36 Acts of Kindness

For my birthday, I did 36 Acts of Kindness.  Admittedly, once I announced I was going to do it, I started getting a little stressed out at how I would be able to do it.  I also kept coming up with ideas that cost a lot of money, and I didn't have a lot of money to spend.  As the day went on, things just presented themselves to me and it actually was very easy and fun.  I encourage you to do the same, even if you say you are going to do it in a week or a month.

I was originally inspired to do Acts of Kindness from Katherine Marie's Random Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar.  I was looking there for inspiration and somehow found myself here, which inspired me to celebrate my birthday this way.

Here's a recap of what Hazel and I did.

We even made t-shirts to wear that day:

I made small cards to attach to random things we left behind so people would know they were receiving an Act of Kindness.  These were inspired by some I found on pinterest, then while searching on google, I found the actual blog, and now that I want to link it, I can't find it.  Anyways, these were inspired by the others, but are my own design.

1) Gave away a copy of an awesome cookbook
2) Made homemade muffins for the teachers at the school
3) Bought coffee for the person that was next in line at the Starbucks drivethru
4) Left a box of coffee in the teacher's lounge at the school
5) Placed a $5 Starbucks gift card in a randomly chosen teacher's mailbox
6) Gave homemade whoopie pies to the single dad across the street
7) Brought homemade treats to the chiropractor and her secretary
8) Left kids magazine we were done using in the lobby at the chiropractor's
9) Left a small puzzle with a kindess tag on it on the table at the chiropractor's
10) Mailed a gift to someone in my family (no one in my family should be living without a muffin pan!)
11) Left a Hello Kitty pencil with a kindness tag on the table at the Post Office
12) Offered to help a man carry a large amount of packages into the Post Office
13) Left the tape I bought at the front desk of the Post Office for someone else that might need it
14) Bought a balloon and delivered it to a new girl in the neighborhood
15-17) Left 3 $1.00 bills around the Dollar Tree with Kindness tags on them

18) Let kids buy school lunch (a rare treat in our house)
19) Bought a balloon for Hazel's friend
20) I saw Jr. Mints at the register when checking out because I remembered my husband was craving them the other day
21) Took a friend out to lunch
22) Left a balloon tied to a bench with a kindness tag (I hope someone took it)

23) Gave the mailman a card and $20, something I forgot to do at Christmas
24) Left a bottle of homemade vanilla on a neighbor's porch
25) Left coupons that I wouldn't be using on the shelves next to the items at the store, for someone else to use
26) Gave a $5 starbucks card to the teacher that is always outside in the freezing cold helping with the carpool kids

27) Called my grandmother to say hi
28) Brought a batch of freshly baked cookies, some icing, and sprinkles to a neighbor for her son to decorate
29) Brought whoopie pies to gymnastics to share with the other moms in the waiting area
30-31) Taped $1 bill to the coke and water machine for someone that needed it to take it
32) Left a new travel sized pack of wipes in the diaper changing area in the bathroom at the park district
33) Donated money to the y annual fund
34) Dropped a bag of stuff at good will
35) Taped a smiley face sign in the bathroom at Barnes and Nobles

(I let Hazel help me with the smiles ( I thought some looked like frowns, but they really made me laugh in the end because they were so cute, and I knew if I was the mom that saw them hanging there, I would choose one of them)).

36) Let my teacher of my Lose your Mommy Tummy class know what a difference she is making in my life and how great she is

If you're looking for more ideas, I found this lens on squidoo, with 100 ideas.

Go ahead and try to do an act of kindness today- even a smile can make a difference in someone's day.