30 Random Acts of Kindness – 30th Birthday

1. Write a letter to a few friends and snail mail them. Let them know what they mean to you!

2. Attach some gift cards to a note, and leave it on unsuspecting cars at the grocery store.

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3. Give a stranger a compliment. (I’m socially awkward so this was actually a hard one for me. I typically am never the first person to initiate a conversation, but I made a point to do it several times! Pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone is a good thing.)

4. Clean out your closet, and donate clothes. A general rule is if you haven’t worn it in six months, donate! If you live in the Nashville area consider giving to GraceWorks Ministries.

5. Fill the gumball, toy, candy machines with quarters for the next kids that go to use it.

6. Local humane societies are always in need of donations. We brought old blankets and paper towels. Even better if you volunteer time to walk the dogs. (I would have loved to do this, but was in a lot of pain this day, so we just dropped off the goods. Next time!)

7.Buy the person behind you in line coffee. I just gave the cashier $40 and told her to use it as long as it could go. We went to The Well Coffeehouse because it is mission based. They donate to people in need all over the world. Double win!

8.Drop a coffee off to an unsuspecting friend.

9. Bring flowers to a local nursing home, and tell the caregivers to give them to some residents that need a pick me up. Kroger always has flowers on sale! I had extra glasses, so we were able to get several for the price of one at a flower shop.

10. Overtip. The one thing I did want to do for myself was get a pedicure. The heat in the south in mid- July mixed with a 9 month preggo is not a great mix. Thanks to my friend Ashley who treated me to this, and also left the BIG tip in honor of my project! You can do this at a restaurant too. Tip the price of the bill.

11. Fill a bag of necessities and give to someone homeless. (We filled a large plastic bag with toothbrush, toothpaste, bottled water, deodorant, etc.)

12. Park your car farther away from the store, and walk. Not only do you get a little exercise, but it leaves a prime spot for someone who may really need it. (See it really is the littliest things that can make a difference!)

13. Send a gift to a friend, or family member. (I tripled up on this one for good measure!)

14. Smile at everyone you see.

15. Let someone go in front of you in line. (At the coffee shop, grocery store, etc.)

16. Fill quarters in someones parking meter. (I had this on my list, but we never saw in any parking meters. We did this and then realized the parking meters were to charity. So this was a double win too!

17. Hold open the door for people.

18. Call a grandparent. (This made my grandmother’s day! She has dementia and called me back several times, forgetting that I had called, but saying I came across her mind.)

19. Take the day to not say a single complaint. (Ok, this one was actually the hardest for me. So. much. pain. these last few days.. but I made it!)

20. Send out a reconnect text to an old friend.

21. Let someone know they are doing a great job at their job. (Example the barista…)

22. Write a letter to your significant other saying things you love about them and put it in an unsuspecting place for them to find. (My husband does this for me before he leaves for trips, and it always makes my day. He has left them on the steps, in the refrigerator etc. So I just copied his idea back to him. HA! He still hasn’t found it…)

23. Push all the grocery carts back to the cart corral.

24. Place a thank you note in treat for the mailman/woman. (I did this, but we have a different one on Saturday than the rest of the week, so I’ll re-do on Monday for our normal one.)

25. My mom and sister are both teachers. In honor of them I donated to DonorsChoose. This is such an amazing organization. They connect classrooms that are in desperate need with deserving donations. You can filter to search for something specific, or they have the most urgent needs on the homepage. I put in Nashville, TN and Tom’s is currently doubling donations on several of the ones there!

26. Write great reviews on someones yelp or facebook that you really appreciate. Everyone is quick to write a negative review, so it’s nice to write some positive ones to show appreciation.

27. Pay for the person behind you in a drive-thru line. I typically don’t eat fast food, but I had a moment of weakness this week and went to Chik-fil-A.

28. Take the survey at the end of the receipt and give a rave review on service. We had to go to the post office to get stamps and mail out the gifts. They always ask to fill out the survey, and I normally don’t take the time to do so. This was the perfect time!

29. Donate to a food pantry. I asked a couple friends to help with this one. They each gave me a few things and I drove it up there so the donation was a little bigger. This was they were able to help and not have to drive to the bank as well.

30. Give an extra large gift to someone for a birthday or holiday. My sister’s birthday was a few days ago and she’s moving across the country this week. I got her a major splurge present that I know she wouldn’t get herself. (I can’t reveal just yet what it was because she won’t get it for a couple more days..)

Is there a random act of kindness you like to do? I had so much fun doing this I would love to hear ideas so I can incorporate them more into my life.

Big thanks to my friends that came along for parts of the day, and did some of these with me. It made my day so much better. Also, a friend of mine surprised me from coming in town from St.Louis and was nice enough to drive all this way just to participate and hang in comfy clothes at the house. Of course my husband still spoiled me, because that’s just what he does.

How amazing were these cupcakes and sugar cookie squash blossom necklace he got me?!

Anyway, I think 30 is going to be just fine. Hope ya’ll have a great week!