Acts of Kindness

In many cases it’s not that people don’t have time or resources to spread kindness – it’s just knowing what to do…

This page is meant to be a running list of ideas and links to ideas for Acts of Kindness that will save you time and make it easier to get out and spread some joy!

As you are looking for ideas for spreading love in the world I hope there is something here to inspire you.  Click the links where there are links and please leave comments for the bloggers who shared the ideas originally.  If you have an idea to add let me know and I’ll add it to the list.  Just for the purpose of organization I’m separating “Acts of Kindness” from “Service Projects” here on the blog even though they are both kindness big and small.

FIRST – BIG RESOURCE… 

Check out the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation – the have a HUGE database of Kindness Ideas you can browse through both Random and otherwise.

And for the running list of ideas: 

• The Drive Through Difference – Maybe one of the most popular or well-known random acts of kindness, this one just involves unexpectedly paying for the meal of the person behind you at a drive-through.  A twist on this might be to purchase a gift card with a set amount and ask the cashier to give the gift card to the car behind you.  They can use it toward their purchase or pay it forward.  The “Drive Through Difference” is made popular through many Christian radio stations.  One local (to Northern VA) station, WGTS, provides a letter you can print to pass along explaining your gift.
• Give a pair of tickets to someone – Headed to a baseball game or the movies?  Purchase an extra pair of tickets and surprise a stranger with them.  From Random Acts of Kindness.org
• Give away your extra tickets at the fair – All done playing games and riding rides but still have a few tickets left?  Offer them to someone on your way out of the fair (or hey… even chuck-e-cheese!).
• Free Carousel Rides – A few years ago my daughters and I signed up for the birthday club at the Dulles Town Center Carousel.  It was totally free – we just saw a sign-up form there in the kiosk when we were purchasing tickets to ride.  Each year they send us a postcard for a free carousel ride for each child and up to 9 friends.  Well – since we generally don’t invite friends on our mall visits we thought, why let the rides go to waste?  So each year the girls walk through the food court inviting 9 nearby children to ride with them for free to celebrate their birthday.  The girls get practice approaching people they don’t know, introducing themselves and speaking (with mom nearby of course) and the smiles and squeals of delight from the children and their parents bring such joy to us that it’s become one of our favorite birthday traditions.  And this is another one that is totally cost-free to complete.
• Buy One Get One Free Blessings – When your local grocery store offers buy one-get one free deals place the free items in a separate basket and give them to a family in the parking lot

• Leaving Laundry Detergent at a Laundromat – A blogger over at makinglifewhimsical.blogspot.com did an amazing and inspiring project completing 40 acts of kindness on her 40th birthday in December 2012.  One of her random acts of kindness was to leave packs of laundry detergent at the local coin-operated laundromat.  Make sure to leave a note so the beneficiary knows they can use it (and that it wasn’t accidentally left behind by someone else).  It’s #9 on her list of 40.
• Hiding Dollar Bills at the Dollar Store – This is another one from the fabulous blogger at makinglifewhimsical.blogspot.com from her 40 acts of kindness birthday bash.  She hid dollar bills with notes throughout her local dollar store.  How fun!  Just make sure to run it by the manager first.  This one was #10 on her list.
• Leave a flower on someone’s windshield with a note.  This one was featured Jan 1, 2013 by the Reston Patch on their fb page.  The note with a bouquet of flowers left on a car windshield said “This is a random act of kindness.  Pass it on.”  Love!  If you’re looking for acts of kindness that don’t cost any money this one would be great to do in the spring as your garden starts to bloom.
• Candy Surprises!  After a candy-heavy holiday (Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter) take your leftover candy to work.  Instead of just sitting it in a bowl on the breakroom table how about leaving one piece on each person’s desk in the office!  They’ll know you intended it just for them.  And win-win!  You get the candy out of your temptation zone too!  (Shared by a member of our Project 52 “Focus” on Kindness group).

Love from Little Ones!

Have a little one (say… age 2 – 5) that you’d like to start teaching about acts of kindness or thoughtfulness?  It’s not too early to model and guide them in acts of kindness and allow them to feel how great it feels to do something kind for someone else.  Here are some ideas.  Some of these come from actual kindness projects done by other Project 52 members who have little teeny ones!

• Sweet Starbucks Sleeves – One of our Project 52 Members took her 2 year old to Starbucks armed with some rubber stamps.  They decorated the cardboard sleeves and then this little guy handed one sleeve to each customer as he/she passed through the line.  Mom shared that the whole place was filled with the joy of a silly little boy.  (Shared by Julie Royes Photography)