50 Random Acts of Kindness
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I’ve really been wanting to be more intentional about blessing people around me with random acts of kindness. I wanted these acts to be more than what would be considered common courtesy, such as holding a door for someone, and I needed things that could be done inexpensively.
I was having trouble coming up with ideas, so I did what any smart blogger would do – I asked the Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers Facebook page fans! They (you) are some smart folks!
photo credit: supersonicphotos on flickr
Here are the suggestions I’ve compiled, based on my criteria – the act should be something that wouldn’t be common courtesy and it should cost less than $5 (though I let slide a few that would cost more than that because I really liked the idea).
50 Random Acts of Kindness
Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments! I’d love to get the list up to 100.
1. Pay for the order of the person behind you in the drive-thru line.
2. Rake leaves or shovel snow for a neighbor.
3. Send friends and relatives notes or letters of encouragement on the back of your kids’ artwork.
4. Leave love notes for your spouse or kids in places like a briefcase or clothing drawer.
5. Bring water, coffee, or hot chocolate to outdoor workers (police officers or crossing guards, for example).
6. Put your neighbor’s trashcans away for them after pick-up.
7. Buy a soda or candy bar for the cashier when you’re checking out.
8. Give a restaurant or coffee gift card to someone (bank cashier, postal worker, homeless person, or random stranger).
9. Send a silly card to brighten someone’s day.
10. Call or email someone you haven’t talked to in a while, just to ask how that person is doing.
11. Send your spouse a text just to tell him something that you appreciate about him.
12. Hide a kind note in a library book.
13. Leave your trade credit inside a book or video game at the used book store.
14. Bring your spouse his favorite drink while he’s getting ready for work.
15. Cut someone’s grass.
16. Bake cookies for someone. (Postal carrier, neighbor, elderly friend, Sunday school teacher, etc.)
17. Leave coins on a parking meter or the machines at a laundry mat.
18. Pay the toll for the car behind you.
19. Help someone load their groceries.
20. Offer to return someone’s shopping cart to the store.
21. Let someone go ahead of you in the checkout line.
22. Let someone pull out or turn in front of you in traffic if it’s safe to do so.
23. Keep unopened kids’ meal toys in your purse to give to kids you encounter (with their parent’s permission).
24. Pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant.
25. Make extra meals to share with a sick or busy neighbor.
26. Offer to keep a friend’s kids so she and her husband can have some time alone.
27. Take a friend’s child(ren) shopping for an upcoming holiday so they can buy their parents a surprise gift.
28. Make hats for kids with cancer.
29. Make cards for nursing home residents…and deliver them with your kids.
30. Pick up trash at the park.
31. Thank a soldier.
32. Make care bags for the homeless – toiletry items, bottled water, food store gift cards, non-perishable/ready-to-eat foods.
33. Buy car wash coupons and give them away.
34. Leave a copy of the Sunday newspaper on your neighbor’s doorstep.
35. Clean the house of a friend or family member while she’s on vacation.
36. Leave extra coupons on the store shelf next to the item they’re good for.
37. Pack a bag for someone undergoing chemo – include snacks, bottled water, magazines, word-find games, a mechanical pencil, and a good book.
38. Tape envelopes with quarters to vending machines.
39. Take care packages to patients with new babies at the hospital.
40. Take homemade cookies or cupcakes to the police or fire station.
41. Invite a homeschool mom friend’s kids over for the day so she can run errands or do lesson plans alone – or just take a nap!
42. Save change throughout the year and bless another family with some extra cash during the holidays.
43. Pack a date-night box (movie rental card, popcorn, soft drinks, movie candy) and leave it on someone’s doorstep. Ring the bell and run!
44. Take lunch to the ICU waiting room.
45. Take magazines, word-find games, or Sudoku puzzles and mechanical pencils to a waiting room.
46. Take flowers to a nurses’ station – for the nurses.
47. Get a group together to make a meal for your local Ronald McDonald House.
48. Give your unwanted newspaper coupons to the lady behind you who’s buying three papers. Chances are, she clips coupons.
49. Fix a make-ahead breakfast for a working/school-not-at-home family to make their morning a little smoother.
50. Purchase a store gift card or a gas card and send it to a friend in need.
You May Also Like:
50 More Random Acts of Kindness (That Can Be Done from Home)
25 Random Acts of Kindness for Your Husband
30 Random Acts of Kindness for Your Kids
Offer to pay more or let the shop keep the change in charity second hand shops.
If you are a public transportion pendler keep a timetable in your purse and offer to lend it to anyone in need. Kleenex, a spare bottle of water and snacks would be good things to share too.
SMILE to people with annoying kids. While most of them are probably just spoiled, they MAY be special needs kids. A smile and a bit of sympathy goes a long way to make their parents’ day.
Great list! So pinning and going to try to incorporate. We definitely need to be a little more giving around here. Thanks for the ideas!
A fabulous list! You’re getting me in the RAOK mood! This week the kids are learning about Kindness. 🙂
I LOVE THIS!!! This has been my plan for some time to use as our advent this year. I plan to TRY each day in December to do something for someone else. I’m trying to find things the kids can get excited about too. Like leaving money taped to gumball machines, using sidewalk chalk to leave messages on people’s driveways, and taking baked goods to friends and neighbors. I can’t wait. We are going to make a list (thanks for the help in this department) and draw from a jar each day…. Wish I could say the idea was all mine, but I got it from https://lillightomine.com/light-em-up-2011.php… ( a great place for ideas for your list).
Thanks for keeping the inspiration going!
Kristy
TheMessExposed.blogspot.com
Love this! I’m working on my own list, so I may have to “steal” some of these!
I love your list!! A few off the top of my head:
– Leave an extra couple of dollars’ tip – especially if you have a small check. (After years of working in food service, I remember most the people who would tip $5 on a $5 check.)
– Make eye contact and smile when dealing with cashiers and other customer-service people. I am always amazed how many are just basically ignored!
– Buy five extra cans of soup or vegetables at the store and drop them at a local food bank.
– Buy extra gloves or mittens (especially when they’re a dollar a pair or something!) and drop them at a local elementary school; most do collections each fall/winter – and often will discreetly first give them to their own students who are without winter wear.
Oh – great list for sure…easy to print, grab a marker and beginning shining the light!
God’s timing is perfect! Doing Kelly Minter’s Ruth study and focused on Boaz’s loving kindness to Ruth! Challenged our girls to step up and do a random act of kindness!
We were recently able to purchase extra cars for the AWANA Grand Prix in case someone needed one. That was fun and easy.
Other ideas: as you’re clearing your spot at Costco or another fast-food type place, offer to help someone else with their trash.
Donate your old phones to battered women’s shelters (phone cards, etc.).
There is an address where you can send post cards/ Christmas greetings to soldiers on active duty overseas, a nice way to include a note of thanks when you are making up Christmas cards for the year. You don’t have to know a specific name, you send them and they are shared by the whole troop. I’m not sure what the address is for Americans ( I’m Canadian) but I’m sure a quick search would turn it up. If I find it, I’ll come back and put it in the comments 🙂
Love this idea, and the further ideas in the comments!
Beautiful ideas! Thank you for the inspiration!
I love love love this! Thanks for sharing your servant’s heart with others. I can’t wait to do the same with my own family.
Ahhh…great reminder. I have fallen behind, terribly, on my RAKs! Thanks for these:)
Kindness will always shine even if someone denies it. Great reminder.
These are excellent ideas!! Thank you SO much for sharing them! I want to begin doing more of this type of stuff with my 4 year old son!
One thing that we already do is to make homemade cards and crafts and take them in to the elderly at the nursing homes and give them out, also spending time with them and listening to their conversations and stories! 🙂
Great ideas!! Since there are 52 weeks in a year, I think I will add a couple more and have my family do one a week. Thank you for sharing these simple ideas to make the world a little better place to be.