This world would be a completely different place if everyone starts showing kindness to each other. There are countless ways you can cheer someone up. Most of them won’t take much time to do.
Get some inspiration from our extensive list of Random Acts of Kindness and spread smiles and kindness wherever you go.
Random Acts of Kindness for Strangers
- Smile at someone who looks sad.
- Give an unexpected compliment to someone.
- Talk to a stranger at a party who looks like they don’t know anyone.
- Write a thank you note to someone who helps you daily – your postman, doctor, policeman, soldiers, firefighters, or trash collector to name a few.
- Make purchases from small-scale businesses and leave an encouraging review.
- Pick up a piece of litter on the street and throw it out.
- Buy a warm meal for someone in need.
- Leave an extra tip.
- Plant a tree.
- Bring treats to a community center.
- Find a shelter for a homeless puppy.
- Visit a nursing home. Read books to them or play board games with them.
- Buy lemonade from a child’s lemonade stand.
- Keep an extra umbrella in your car just to give someone stuck in the rain.
- Learn CPR.
- Donate flowers to a nursing home.
- Help someone struggling to carry his/ her grocery bag.
- Buy a gift card and hand it to someone.
- Complement a parent on their child’s good manners.
- Keep plastic bags filled with some of the necessary items (including snacks and sample-sized toiletries) in your car to give to the homeless.
- Buy local products from a small vendor.
- Give your seat to someone in need in a crowded subway or bus.
- Leave an encouraging comment on a blog post or a Facebook page of a hard-working individual.
- Pay for the meal of the people at the next table and leave before they realize what you’ve done.
- Write a great online review for a restaurant or a shop you love.
- Stop to assist someone who looks lost.
- Help an elder person or a child cross the street.
- Say something encouraging to someone who’s struggling with something, anywhere.
- Distribute disposable water bottles to people working outside on a hot day.
- Pay the toll for the car behind you.
- Say ‘hello’ to a stranger with a smile.
- Answer a question in an online forum.
- Feed someone’s parking meter.
- Recycle things that you see on the road.
- Be welcoming to a new neighbor or new student.
- Leave a nice note on someone’s car.
- Stop to let a pedestrian cross the street.
- Hold the door for a parent with a stroller.
- Send some nice comments o social media.
- Hold the elevator door.
- Leave money on a vending machine.
- Learn to say ‘hello’ in a different language t different people.
- Let another car merge in front of you.
- Offer to take a photo of a couple.
- Leave a positive note in a library book.
- Help sick and old animals find shelter.
- Help someone who has a flat tire.
- Donate your hair after a haircut.
- If you see someone who looks lost and might be needing support with directions, just help.
- Cook an extra portion of the meal for someone who needs it.
- Allow someone to help you. Let them enjoy performing an act of kindness.
- Buy an ice cream cone for a child.
- Feed the birds in a park.
Random Acts of Kindness for Nonprofits
- Take part in a charity walk or run.
- Donate blood.
- Participate in a fundraiser.
- Donate gently used garments to charity.
- Give old sheets, towels, and blankets to an animal shelter.
- Organize a blood donation campaign.
- Donate your used electronics to charity.
- Sign up for a bone marrow registry.
- Become an organ donor.
- Give your used books to the school library or public library in your locality.
- Organize a donation drive for toys, art supplies, coloring books, clothes, etc. for a hospital pediatric ward.
- Organize homeless shelter volunteers.
- Adopt an animal.
- Knit something for the needy.
- Send cards to sick children who are fighting serious illnesses and help to uplift their spirits. Cards for hospitalized kids is a charitable organization that delivers your cards to children in US hospitals while Cardz for Kidz! is another organization that delivers homemade cards to kids around the globe.
- When you buy goods via iGive, your retailer (There are major retailers such as Expedia, Best Buy, Beyond, Bed Bath, etc.) will donate your money to your favorite cause or charity.
- If you’re an Amazon customer, you can donate Amazon’s money to your favorite nonprofit organization at no cost to you via AmazonSmile.
- If you’re a citizen of the US, you can volunteer through Musicians on Call to deliver a performance to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities.
- Bring toys to the homeless shelter.
- Perform a concert at a retirement home.
- Use your allowance to donate to a charity.
- Send a care package to a soldier.
- Write a letter to a wounded or deployed member of the military via Operations Gratitude or Soldiers’ Angels.
- Donate flowers to a nursing home.
- Spend a day at a homeless shelter.
- Take a part in Pack-A-Backpack for a child.
- Pick up litter on the beach or park.
- Donate Christmas gifts to an orphanage.
- Organize a beach cleanup project.
Random Acts of Kindness for Co-Workers
- Mentor someone.
- Tell the colleague a thing you like about him/ her.
- Write a thank you note to someone who has helped your career.
- Give a sick day or a vacation to a co-worker who’s struggling with an illness or caring for a sick one.
- Share your knowledge without hesitation.
- Post sticky notes with uplifting messages from fellow workers’ tables.
- Bring some of your favorite treats and share them in the break room.
- Compliment a co-worker to your boss.
- Make friends with someone who is new to the office.
- Invite a colleague who is alone over the holidays to your place to celebrate.
- Deliver coffee to an office assistant.
- Stay late for a colleague who needs to get home.
- Bake cookies for the office.
- Post your favorite motivational quotes or Bible verse to the company billboard.
- Encourage your juniors to pursue their dreams.
- When others are gossiping about someone, be the person that breaks the flow.
- Add positive comments to the conversation if the situation becomes negative.
- Tell a joke to fix the mood when a colleague is handling a tough task and becomes stressed with it.
- Pay someone’s bus fare.
- Offer a co-worker a ride home.
Random Acts of Kindness for Neighbors
- Compliment a neighbor on the beauty and neatness of their home.
- Offer to babysit your neighbors’ child so that they can have a date night.
- Sweep your neighbor’s sidewalk and surprise them.
- If you know someone is overwhelmed or busier than ever, give them a call when you’re going out to the store to check if they’d like you to pick something up for them.
- Make dinner for a neighbor who just had a hard time.
- Mow your neighbor’s lawn.
- Shovel your neighbor’s driveway when it snows.
- Bring your neighbor a souvenir after a vacation.
- Tell the lady next door that their garden looks beautiful.
- Take your new neighbor on a tour of the city.
- Water a neighbor’s flowers/ lawn.
- Walk your neighbor’s dog when he/ she has loaded with work at the office.
- Make a double batch of the cookies you’re baking and share some with your next door.
- Organize a neighborhood block party so everyone can get to know each other very well.
- Make little gift baskets for the neighborhood kids.
Random Acts of Kindness for Family and Friends
- Say to your parents that you love them.
- Tell a friend/ your partner what you love about them.
- Give compliments to others.
- Share overhead compliments too.
- Send a text to a friend letting them know that you appreciate them for being with you.
- Reconnect with an old friend you’ve lost touch with over the years. Tell them how you miss them and share memories you carry.
- Take a cute photo of your friend/ relative and mail it to them.
- Write a letter to a friend who is having a hard time.
- Be kind and understanding in the middle of an argument.
- Forgive someone who has hurt you.
- Apologize to someone you have hurt.
- Send an encouraging note to your friend.
- Create a holiday to celebrate someone you love.
- Send a kitten as a gift to your grandparents who live far away from your home.
- Send a printed photograph you took of your friend in your childhood.
- Give a friend a book you think they would love to read.
- Send a crazy letter or a postcard to your friend to make her/ him laugh.
- Send your relative/ friend an inspiring article or a blog post that would motivate them.
- Mention your friend in relevant social media posts to remind them you’re thinking of them.
- Do chores for a family member so that he/ she can have extra little free time.
- Write down your friend’s best qualities and how you admire her/ him and give it to them.
- Share ‘You Matter‘ cards with the people you love.
- On Mother’s Day/ Father’s Day, remember if you have any friends who have lost a parent recently, and check in with them. Help them to pass the tough time.
- Put around 100-200 paper hearts in a box and on each heart write something that is special about your friend or loved one. Give them the box and tell them to pull out a heart anytime they feel lonely or whenever they remind of you.
- Read a book to an elderly person.
- Do something special that you know your loved ones will appreciate like surprising them for no reason.
- When you see something good in others, appreciate them as well as share their stories with others.
- Do a task for your friend/ partner that they hate doing.
- Hide a love note in his/ her lunch box, wallet, book, newspaper, magazine, etc.
- Post positive notes.
- Make a music playlist for your friend or relative.
- If someone is not in a good mood remind them of their good qualities and give them a smile.
- Write a sweet and romantic note and put it under your spouse’s pillow.
- Don’t forget to be kind to yourself too.
You might also like to read about Random Acts of Kindness that Can Be Done from Home.
Conclusion
Kindness is a gift that we have to practice by giving. The more we spread kindness, the more receive it. We always tend to believe that the people around us should practice these acts of kindness in order to make this world beautiful. But we often forget that we too are a part of the world, and it is us who should start practicing these first. Why wish for changes in other people when we can change ourselves to be that person?
How nice this world would be if everyone tries to become an exemplary person instead of hoping others to be so? Let us spread love and positivity among others and be an inspiration to them too. Next time you come across someone struggling with something, use some of the above inspirations to spread kindness and make them smile. Also, don’t forget to include some of them in your daily routine and spread positive energy with a heart full of love.
I know I might have missed some great ideas. You might have some more suggestions of random acts of kindness that you’ve been doing already. What would you add to the list?
Don’t forget to add them in the comments!
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