{25 Random Acts of Kindness}

Christmas Family Holidays

I am going back to December with this post, so you are going to have to humor me and my 5 month delay in posting about this!

I first heard about doing Random Acts of Kindness a few years ago, when I stumbled upon this blog post, and fell in love with the idea of doing something similar.  I thought it would be fun to do 25 Random Acts of Kindness a week or so before Christmas, since that time of year can be so busy and chaotic, and surprising people with an Act of Kindness, would be fun for everyone!

Unfortunately, it took me a few years to get my act together and finally do it!  On the last Saturday before Christmas, my family (Carl, Tyson, Madison & her boyfriend George) joined up with my brother and his family to spread some holiday cheer!

This was our list of 25 Random Acts of Kindness:

1. Leave a treat in your mailbox for mail carrier
2. Drop off a few random Notes of Kindness and Candy Canes in random mailboxes wishing
   people a Happy Holiday
3. Drop off coloring books, crayons, activity pads, and small games to the waiting room of Primary Children’s Medical Center Urgent Care Facility
4. Tape quarters to Vending Machines
5. Tape quarters to washers and dryers a the Laundromat
6. Return grocery carts and help people load their groceries at a local grocery store
7. Tape quarters to gumball machines
8. Leave notes/candy canes on cars wishing people Happy Holidays
9. Hand out a $50 Visa Gift Card to someone in the grocery store wishing them a Merry Christmas
10. Handy out balloons and candy canes to children coming out of the store
11. Empty all of our spare change (from coin jars, couch cushions, car seats) in to the red Salvation Army buckets
12. Drop off a Chili’s gift card to a family already eating at the restaurant, wishing them a Happy Holiday
13. Pay for the person behind us in the Starbucks drive thru line
14. Drop off donuts and hot chocolate to construction workers or anyone else working outside in the cold
15. Hand out car wash coupons to cars in line at the car wash
16. Take Donuts to the local fire station
17. Hand out McDonalds coupons to cars in the drive thru lane at McDonalds and wish them a Merry Christmas
18. Drop off a few $5 pizzas to the homeless at Pioneer Park
19. Drop off blankets to the homeless at Pioneer Park or the Homeless Shelter
20. Hand out Starbucks gift cards to shoppers at the outdoor Gateway Mall
21. Hand out $2 bills at the Dollar Store
22. Tape Candy Canes with Happy Holiday notes to ATM’s
23. Drop off coats and and warm clothes to The Road Home
24. Drop off pet food and pet toys to The Human Society of Utah
25. Put $2 bills in random children’s books at Barnes & Noble

We knew that we would have to be flexible with some of our acts, depending on logistics, etc. 

Our first stop was Primary Children's Hospital.  We dropped off big bags of coloring books, crayons, art supplies, activity set and a few stuffed animals.  Photo fail!  I didn't take a picture of all of this.  Mostly because the waiting room was crazy, busy with kids and parents.  Right off the urgent car waiting area was an alcove with a bunch of vending machines.  We taped lots of quarters and notes to them!

 To save this post from getting super long, I will just let the photos do most of the talking!

George, Tyson & Madison outside of Primary Children's Hospital

Quarters at the Laundromat

Madison ready to hand out balloons and candy canes to kids exiting the grocery store

The firemen doing rope drills, just before we dropped off donuts.  They were so grateful!

Handing out $2 bills at the Dollar Store.  We got a few tears from people here and many, many grateful THANK YOU's!

Tyson emptying a large bag of coins in the Salvation Army bucket.  It took a long time!

Quarters on gumball/candy machines

Visa gift card and Chili's gift card (printable found HERE)

We really had such a FABULOUS time doing this!  Just doing a Random Act of Kindness for someone who doesn't expect it, made our day so much brighter!  Hopefully, we were able to make the holiday season brighter for some people that day, and inspired them to Pay it Forward.

Unfortunately, our day was cut a little bit short and we didn't quite finish on that day.  More about the reason for that in my next post.  We were able to finish a few weeks later, however.

Thanks for reading and letting my post about something my family did…WAY back in December!

Ali