OTHER ACTS OF LOVE & KINDNESS IDEAS
Here are some ideas to get you, your family, or a group of your friends started on a quest to spread love and kindness...
- Leave an envelope with change or a dollar bill attached to a vending machine.
- Give a Starbucks (or other retailer) gift card to a stranger
- Give a handmade gift to a friend, neighbor or stranger with an encouraging note
- Have a bake sale or lemonade stand and donate the money to one of your favorite charities
- Have a garage sale and donate the proceeds to your favorite charity
- Write a letter to someone you haven’t talked to in a while
- Compliment someone
- Bake cookies and give them to your neighbors
- Visit a nursing home
- Leave a treat in the mailbox for your mailman
- Take pet food to a local shelter
- Donate toys to a shelter
- Drop off homemade treats to a Fire Station
- Leave a thank you gift or bring out a cup of coffee to the garbage man
- Pack care packages for deployed soldiers
- Take canned goods to a food bank
- Do something nice for one of your siblings
- Take crayons and coloring books to a children’s hospital
- Hide a dollar in the toy section at the dollar store
- Let someone ahead of you in line
- Give a $10 Publix gift card to the person in line behind you
- Pay for the meal of the car behind you in a drive through line
- Give a little unexpected gift to one of your kids’ teachers
- Bring baked goods to the office at school
- Send a handmade thank you card to someone who has inspired or helped you
- Surprise someone you love by putting lots of hearts on their door with a reason you love them in each heart
- Bring a big brother or big sister kit to a family who just had a baby (sometimes the siblings feel left out)
- Offer to teach a creative skill free of charge to a local group
- Give a spa kit to someone to a new mother or a friend going through a rough time
- Make homemade play dough for a preschool teacher
- Frame an inspirational quote for a friend who needs cheering up
- Give your daughter some homemade lip gloss (or help make it with her) for no reason
- Surprise a veteran with a patriotic card or thank you card
- Bring someone who is sick a “get well kit” with soup, crackers, Gatorade, a magazine, etc.
- Leave inspirational notes in random places
- Surprise a little boy with a Lego set
- Pass out compliment cards
- Bring cookies to a local assisted living or nursing home for the staff
- Help your kids hand make cards for family and friends and hand deliver them
- Buy a $5 gift card at a store and hand it to someone coming in on your way out
- Leave a bottle of laundry soap or put quarters in machines at the Laundromat
- Leave a Ziploc bag with a travel pack of wipes and a few diapers on a public changing station.
- Drop off some treats/snacks at the nurses station at a hospital
- Make a Homeless Blessing Bag (toothpaste, deodorant, soap, socks, granola bars, crackers, other snacks, etc) to hand out if you see homeless people while shopping
- Tape a bag of popcorn to a RedBox machine
- Leave notes on a public bathroom mirror telling people to have a great day
- Leave notes on a public changing table that says, “You’re a great mom”
- Put a dollar bill in a library book when returning it
- Make some hair bows with your daughter and let her hand them out to little girls she sees while you are shopping
- Leave a generous tip and candy bar after eating out
- Drop off a plate of cookies to the help desk at your local library
- Smile at a frazzled looking mom and tell her she’s doing a great job
- Buy a fun-sized candy bars and have the kids hand them out while shopping
- Send and I love you or encouraging text to someone
- Return someone’s cart at the grocery store
- Visit with a neighbor
- Call and check on someone you know lives alone
- Tell someone they are doing a great job
- Call a homeless shelter. Ask what they need and bring it.
- Drop a few coins at a playground for a child to find
- Mail a surprise to a far away friend
- Buy a treat for the cashier when you check out
- Give a reusable water bottle full of water to a homeless person
- Write your 50 favorite things about a friend who has just gone through a breakup
- If you are saying nice things about a person who is not present or just thinking nice things about a person, text them to let them know.
- Buy a meal for a homeless person
- Be generous with compliments throughout the day
- Bring donuts (or healthy treats) to work
- Bring in your neighbors trash cans
- Donate blood
- Donate greeting cards to a nursing home
- Donate prepaid phone cards to a Women’s shelter
- Donate books to a school library
- Donate used clothing
- Drop off bus tickets to a shelter
- Help someone with yard work
- Write a letter to someone who has made a difference in your life
- Visit someone who is sick
- Take someone to lunch or the movies
- Start a piggy bank for a cause
- Offer a few hours of free babysitting
- Mentor someone
- Bring in needed teacher supplies
- Take flowers to a local nursing home to pass out to residents
- Pass out bag lunches to homeless people
- Leave a note of encouragement on a stranger’s car
- Send someone flowers for no reason at all, just because you appreciate them
- Give an umbrella to someone who needs it on a rainy day
- Pick up litter in the neighborhood or park
- Offer to take an elderly neighbor to the store or shop for them
- Give a concert or athletic ticket to someone who doesn’t get to go out much
- Whatever you skill is (painting, sewing, cooking) find ways to use it to benefit others in need
- Introduce yourself to neighbors you don’t know yet
- Compliment a stranger
- Let the person who seems rushed cut in front of you
- Hold the door open for someone
- Say “thank you” a lot
- Stand up for the underdog
- Come to the rescue of someone in need
- Do the task no one else wants to
- Fill up the gas tank and/or wash the car for your spouse and then leave candy or a sweet note on the dashboard for them to find in the morning before work.
- Pick up the tab for a stranger
- Forgive someone
- Make amends for wrongs you have done
- Make CDs for your friends with some of your favorite songs on them
- Send a surprise book to someone from an online retailer
- Selflessly help (and promote) others
- Get up early and write “good morning” and “have a nice day” with chalk on neighborhood sidewalks
- Deliver a warm blanket to a homeless person
- Visit an inner city playground an bring a cooler of drinks, sandwiches, treats to hand out
- Stand outside your child’s class and give a flower to each kid as they enter to give to the teacher (have a vase handy to put them all in)
- Drop off cards, candy, treats to the leaders and employees at local missions/non-profits
- Host a baking party for moms and kids to make goody bags to deliver
- Make homemade yard signs or flags and put encouraging notes in friends’ or neighbors’ yards (best yard, sweet family, etc)
- Buy ten $5 Bibles at the bookstore and pray to find ten families that need one
- Find out when your child’s friend has a game or performance coming up. Surprise them by attending and bringing a poster or other fun way to cheer them on.
- Set up a free hot chocolate or lemonade stand and take donations for your favorite charity
- Have the kids write ten reasons why they love each grandparent and deliver it to them
- Sneak attack daddy’s office and/or car, armed with special notes and a sweet treat to leave.
- Walk a neighbor’s dog for them
- Tell one tired mom that she is enough just as she is. That she’s great at what she does.
- Drive through a bank teller just to give them a treat through the vacuum system.
- Make a note of thanks and treat to hand out to preschool teachers on their way into their classroom to encourage them
- Hide encouraging notes around a playground with $1 bills in them for children to find.
- Pack a cooler of lunches and go around town looking for people to hand them out to.
- Tape quarters to bubble gum machines
- Fill your car with balloons and tell your kids to hand them out one at a time to strangers to make them smile
- Sneak in a friend’s house and clean or organize a room for them
- Swing by your dentist or doctor’s office with treats for the team
- Bring a hot coffee and magazine to someone waiting for the bus
- Keep a basket of notes and goodies in your car to hand out as you see opportunities
- Find a widow and tell her she is loved. Send her a note of encouragement and find a way to help her.
- Wait for a public transportation bus and see if the driver will let you deliver a treat for every passenger for the day.
- Find a family who has a loved one serving overseas and thank them in an extraordinary way
- Give out coupons for free services you can perform for those you love.
- Leave coupons on top of the products at the store