Kindness Ideas

Here is a page of ideas for those who don't know what to do for kindnesses.

I have split this list up into things that are "free" to do and things that will cost money. If you have any ideas, you can let me know and i will add them in myself. 

Kindness Ideas –
Cost
  • Donate money to a charity of your choice
  • Buy a cup of tea or coffee for a friend, neighbour, family member or even a homeless person.
  • Buy a reusable coffee/tea cup for yourself, so you are kind to the planet.(I use a KeepCup)
  • Buy a reusable coffee/tea cup for a friend, neighbour, family member or even a homeless person.
  • Buy a Suspended Coffee for a homeless person at one of these locations (in Australia) .
  • Donate food to a food bank/homeless shelter
  • Buy products that reduce waste ie: reusable, long lasting, and/or re-purpose-able products
  • Make some cookies, cake, savoury food to share at work, or at social events.
  • Go op-shopping or thrift-shopping
  • Buy someone a delicious treat, like their favourite chocolate bar, a muffin, a favourite savoury snack.
  • Leave a 'thank you' gift for the mail-man.
  • Leave a generous tip for a waiter or service person.
  • Crochet or knit blankets for Wheelchairs for Kids.
  • Knit or Crochet tiny teddy bears to go in the Shoe-boxes for Samaritans Purse: Operation Christmas Child.
  • Buy Water for a homeless person during the hot weather.
  • Buy girls/women’s underwear (girls sizes 14-16, women’s sizes 8-10 AUS sizes) for the charity Days for Girls – for girls who have nothing and particularly who don’t have access to feminine hygiene products.
  • Buy and donate disposable feminine hygiene products to homeless shelters like RUAH
  • Buy and give someone in a supermarket a gift-card (for the store you are in) to help with the expensive costs of living. It doesn’t have to be much money, everything helps.
  • Buy and take Balloons to the hospital
  • buy and take activity packs to the children’s ward of the hospital
  • Buy and leave some current magazines at a doctors surgery.
  • Pay the road toll for two other people (Not in Western Australia)
  • Pay for the parking for someone else & leave the ticket at the machine or in the meter.
  • Buy and deliver doughnuts/snacks/chocolate to the local police station
  • buy and donate chocolate/snacks to the local fire-station or volunteer fire-station.
  • Buy someone a meal
  • buy and donate new pencils, rulers, sharpeners, stationary to the local school in case a child doesn’t have anything with them or forgets
  • Adopt a pet from a pet shelter rather than buying one from a pet store.
  • Contact a local library or School library and ask what books they are looking at purchasing or that they need and then buy it for them.
  • Buy a small unexpected gift for someone.
  • Anonymously give gift cards to someone you know needs it and would appreciate it.
  • Leave money for food or drink on a vending machine
  • send 'thinking of you' cards to a friend, neighbour, family member by snail mail.
  • Put together shoe-boxes for Samaritans Purse: Operation Christmas Child.
  • Donate wool to your local craft group or church craft group
  • Sponsor an Animal Charity like WWF or WSPA
  • Buy and donate new tools to a local community Mens Shed project.
  • Grow a veggie patch – and share your excess produce with others.
  • Buy from your local farmers markets.
  • Buy only the current seasons fresh vegetables.
  • Start a local community garden.
  • Do activities and learn skills through your local community centre.
  • Donate toiletries packs to those living on the streets through community groups and projects like RUAH,
  • Buy, collect and give 100% cotton bright coloured fabrics to Days for Girls to be turned into their feminine Hygiene products.
  • Pay for someone’s petrol/fuel/gas
  • Use public transport.
  • Buy, collect and give snap-lock bags to Days for Girls (size of snaplock bags needed are 28-36cm)
  • Buy from local artisans and upcyclers, like Etsy.
  • Buy fair trade products
  • Donate excess food to Food Rescue 
  • Check out “ www.givenow.com.au " to donate a huge range of items.
  • Give your spare change to the charity collectors like Salvation Army, WWF, Children’s Appeals, Telethon, etc.
  • Pay for someone else’s train or bus ticket
  • Pay for Someone else’s medical expenses.
  • Get your 1st Aid Certificate so you can help save lives (This may be different for some people in the USA as it can be illegal in some states. Check out your local state before trying to get a 1st aid certificate )
  • Donate money to Heartfelt – “Heartfelt is a volunteer organisation of professional photographers from all over Australia dedicated to giving the gift of photographic memories to families that have experienced stillbirths, premature births, or have children with serious and terminal illnesses.Heartfelt is dedicated to providing this gift to families in a caring, compassionate manner” 
  • If you want to buy water, by ThankYouWater! Every bottle sold provides a months drinking water to someone in need.
  • Buy some sporting equipment and donate to a sports club or local school. (You can always contact the school or club first to find out what they need)
  • Buy or pay for the Vitamins for a pregnant friend
  • Install Solar Panels on your houses roof, and/or buy some for camping 
    Buy a Solar phone charger for charging your mobile phone.
  • Install small scale wind turbines to create renewable energy
  • Buy Eco cars – electric cars
  • If you are a seasoned traveller and have lots of currency from your different travels, give them to someone heading to that destination, so they have something to get them buy for a coffee when they arrive in country.



Free
  • Make a cup of tea or coffee for a friend, neighbour, family member or even a homeless person.
  • Give Blood
  • Volunteer at a soup kitchen
  • Share your favourite recipe with a friend, neighbour, family member or even on Facebook or Pinterest
  • Volunteer at a Soup Kitchen
  • Spend time with a friend, family member or colleague “distraction free” - put away the phone when you spend time with them and focus just on them.
  • Make someone smile
  • Help a friend wash their dog
  • Recycle
  • Help someone do the dishes after a meal
  • Water a neighbours garden when they are away on holidays, or for the weekend.
  • Leave a thank you note or card for the mail-man.
  • Help friends/family/neighbours moving house.
  • Send anonymous compliment cards to people. i.e. “I love your smile”
  • Give 3 verbal compliments in one day. i.e. “your shirt is a beautiful colour”, “I really appreciate the effort you are putting in around here”, “Thanks for being someone I can talk to”
  • Make someone laugh by sharing a funny joke, picture or video with them.
  • Make your bed (Kids)
  • Put the washing away
  • Go through all your closets, draws, cupboards and give all your unwanted clothes to charity.
  • Go through your kitchen cupboards and donate, what you don’t use regularly, to charity.
  • Put Shopping trolleys away at your local supermarket.
  • Use re-usable shopping bags (May cost a small amount initially, but the re-use means less plastic bags in our environment).
  • Babysit for family or friends, so they can have a night out without the kids.
  • Leave inspirational cards on car windscreens.
  • Leave “thank you for helping our environment by riding your bike” cards on bicycles.
  • Donate items of furniture (in good condition) to Assist-A-Sista where they furnish houses for those escaping domestic abuse.
  • Make 'thank you' cards and give them to other people to use.
  • Donate your old balldresses and tuxedos/suits to a local school in a low socio-economic area (some schools have a bunch of dresses they keep for the school formals/school dance/school ball – I suggest ringing up first to confirm).
  • Help elderly neighbour, parents or grandparents weed their gardens or do it for them.
  • Take old sheets, towels, hand towels, blankets to RSPCA or the Native Animal Rescue (Aka Fauna Rehabilitation Foundation)
  • Give someone a hug (with their permission).
  • Go through your bookcases and donate books to a library or school library.
  • Write a thank you gift for every gift you receive regardless of what it was.
  • Skype with a friend overseas
  • Thank the people who help you at Government Agencies. And if they really made your day, write official letters of thanks and appreciation. This happens so rarely that its a huge deal to get a letter of thanks.
  • Volunteer at a School Canteen or Tuck shop (however, before you volunteer you might need a “Working with Children’s Check” or a “Police Clearance” and this WILL cost money.)
  • Volunteer at an Op-shop/Thrift Shop for a couple of hours a week.
  • Do the 'Dance for Kindness' from LifeVestInside
  • Watch a movie with a loved one, their choice – even if it is Frozen, Barbie or Starwars for the 111th time.
  • Donate old blankets, in good condition, to the Winter Blanket Appeal
  • Give your old work tools to community Mens Shed projects or on to people who need them and could use them.
  • Donate bric-a-brack to your local church or school fete.
  • Volunteer at a local community garden.
  • Keep your kitchen scraps to put in a compost bin, and use the compost later in the garden, instead of buying it.
  • Use a library instead of buying every book new (This can be really hard for me to do).
  • Recycle your old mobile phones
  • send or give 'thank you' notes to medical practitioners who’ve made a difference to you
  • Smile at 10 people today
  • Wash someone’s car.
  • Walk to work
  • Make someone close to you a CD or digital playlist of their or your favourite songs.
  • Donate Household 'bits' to Zonta House Refuge Association as they have a “Start Over Service” for families in need. 
  • Write 10 things you are grateful for everyday.
  • Volunteer for youth camps through the Salvation Army – Jr SAYC or SAYC – Salvation Army Youth Camps (be warned there will be severe sleep deprivation involved! Lol).
  • Become a Heartfelt volunteer (Warning: may trigger some people as this company deals with stillborn and terminal abies)
  • Donate your hair to make into wigs for people with Cancer through the Beautiful Lengths Campaign  
  • Do the Worlds Greatest Shave – cut or colour your hair to raise money for charity. Sign up here: 
  • Make Cards for busy people – so they can give them home-made special cards for birthdays and different celebrations.
  • Volunteer for Meals on Wheels
  • Encourage someone
  • Lend a book to a friend, colleague or family member
  • Knit, Crochet or sew baby items for family, friends or acquaintances who are expecting a child, as your time making something makes the gift more valuable.
  • Help someone make their bed or change their sheets.
  • Volunteer as a designated driver on a night out and DON'T drink alcohol when you take this responsibility.
  • Volunteer as a designated driver for long trips or if a friend is tired.
  • Spend time cuddling and petting an animal (assuming its not a fish).
  • Volunteer for Habitats for Humanity 
  • Sign a petition to protect the environment
  • Support envionmental projects in your community and through your government.
  • Vote for matters that are important to you, whether at state, shire/local area or national government levels.
  • Give shredded paper to people with caged animals ie. Chickens (For nesting boxes), Rabbits and Guinea Pigs, etc.
  • Keep and give old news papers to people with Pets in cages ie. Chickens (For lining nesting boxes), Rabbits and Guinea Pigs, birds (for bottoms of cages) etc.
  • Collect and give old news papers to the local primary school (kindergarten/elementary school), or for high school art classes (you always need newspaper for under your work and for messy kids)
  • Collect and donate old glass jars to a local art class at your nearest high school. It is amazing how many you go through in and out of art class.
  • Take someone to the airport, to save on taxi fares or long-stay parking costs.
  • Surprise someone at the airport by making them a “Welcome Home” banner or by being there to pick them up.
  • Go to the airport to say good bye to a friend of family member as a nice way to see them off
  • Offer to pick someone up at the airport so they don't have to drive after a long plane ride, to save on taxi fares or long-stay parking costs.
  • Pick up rubbish from the ground and put it in the bin (make sure it is safe to do this)
  • Volunteer for “Keep Australia Beautiful” 
  • Start a Train Dance Party and make someones day more fun 
    Added  
    *Volunteer to Sew at a sewing day or Days for Girls in your local area. 
    *Volunteer to pack kit bags for Days for Girls in your local area.

    FOR MORE INSPIRATION CHECK OUT MY "KINDNESS IDEAS" BOARD ON PINTEREST

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