50 Random Acts Of Kindness Ideas For Everyday Life

Random acts of kindness ideas

Random Acts of Kindness Day falls on 17 February, but the useful version is the one that happens on an ordinary Tuesday with no hashtag attached.

Fifty ideas below, sorted by setting. Most cost nothing.

Post a card to someone who never gets one

Blank inside, designed in house, posted first class.

Guinness themed thank you card with a pint of stout illustration and the pun text Tanks A Million. Tanks A Million (Guinness Themed Thank You Card) £3.87 Thank you and well done greeting card featuring a star design and the wording "You're a Star". You're a Star (Thank You or Well Done Card) £3.87 Thank you card showing an illustrated pint of Guinness with a cheeky message about celebrating with a stout. Thank You! (This Calls For a Guinness Thank You Card) £3.87 Thank You Gold Foil Velvet Greeting Card (A6) Thank You Gold Foil Velvet Greeting Card (A6) £4.49 Landscape thank you greeting card featuring vibrant, colourful letters spelling out "Thank You" for a colleague or friend. Thank You Card With Colourful Letters (Landscape) £3.87 Best Teacher Ever thank you greeting card featuring multiple school subjects in a modern typographic design. Best Teacher Ever (Multiple Subjects) Thank You Card For Teachers £3.87

Browse thank you cards

Free and immediate

  • Let someone out at a junction and mean it.
  • Leave a genuine review for a small business.
  • Tell someone's manager they were excellent.
  • Return a stray trolley that is not yours.
  • Give up your seat before you are asked.
  • Text an old friend for no reason.
  • Say thank you to the person who cleans your building.
  • Pick up litter on your own street.
  • Let the person with three items go first.
  • Hold the door and make eye contact.

At work

  • Credit someone publicly in a meeting.
  • Make the tea round unprompted.
  • Answer the new starter's question properly.
  • Take a task off someone drowning.
  • Send a thank you card to a colleague's desk.
  • Defend someone's idea when they are not in the room.
  • Introduce two people who should know each other.
  • Leave early-finish energy for someone who needs it more.

For neighbours

  • Put their bins out.
  • Water the plants while they are away.
  • Take a parcel in and deliver it, do not wait.
  • Clear the shared path after bad weather.
  • Post a card to the elderly neighbour you nod at.
  • Offer a lift when you are going that way anyway.
  • Share the excess from the garden.
  • Introduce yourself to whoever just moved in.

With children

  • Bake something and take it to a neighbour together.
  • Write cards for the people who work at their school.
  • Sort toys for a charity shop and let them choose.
  • Draw a picture and post it to a grandparent.
  • Make a thank you card for the postie or bin crew.
  • Do a litter pick as a family walk.
  • Choose an item at the supermarket for the food bank.
  • Say one nice thing at dinner about someone at the table.

Costs a little

  • Buy the coffee for the person behind you.
  • Donate to the food bank collection point.
  • Send flowers to someone with no occasion.
  • Pay for a friend's taxi home.
  • Post a card to someone who never gets post.
  • Buy a copy of the Big Issue and say hello.
  • Sponsor a colleague's charity run properly.
  • Give the old but good thing to someone who needs it, not the tip.

Ideas for Random Acts of Kindness Day

  • Set the family a challenge of one kindness each on 17 February.
  • Write five cards to five people who would not expect one.
  • Do the kind thing you have been meaning to do for a year.
  • Ask a colleague what would genuinely help this week, then do it.
  • Make it a habit rather than a day.

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How to write it so it lands

  • Be specific. 'You handled that meeting brilliantly' beats 'you're great'.
  • Do it without telling anyone. The version done for an audience is a different activity.

Where to shop next

Frequently asked questions

When is Random Acts of Kindness Day?

17 February each year. The ideas work just as well on any other day of the calendar.

What is the easiest random act of kindness?

Telling someone specifically what they did well. It takes ten seconds, costs nothing, and people repeat it to themselves for years.

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