We can all work small acts of kindness into our daily lives! They don’t have to cost a penny or take more than a minute. Join us as we share ideas about how you can spread kindness throughout your everyday interactions.
Random Acts of Kindness (Inspiration!)
Only have 5 minutes or no money to spend?
- Compliment the first three people you talk to today
- Smile at five strangers
- Leave letters of encouragement on people’s cars
- Leave a note on someone’s car telling them how awesome they parked
- Hold the doors open for people
- Let someone go in front of you in line
- Help a senior with their groceries
- Hold the elevator for someone
- Write a kind or encouraging message on a napkin
- Offer to take a photo of a couple
- Give someone a gift card that you don’t intend to use
- Give up your seat on the bus/subway/train to another person
- Instead of posting negativity online start a “Positive Gossip” thread.
- While you’re out, compliment a parent on how well-behaved their child is
- Tweet or Facebook message a genuine compliment to three people right now
- Email or write an old teacher who made a difference in your life
- Compliment someone to their boss
- Let them have the parking space
- Take out your neighbor’s trash/recycle bins for them
- Give away items for free on Craigslist.
- Give someone a hug. Ask first!
- Check in daily by text with somebody currently going through a hard time
- When you’re throwing something away on the street, pick up any litter around you and put that in the trash too.
- Relay an overheard compliment
- Offer to return a shopping cart to the store for someone loading groceries in their car.
- Say thank you to a janitor
- Put your phone away while in the company of others
- Have a LinkedIn account? Write a recommendation for coworker or connection.
- Keep an extra umbrella at work, so you can lend it out when it rains
- Send a ‘Thank you’ card or note to the officers at your local fire station.
- Try to make sure every person in a group conversation feels included
- Make plans with that person you’ve been putting off seeing
- Leave a note of appreciation on a local business’ front door
- Stop to talk to a homeless person
- Answer that email you’ve been avoiding
- Talk to someone at work whom you haven’t talked to before
- Help someone struggling with heavy bags
- Donate your old eyeglasses so someone else can use them.
- Learn the names of your office security guard, the person at the front desk and other people you see every day. Greet them by name.
- Send a gratitude email to a coworker who deserves more recognition.
- Say hi to the person next to you on the elevator
- Write a kind message on your mirror with a dry erase marker for yourself, your significant other or a family member
- Text someone just to say good morning or good night.
- Send a friend a funny video from YouTube
- Help someone load their luggage into the overhead bin
- Give someone else the cab that you hailed
- Stop to assist someone who looks lost
- Say something encouraging to a parent who’s struggling with rambunctious kids in a restaurant or grocery store.
- Call a family member just to catch up
- Tag a kindness hero of yours on social media and tell them why you admire them
Have $5 or less to spend?
- Leave money in/on a vending machine for someone
- Insert coins into someone’s parking meter
- Bake cookies for your neighbors, a local charity, a nursing home, etc.
- Pay for someone’s morning coffee
- Pay for someone’s bus/cab fare
- Leave some money in a Redbox movie when you return it for snacks for the next people to watch the movie
- Pay the toll for the person behind you
- Make two lunches and give one away
- Send dessert to another table
- Tape coins around a playground for kids to find.
- Leave a box of goodies in your mailbox for your mail carrier.
- Leave quarters at the laundromat
- Say yes at the store when the cashier asks if you want to donate $1 to whichever cause
- Bring a security guard a hot cup of coffee
- Buy lemonade from a kid’s lemonade stand.
- Be the person who puts a tip in the tip jar at the coffee shop
- Carry a $5 gift card with you and give it someone random
- Buy a lottery ticket for a stranger
More Time?
- Shovel a neighbor’s driveway when it snows, rake their leaves, mow their grass
- Host a Happiness/Appreciation dinner
- Walk a neighbor’s dog
- Babysit for free for anyone who could use the time out alone
- Send a letter to a good friend instead of a text
- Wash someone’s car
- Make a family member breakfast in bed, or bring them coffee
- Collect all the shopping carts in a parking lot
- Write a list of things that you adore about a friend. Send it to them.
- Run errands for a sick friend
- Donate your hair after a haircut
- Leave unused coupons next to corresponding products in the grocery store
- Practice self-kindness and spend 30 minutes doing something you love today.
- Offer help to any parent on an airplane who is travelling alone or who is obviously struggling with their child(ren)
- Post inspirational sticky notes around your neighborhood, office, school, etc.
- Help tutor a struggling student
- Play board games with senior citizens at a nursing home
- Cook a meal or do a load of laundry for a friend who just had a baby or is going through a difficult time
- Make someone a homemade blanket or scarf – give to somebody you know or donate to a local cancer support organization
- Donate or recycle your old laptop and electronics
- Have a clean up party at a beach or park.
- Encounter someone in customer service who is especially kind? Take an extra five minutes to tell their manager.
- Place positive body image notes in jean pockets at a department store
- When you go somewhere to get or do something, ask the people around you if you can pick up anything they need
- Make a handmade greeting card for obscure holidays
- Write kind messages on the sidewalk in chalk
- Invite someone who may be alone over for dinner
- Volunteer at a local charity.
- Write letters to strangers who need them. More Love Letters has a list of people who could benefit from letters of encouragement. Each person has been added to the web site by a friend or family member.
- Collect soda can tabs to donate to Ronald McDonald House for sick children and their families.
More Money?
- Make dinner for a family in need
- Buy flowers to hand out on the street
- Buy a movie ticket for the person behind you
- Pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant
- Bring in donuts or healthy treat for your co-workers
- Leave your waiter a generous tip
- Buy groceries for the person behind you
- Donate items to local homeless shelter
- Invest in your community – shop locally
- Donate items to after school programs/any programs supporting children in need
- Give someone a book you think they’d like.
- Purchase some extra dog or cat food and drop it off at an animal shelter, bring them old blankets
- Take flowers or treats to the nurses’ station at your nearest hospital
- Leave a gas gift card at a gas pump.
- Take all your change to Coinstar and donate your collection to charity
- Contact local children’s hospital and ask what they need
- Send flowers anonymously to somebody who would never suspect it was you
- If you’re an Amazon.com customer you can donate Amazon.com’s money to your favorite U.S. nonprofit through Amazon Smile