28 Days of Kindness Challenge – Ideas for Random Acts of Kindness

Kindness Challenge Updated 2021

Let’s talk about kindness for a minute. We’ve recently seen calls for kindness, when what people really means is silence. We’re strongly divided and we have no interest in keeping quiet in the face of injustice. You can see exactly where we stand here. However! We also believe that kindness can exist hand in hand with activism. We can show kindness to the people we love, to the people we like, and to people we don’t even know. With that in mind, we’ve created a list of random acts of kindness to get you in the mood for 28 days of kindess. LFG.

This quote from the poet Toi Dericotte, spoken at the National Book Awards speaks deeply to us.

It’s an ongoing process.

Part of this process involves finding ways we can make a difference in our own lives, and out of that was born our latest challenge.

28 Days of Kindness Challenge

For the month of February, we are challenging both ourselves and you to throw kindness around like confetti. We’ll have a prompt for every day of the month, but feel free to come up with your own ideas.

Ideas for Random Acts of Kindness

1 – Gift the gift of caffeine – Send someone $5 via Venmo to buy themselves a cup of coffee or pay for the person behind you in the drive through line

2 – Make care packages for the homeless – This is a great list of helpful items to include in a care package. You can keep these in your car and hand them out as needed.

3 – Bring back the thank you wave – This might seem silly, but everyone loves to be thanked. Give someone a little wave when they make room for you to merge.

4 – World Cancer Day – Get involved with this global effort to end cancer. Actionable steps are available here, with helpful notes of how long each action will take ranging from “a hot second” on up.

5 – Make it rain compliments – Send five text messages to friends or co-workings saying the nice, genuine things you think about them, but forget to say out loud

6 – Make a loan with Kiva – Kiva crowdsources loans to get financial assistance to underserved areas. You can make a big impact with a small donation.

7 – Make chalk art with encouraging notes – Need a little inspiration? Lovely Indeed has adorable chalk art stencils!

8 – Pick up trash in your neighborhood – Go for a walk and take a trash bag along with you. Easy peasy.

9 – Return carts to front of the store – If you’re not doing this regularly, start now!

10 – Write notes of thanks – Self explanatory! Write a note for a gift received or just for someone’s friendship. We’ve got a printable with eight free thank you notes that you can access below!

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11 – Donate blood – Find a local blood drive here

12 – Make a donation to a food bank – Make a donation to No Kid Hungry, or google the closest food bank in your area. Feeding America has a great list of what to donate and what to avoid.

13 – Learn the name of someone you see often – That security guard you see every day? Your local barista? Learn their name and use it the next time you see them!

14 – Donate clothing – We’ve got a list of places to donate your clothes. Also, consider your local buy nothing groups, which can be found on facebook.

15 – Spend time on freerice.com – The more time you spend on the website, the more ad revenue they generate, which they then turn around and put that money into World Food Programme projects. For more information about how the website works, where the money goes, and how they’ve been impacted by COVID-19, click here.

16 – Give the gift of laughter – When we discussed how to maintain friendships on a recent episode of the podcast, many people said they’re in the habit of sending funny memes to friends. This isn’t something either of us had ever considered, but now I’m starting to save funny images as I find them for sharing at exactly the right time.

17 – Deliver a surprise gift – a sweet treat, an afternoon soda, a pair of cozy socks, or a delicious smelling candle – we know we would be happy to find any of these waiting on our front porches.

18 – Send snail mail to a friend – Remember mail that’s neither a bill or a political ad? Order stamps directly from usps.com. We love cards from Emily McDowell.

19 – Give the gift of quality time – Set aside 30 minutes to hang with your partner or one of your kids one on one. Phones away.

20 – Visit a Little Free Library – Find a Little Free Library near you

21 – Leave a big tip – Our food service workers are working harder now than ever. Give them a bigger tip than you might normally leave to show your appreciation

22 – Donate to an animal shelter

23 – Make a thank you basket for your delivery drivers

24 – Deliver flowers – Even flowers from your garden will work! Level up with a small bouquet from Trader Joe’s.

25 – Run an errand for someone – Send a text to your neighbors letting them know you’re headed to the store and offer to pick up anything they might need.

26 – Write a letter to a soldier – Operation Gratitude has a great list of ways to show your support.

27 – Be kind to yourself – Rest is a right, not a gift. Prioritize your needs.

28 – Support a Donors Choose project – Check if any of the teachers in your life have a Donors Choose project that needs funding. If not you can browse local and nationwide projects that are in need of funding on the Donors Choose website. Since this is a crowdsourcing website, your small donation can make a difference when combined with the donations of others!

Shout Your Kindness from the Rooftops

Megan’s dad likes to say that it’s not a good deed if you tell someone about it. Well, we agree, but we also think that sometimes seeing someone else’s efforts will encourage others to act. We would love for you to share your good deeds and tag is on Instagram! Use hashtag #lsskindness so we can see it all in one place!

We are sure it will be heartening to others to see these acts happening in tiny ways, all over the world. (Okay, we may overestimate our reach, but wouldn’t that be great? All over the WORLD?)

We can’t wait to see your kindness at work. Pin this post to save it for later!