Random Acts of Kindness – Birthday Idea

Many of you might remember last month when I asked on Facebook for ideas of your favorite Random Acts of Kindness.

Reader Angela was turning 44 and when asked what she wanted for her birthday she decided she wanted ideas for 44 random acts of kindness that she would do! I thought this was an amazing idea and we all helped her come up with them.

This is a comment from Angela: 

Tiffany,
Thanks so much for posting my quest for performing 44 acts of kindness on your Facebook! I actually got so many new ideas. My birthday was end of sept, but I have been sick w/ the houston crud for 3 weeks so had to take a break. I have performed 41 acts and have 4 more left to do (one to grow on = 45). I have everything I need for them, just waiting on a good time to do them! Here are the acts I performed if you or your followers were wondering:

1. give snacks to city hall
2. leave something for mail carrier in mailbox
3. take tennis balls to dog park
4. take water to runners at Rice stadium
5. give something to homeless person you see all the time
6. take paper towels, food and laundry liquid to the spca
7. same as above except take to the Danbury shelter(my little town)
8. tape popcorn to redbox machines
9. take something healthy to my gym/wellness center
10. tape quarters to parking meters (galveston)
11. leave quarters in gumball machines at stores (but not the ones w/
gum/candy in them–just the toy ones)
12. leave goodies at library
13. bake cookies for the city workers/men that drive the trucks in Danbury
14. give a small potted plant to all my neighbors w/ a note saying “it’s my
birthday! and thanking them for all they do for me
15. take school supplies to low income schools for “midyear restock”
(actually found a group called “the dream center” that does this after
xmas)
16. bring neighbors garbage cans in
17. return carts for people in parking lots
18. post stuff to freecycle.org
19. take basket of books to hospital waiting room w/ note to take if they
want it and when finished leave it somewhere for others to read
20. get on spca’s kroger neighbor to neighbor program so they can start
earning proceeds w/ my shopping
21. get other people to join above program also
22. take goodies to my vet’s office
23. take goodies to post office
24. take goodies to my fire station
25. speak to people about kindness acts and how to pass along
26. give strangers a compliment
27. be a “coupon fairy” and leave q’s next to products
28. leave magazines at nursing homes
29. make bookmarks w/ kind words/inspirational quotes about kindness
and leave them in random books at Hastings
30. let people merge in front of me and smile at them
31. donate money to spca each month I go to petsmart
32. leave server a large tip
33. take snacks to people working in the stores in the mall
34. smile and say hello to people
35. donate clothes
36. tell strangers about promo code to get 1 free night movie/game rental
for redbox
37. hold a door open for people and wait for them
38. make someone laugh
39. pick up litter as you walk around
40. give a homeless person a meal
41. take my recycle bin w cans to neighbor that collects them

The ones I have left to do:

42. send someone a small gift anonymously ( i have ordered a “dog
memory coin” through ” the animal rescue site” for someone i don’t
actually know–only see them through a friend’s facebook who just lost
their loved one–to mail to them—just waiting on it to come in the
mail)
43. take a box of various birthday cards and stamps to nursing home (they
can’t just go out and pick them up anymore–have to count on
someone to take them)
44. clip funny comic strips and tape them to mirrors in bathrooms to make
someone laugh
45. sweep up cigarette butts on the street corners (this one is hard to
do–worried about getting hit by cars and also causing an accident
when people are looking at me trying to figure out what i’m doing.
have done a little on this one, but not to the extent i want)

This has actually been very fun, but didn’t realize how much time it would take to do them all. All the items I “handed out” or left/donated had a note taped to them stating what I was doing and why.

Peoples reactions have been kind of cautious but funny and positive. Sad that people are cautious when others are kind to them–though I totally understand why and also agree with it. It’s what our world has evolved into, but I will continue on!! – Angela

This was such a wonderful idea! Happy Birthday Angela!!