Friday 18 April 2014

20 Random Acts of Kindness!


As I mentioned way back at the beginning of February (how quickly has the past couple of months flown by?!) I was going to attempt to do a random act of kindness for each day of the month. So that’s 28 Random acts of kindness... I know, I know, the title of the post states 20 random acts of kindness, well that’s because I did a couple of them a few times. I also did a few that I wasn't sure if they would count so left them out.
 
The definition of a random act of kindness is ‘a selfless act performed by kind people to either help or cheer up a random stranger, for no reason other than to make people happier’ (Wikipedia). My aim was to put a smile on people’s face, to do some nice deeds, start thinking of others more and build up a bit of good karma!
 
So here are my 20 Random Acts of Kindness:
 
1. My friend was having a bad day so I took her daughter who has very challenging behaviour for a day out. So my friend got to have a day off to do some stuff for herself and I had a good excuse to get to see the film frozen!
 
2. I donated blood, I am not a fan of needles and get so anxious every time I do this, but it makes such a difference and it’s so important to keep those blood banks full! 
 
 
3. Used a public toilet that was completely out of loo roll, so left a pack of pocket tissues on the side so the next few people had some.
 
4. My sister lives in London, which is a few hours from me and she has just finished uni. She is juggling bar jobs, working crazy hours and is always tired and skint. So I decided to send her a pamper pack in the post. Lots of girly pampering treats as a surprise to cheer her up.
 
5. Treated all my work colleagues to a cream egg, just cos...
 
6. For the whole month, each time I went to a car park, when I paid for my ticket I would put an extra £1 in for the next person who comes along.
 
7. Wrote letters to poorly children. I found this great website called postpals.co.uk which is a charity that helps you to ‘Post a Smile on a Sick Child’s Face’ by the sending of cards, letters, emails and little gifts to seriously ill children and their siblings. I found this experience really humbling and I also love to send fun things in the post to others especially young children.

8. One of my oldest friends, who also lives 3 hours away was having a pretty rough time, so I sent her a card to cheer her up. I filled it with a note saying how awesome I think she is!
 
9. My friend moved into a new house, I went round to congratulate her but found her stressed out and not sure where to start with decorating etc. The house was a massive do-er upper kind of job. So I took off my coat and helped her strip the wallpaper off in one of the rooms, in a bid to ease her stress and be helpful.
 

 
10. Thank you boxes. Okay so this was probably the most extravagant act of random kindness I did. I filled two shoe boxes with various chocolates and treats and sent them anonymously to my local fire and ambulance stations to say a thank you for the amazing job they do at looking after us and keeping us safe.
 
11. You know when you go to boots and they always seem to ply you with those £5 off vouchers for certain items? Well as I leave the shop I find said product and leave the voucher next to it so if someone wants to buy it they may spot the voucher and get a bit of a discount!
 
12. Sent some anonymous Valentines cards to some of my single girlfriends, incusing my sister and my Nan. I had so much fun with this one, and I am pretty sure no one’s 100% sure who they came from still! (Hi Hayley if your reading this! Busted!)
 
13. I love dogs so much, I actually have 3 of them. So when I was in Pets at Home recently I noticed they had a donation box where you could pet food in for our local animal shelter. So whilst purchasing some bits I got some extra tins of dog food to donate.

 
14. I am still doing this one 2 months later! It just makes me smile too much to stop. The idea of this random act of kindness is to spread some positivity and cheer people up. So I have a load of Heart shaped post-its which I write positive little messages on. They are either really direct, so if someone looks sad I will stick one to their coat or bag (If you are going to do this, be careful you don’t want people to think your bag napping!) or I just leave them randomly on bus seats, public toilets, on windows for people to find.
 
15. Shared my lunch on various occasions, as a last minute gesture to someone else. It always feels good to share.

16. Bought some flowers out of the blue for my mum as she's been a bit poorly.
 
17. Emailed my favourite bloggers, just to tell them how cool they are! I don’t think we do this one enough, give people positive feedback! If you are hooked on someone’s blog or like a particular post, TELL THEM! Guaranteed it well make them smile! I also felt good for telling them.

18. Donated tinned food to my local food bank, with the current financial crisis, there are people who genuinely need support and cant afford the basics.

 
19. Give and Makeup are a fantastic organisation whose sole purpose is to get everyday essentials into the hands of these women and children who need them the most, who are living in refuges due to domestic violence. As a beauty blogger I have tons of makeup, the majority I have barely used and is just sat there. With this in mind I filled a box full of makeup and cosmetics and sent it off.
20. It was one of those rainy, dreary mornings and I was in the queue in Starbucks when an old lady started chatting to me. I found out her husband died not so long ago and she felt a bit lonely so had nipped into town to treat herself. As I bought my drink I left some money behind the counter to treat her to a coffee.

Finally I want to leave you with this awesome video about happiness and gratitude! I hope this post has left you feeling inspired and encourages you to go out and do some good deeds yourself!
 

 


18 comments:

  1. This is an absolutely amazing post and idea! One of the best things that I've read in ages and I couldn't not leave you a comment! Well done on being such a decent person and you know, if what goes around comes around you'll be in for a treat!

    Jaq @ www.lazydaysbeauty.com

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  2. What a lovely idea, this is one of the nicest posts I've read in a while. Restores your faith in humanity.

    You've inspired me to make more of an effort to do random acts of kindness, thank you!

    Rosie x eatreadglam.com

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  3. Aw man this is just absolutely awesome, I feel pretty selfish right now so I'm gonna try and follow in your footsteps. Some really inventive ideas that I wouldn't have thought of either! xxx

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  4. This is amazing! Well done to you, that is a lot of kindness, think I'm going to look into that postpals thing. Think a little gesture like that can really go a long way. :)

    loveablevogue.com

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  5. got a bit of a lump in my throat from this - well done you, such nice little things to do - you should feel proud of yourself!! hope it inspires people to do the same :)
    http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11875549

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  6. What an amazing post! It's so generous of you to do these things, such a great inspiration. This has inspired me to try this out. Thank you. :D

    Toria (toria-creativemine.blogspot.co.uk)

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  7. This is absolutely adorable. I'm definitely going to look up the postpals scheme. x

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  8. Aww this is so cute, good for you! Postpals is such a wonderful charity, I did a blog post about them a month or two ago and some people from the USA and Canada even sent some stuff over, which must have been so exciting for a kid!

    x Hayley-Eszti | www.hayleyeszti.blogspot.com

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  9. This is such a great post and such an amazing idea, I bet all those small acts really made someones day. Makes you think how just one small thing can really improve someones life. This has really inspired me. Well done, and you've deffo got a new follower! :P

    Emma x
    Writing Essays With Wine

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  10. Such a lovely post! Love these random acts of kindness - the world would just be a happier place if we could all be just a little bit kinder. Def made me think how I could spread this kindness too, thanks for the inspiration!
    Bee Happy and Healthy

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  11. great ideas Gemma, things like a friendly smile go a long way but these ideas are wonderful and kind. Keep paying it forward <3

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  12. What a bloody lovely thing to do! :) I'm sure you made a huge amount of people happy with this x

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  13. great idea! we don't do enough to help others these days! Such a kind post, you have done a great job! <3 made me smile reading this xx great blog!! I am a new follower! xx

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  14. this is amazing! You are such a kind soul and this has been a pleasure to read :) x

    kittensintophats.blogspot.co.uk

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  15. This is completely gorgeous, I did something similar a couple of years ago after reading Danny Wallace's book (have you read it?? Get it!!) and you've completely inspired me to have another go at it!
    M x Life Outside London

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  16. I love this! I read it the other day but I forgot to comment! Such cute things to do! AND Karma does come back around! <3 Great work!

    Pure Vanity Photography
    aka Jade-Jenna x

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  17. Wow! Such a fantastic list of ideas! I particularly like the one about sending gifts to the local fire and ambulance stations (my grandad was fireman back for about 30 years).
    I think you should be throughly proud of yourself for spreading so much happiness and kindness around :-) xx

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