45 Ways to Spread Kindness to Others

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One of the most important values in our family is kindness to others. In honor of World Kindness Day (November 13), here are 45 ways that you and your family can help spread kindness in your corner of the world.

  1. Smile at each person you encounter. 
  2. Bring flowers to a colleague or friend. 
  3. Send a funny greeting card to a friend. Use postable.com to make it really easy.
  4. Visit a nursing home and engage in conversation with someone who seems lonely.
  5. Pick up garbage along the roadside or in a park. 
  6. Collect items on Operation Gratitude’s wish list and send a care package to a Veteran, deployed service member or first responder.
  7. Print pictures of your children and send them to a family member.
  8. Set up a lemonade stand and donate the proceeds to help fight childhood cancer with Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
  9. Hold the door for others.
  10. Share inspirational quotes on social media.
  11. Pray for someone. 
  12. Leave colorfully painted rocks with joyful words on them for others to find. Read more about The Kindness Rock Project.
  13. Clean out your closet and donate your gently used clothing to Dress for Success or another non-profit of your choice.
  14. Clean up a mess that you didn’t make (your child’s mess doesn’t count).
  15. Invite your neighbor over for coffee and dessert.
  16. Do your Amazon shopping at smile.amazon.com instead and select a non-profit to raise money for just by shopping.
  17. Write an influential teacher a letter about their impact on your life.
  18. Turn your old shoes into courts, tracks, fields and playgrounds by donating them to Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program.
  19. Make a welcome blanket for a family staying at Ronald McDonald House.
  20. Volunteer to babysit for your friend with young children. Not in a figurative, “sometime” kind of way. Insist they pick a date and hold them to it.
  21. Or conspire with your friend’s spouse to plan a night out while you babysit.
  22. Bake cookies and write thank you notes for your fire and police departments.
  23. Visit CHA or another animal shelter during open hours and give some love to the animals waiting for their forever homes.
  24. Tape a dollar to a vending machine for the next hungry patron.
  25. Reconnect with a friend from your past.
  26. Beautify your town with colorful sidewalk chalk drawings featuring positive messages.
  27. Start your own Free Little Library. Or, find one near you and donate your old books.
  28. Surprise your kids with balloons.
  29. Forgive someone who has wronged you, even if they don’t “deserve” it.
  30. Donate blood to the Red Cross.
  31. Introduce yourself to the lonely mom at the park.
  32. Ask meaningful questions and really listen to what people have to say. 
  33. Send your child’s teacher a gift card.
  34. Shovel your neighbor’s sidewalk when it snows.
  35. Register to be an organ donor. Read Organ donation-the gift from the unimaginable to hear more about the importance.
  36. Compliment your spouse. Be specific.
  37. If you shop at Kroger, enroll in Kroger Community Rewards and choose a non-profit to give back to just by shopping.
  38. Surprise a family member by sending them an envelope full of artwork from your children.
  39. Cook a meal for that friend who just had a baby or neighbor who is dealing with an illness.
  40. Or better yet, organize a Meal Train for them and invite others to join in.
  41. Support one of your favorite local businesses and give them a positive review online.
  42. Leave a kind note (or bookmark) in a library book for the next reader to find.
  43. Take cold water to a crew working in your community on a hot afternoon. Or bring them hot cocoa on a cold day.
  44. Sign up to Ring the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Bell this holiday season.
  45. Share this list with others and help them to spread kindness, too!
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Faith
Faith McGrain thought Columbus would be a pit stop on the road to someplace warmer, but she and her husband (Matt) quickly fell in love with this city. Six years and two kids later, they're still finding plenty of new adventures in and around central Ohio.  Faith works full-time as a communications professional, but her favorite role is being mom to her two energetic children, Tenley (4) and Levi (2). Faith delights in life's simple pleasures: good food, good coffee and good friends. She is a storyteller by nature and dabbles in blogging at Faith Illuminated. She is passionate about living out her faith through simple actions to add more joy to the world.