It’s Christmas Eve! Can you believe it’s already here? :-) I can’t! This Christmas season has gone SO fast for me and to be quite honest, I was in a pretty “grinchy” mood up until about a week ago! That was when I was stopped in the grocery store by a woman who had been the recipient of one of my Random Acts Of Kindness last Christmas. She happened to spy me in the store and made a point of tracking me down to tell me a story.
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It seems the day I was inspired to give her some extra cash (Christmas Eve) was also the day her 3-year-old grandson had moved in with her. Sadly, her 27-year-old daughter had recently passed away from cancer and the father of the child wasn’t able to care for him any longer. She informed me that she hadn’t had the money to buy him any Christmas gifts and the extra cash had allowed her to do that.
I left the grocery store that day feeling happy and humbled. I was so happy to know that my RAOK had such a positive affect, and I was humbled that up until that moment I had temporarily forgotten the “true spirit” of Christmas. Ever since my chat in the grocery store my heart has been full of gratitude and the holiday season has been shiny and bright again!
This experience also reminded me why I love doing Random Acts of Kindness at Christmas! Even though it takes some initiative, planning, courage, and even a little faith…ROAK’s are a rewarding and memorable part of Christmas that I wouldn’t change for anything!
Instead of talking about me and my family’s Random Acts of Kindness this year….I thought I’d give you all some ideas and inspiration to start doing your own! I promise, if you take the time to do even ONE of the things on the list below, your Christmas will be made that much merrier!
40 Random Acts Of {Christmas} Kindness
- Pay for someone’s layaway.
- Pay for someone’s groceries behind you in line.
- Take flowers to the nurse’s station at your local hospital – the nurses will know who needs them most.
- Pay for the lunch of people behind you at a fast food restaurant or behind you in the drive thru.
- Take lunch, cookies, or cupcakes to your local fire department and/or police department.
- Donate stuffed animals to police and fire departments to use during emergencies to help calm frightened children.
- Leave extra time in the parking meter or fill an expired or about to expire parking meter.
- Put change in a row of vending machines.
- Buy extra groceries for the local food bank.
- Pick up the tab when dining out. Approach the waiter and pay when no one is watching.
- Leave a nice waiter or waitress a generous tip.
- Buy dessert for someone eating out alone.
- Pick up the tab for a random table at a restaurant.
- Tape cash or a gift card on a random gas pump.
- Pay the toll for the person behind you.
- Put sticky notes with positive messages in public places.
- Sing Christmas Carols, play board games, or just visit with senior citizens at a nursing home.
- Tape a plastic bag of quarters to a washer or dryer at the laundromat.
- Purchase some extra dog or cat food and drop it off at an animal shelter.
- Leave a $5 taped to the entrance of a car wash or tape a gift certificate for a free car wash to a stranger’s car.
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- Hand out gloves and mittens to the homeless, or leave them on park benches.
- Bring coffee to construction workers, police on detail, or anyone working outside.
- Pay for the coffee, the toll, or the bus fare for the person behind you.
- Be understanding of traveling parents with the grumpy or noisy kids.
- Sing an employee’s praises to a manager or on a comment card — a little recognition goes a long way.
- Help someone load their groceries.
- Offer to return someone’s shopping cart to the store.
- Let someone go ahead of you in the checkout line.
- Leave a favorite book in a public place with a note that’s it’s free for the taking.
- Hide a few dollar bills around the Dollar Store.
- Volunteer an afternoon at a soup kitchen.
- Paid past due library fees for 5 people and while there, put dollar bills in some of your favorite books.
- Put a comment on someone’s webpage that you really like……let them know you enjoy it. ;-)
- Leave nice comments on Twitter, and Facebook.
- Drop off a toy or game at a hospital or a homeless shelter.
- Donate coloring books and boxes of new crayons to the pediatric wing of a hospital.
- Leave a big bottle of homemade laundry detergent at a laundromat.
- Give a hot drink to the person ringing the Salvation Army bell.
- Leave candy canes on the windshields of random cars.
- Invite someone you suspect will be alone to spend your holiday celebrations with you.
How do you spread kindness at Christmas?
I now carry $5 Subway gift cards to give to homeless. It isn’t a lot but if they are truly homeless or in need, they will get a sandwich. I get subway cards because Subway stores seem to be accessible to anyone … even if one doesn’t have transportation. In the past, I hesitated to give cash and I didn’t feel right just walking past the person. This has been a good solution for me.
The Amish in our community rarely shop at the grocery store that has prices a bit higher than the Aldi store, but on this day a young Amish couple was behind me in the checkout line. They had only two, rather large, boxes of cereal so, I told the checkout person that I’d like to pay for their order too. As she scanned the first box of cereal, a large bottle of Jim Beam whiskey appeared. It had been hidden between the two boxes of cereal! Upon seeing it, the checkout woman asked if I still wanted to pay and… Read more »
I posted the need for money for airline tickets on a community Facebook page to bring an 8-yr. old girl home to her father from Seattle to St. Louis after her mother abandoned her. In 24 hours we raised the $1,500 for her stepmother to go get her from foster care and bring her home in time for Christmas. It was through this social media we were able to tell folks they could contribute at any branch of the bank where the family had an account. We accomplished a big goal through many small donations. Emma had a very merry… Read more »
How amazing!!!
Jillee, Love your posts! One thing I like to do year round is when shopping at the chain store, Aldi’s, to get grocery cart you need a quarter to detach it from all the others. When you’re finished, you get the quarter back upon return. I never take my quarter back, I just leave the cart there. At Christmas it’s nice to hand it off with a smile & a “Merry Christmas!” It’s a tiny thing but every drop in the karmic pool…. One thing I do need to comment on – before leaving extra money in a parking meter,… Read more »
Some of these are great but others, like paying for another table at dinner out don’t make as much sense. For all I would know they could have much more money than me! I’d rather help out someone less fortunate. I’m glad there are lots of ideas like that on here too.
A few years ago, my husband and I decided to treat ourselves at an especially nice restaurant. I had left the table momentarily when our meal arrived. Another couple sitting across the room noticed that my husband waited to start his meal until I returned to our table. When we went to pay for our meal, the cashier told us the couple had noticed my husband’s actions and had paid for our meals. Neither of us has ever forgot that “random act of kindness”.
You never know! A family with more money than you might be going through a hard time and really appreciate the gesture. Or it might just encourage them to make an even bigger random act of kindness. :-) No good deed is wasted!
Thanks for all the ideas, Jillee! Your ideas and info are always THE BEST!!!
Leave a couple of dollars inside of a Redbox or MovieCube DVD or game case when you return it. I saw someone had left a 5 and a Post-It note saying “snacks are on us, pay it forward” in the DVD case. How thoughtful.
Easy to say but a little kind gesture goes a long way.
Awrsome
I love all these great ideas and they will truely make your Christmas season merrier!!! Thanks so much for the daily emails !! Keep it up
I’m a cashier at a grocery store and today this single mom didn’t have enough on her food stamps card to cover the total , so the lady behind her pick up the difference, and I just felt so grateful to witness such of simple but loving act of Charity it really make me so emotional that the lady and I both had tears in our eyes .