for person behind you
6. Deliver donuts to a friend
7. Take your car mechanic/oil change person a treat
8. Leave dollar bills taped to random toys at the dollar store
9. Leave quarters at the vending machine of the ER
10. Say thank you
11. Smile all day at people
12. Buy a dozen flowers and hand them out to people
13. Call or email the store of your favorite place to eat and compliment them or a waiter who
served you recently
14. Pick up litter in a public place
15. Donate toys or books to a thrift store or charity organization
16. Leave a nice tip for your waiter/waitress
17. Do something nice for another family member (have everyone draw a name out of a hat)
18. Have your kids draw a picture for someone and take/mail it to them
19. Call a long distance relative that you haven’t spoken to in a long time and catch up
20. Compliment your child’s school/church teacher by writing them a note or making a phone call
21. Do something nice for the lunch ladies at school
22. Take a new mom diapers
23. Call a neighbor and ask if they need anything from the store
24. Give another family member a back scratch or foot rub
25. Write encouraging and uplifting notes and leave them around the house in random places
26. Be nice to everyone today (including crappy drivers on the road)
27. Give a sincere compliment to 5 people today
28. Take flowers to those living at a senior living center
29. Say a prayer for someone
30. Leave a treat at a neighbors doorstep anonymously
31. Shovel snow/rake leaves from a neighbors walkway
32. Leave a note/treat for the mailman
33. Hand out bottled water to people at the mall or at a park
34. Donate blood or plasma
35. Take a new mom gift basket to the hospital and ask them to give it to a patient in need
36. Hand out balloons to kids at a shopping center
37. No road rage/honking/yelling while driving today
38. Call a service provider (lawncare, plumber, mechanic, etc.) and thank them
39. Let someone go ahead of you in line
40. Run an errand for a friend
41. Leave a small gift for the school nurse & secretaries
42. Hold the door open for someone
43. Donate coloring books and crayons to a doctors/hospital waiting room
44. Put money in parking meters
45. Offer to get someone a drink from the kitchen or to make them a snack
46. Leave nice comments on the blogs you read regularly
47. Call your parents or another family member and catch up
48. Give a $10 gift card for a restaurant to someone entering that restaurant
49. Watch a neighbors children while they run errands
50. Hand out dum-dum suckers to kids at a shopping center
51. Offer to take a photo of people trying to take one of themselves
52. Put envelopes with a dollar and a nice note inside on random car windshields
53. Tape a package of microwave popcorn to a Redbox center
54. Take in your neighbors trash cans
55. Thank the trash man – throw in a treat or a drink for good measure (not inside the can)
56. Read a book to someone
57. Pay the toll for a few cars behind you
58. Forgive someone
59. Send pizza anonymously to a family you know could use a night off from making dinner
60. Make cards or draw pictures and take them to those in a senior living center
61. Write a loving message with sidewalk chalk for your spouse to see when they drive into the
garage from work
62. Pull weeds for a neighbor, at a church or public park

Here is me and my daughter leaving quarters in a gum machine, dollar bills on toys at the dollar store and coloring books and crayons at the hospital waiting room.

*What other simple acts of kindness can you think of?

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