There is no better feeling than making someone happy, and it’s sometimes the smallest acts of kindness that end in the biggest smiles. So I thought, why not share a list of things that I know would make me smile 🙂 If you’re looking for a random act of kindness, you’ve come to the right place!
1. Send a good morning text. Let them know that they were the first thing you thought of when you woke up.
2. Offer up your seat in a crowded place.
3. Bring your flatmate/loved one/sibling/friend breakfast in bed. Bonus points if it’s something fancier than a bowl of cereal – think French Toast, Eggs Benedict and freshly squeezed orange juice.
4. Leave post-it notes on the bathroom mirror, on the fridge, at the end of the stairs, on the front of the book they are currently reading. It doesn’t matter where or what they say, just make sure to sign it with your name and a smiley face 🙂
5. Surprise them with chocolate.
6. Surprise them with tea, just the way they like it.
7. Surprise them with wine. Or a bottle of anything for that matter. Nothing says happiness like a glass bottle maple syrup, or their favourite perfume.
8. Mail a hand-written letter.
9. Turn up the volume when their favourite song comes on the radio, even if you really dislike it.
10. Tell a joke. The cornier the better.
11. Act out a scene from a musical complete with singing and obligatory jazz hands. Lose all your inhibitions and give it your all.
12. Compliment a specific feature. Don’t be vague. Tell them how much their eyes sparkle when they laugh; how gorgeous their hair is when it gets tossed in the wind; how cute their nose looks when it goes red from the cold.
13. Lend them your favourite book with your favourite quotes or passages highlighted.
14. Hold the door for someone, even if they are 10 seconds away from reaching it.
15. Take a highly unflattering selfie of yours truly, and forward it to your nearest and dearest(s).
16. Share a taxi with a stranger when the bus or train is full. Pay the full fare without telling them.
17. Find a cute baby laughing on YouTube and send it to a Moaning Minnie. Laughing babies have the magical power to make even the grumpiest of people crack a smile!
18. Create a scrap book or collage of your favourite memories together.
19. Order a bouncy castle to be delivered for your best friend’s birthday no matter what age he/she is.
20. Offer to help a colleague with difficult projects
21. Volunteer for a day at a nursing home. Listen. Ask Questions. about the past. Learn from your elders. Share some of your own stories. People of all ages love a good story.
22. Pick up the thing that someone has dropped even if they are already bending down to get it. Hand it to them with a smile, and say “you’re very welcome” when they thank you.
23. Ask someone if they need anything when you’re on the way to the store.
24. Express your genuine happiness for someone when they tell you their great news.
25. Buy the person behind you in the queue a coffee. Leave a note on the receipt wishing them a wonderful day and asking them to pay it forward.
26. When you are walking back to your car in a full parking lot, signal to someone who is looking for a space to follow you.
27. Stop and buy a cake, lemonade, or toy from that little kid with a stand outside his/her house.
28. Figure out when it’s someone’s half birthday, and surprise them with a cupcake and a candle!
29. Stop and listen to a great busker on the street. Applaud when they have finished, and throw a little more change than you usually would into their hat!
30. Ask a stranger to dance at a party.
31. Learn how to dance for a loved one.
32. Let someone go ahead of you in a long line at the grocery store.
33. Let your little sister use your make-up. Do her make-up while sharing the important tip that less is more.
34. Let your little brother play video games with you. Allow him to lose a few times, then let him win.
35. Leave your best friend a long voicemail explaining in acute detail what you are doing that very moment.
36. Express an interest in someone’s passion. Let them teach you the basics.
37. Share your umbrella with a stranger at the bus stop on a rainy day.
38. Refill the stapler with staples, or the printer with paper once you have finished using it.
39. Leave a generous tip for a charming and hardworking waiter/waitress.
40. Reminisce on their childhood with them. Sing theme tunes from their favourite childhood tv shows. Google their favourite kid actors to see where they are today.
41. Forgive someone when they apologise and move on.
42. Ask someone older than you for advice.
43. Ask someone younger than you for advice.
44. Send homemade Christmas cards to friends and family.
45. Make a care package for a friend or family member living abroad full of items that they can only come across at home.
46. Fill a mason jar full of motivational quotes with the instructions: ‘For when the sun is behind the clouds..’
47. Send an email to the person behind a blog or website you follow, introducing yourself and telling them why you like their content.
48. Host a hot chocolate party and/or pancake party.
49. Participate in Operation Christmas Child (The Christmas Shoebox Appeal in Ireland).
50. Help someone carrying a heavy load. Take the heavier bag/box and don’t complain once.
51. Create a playlist of Christmas songs, and send it to a friend in July.
52. Praise a young child when they get good grades.
53. Remember all the names of the servers in your local café or restaurant, and use them consistently.
54. Parent your parents every once in a while. Bring them out for dinner. Do the washing up. Put on a movie, make them tea, give them cookies, and remind them they are not allowed to move until every crumb is finished.
55. Don’t be mean with your hugs. Remember to always offer and never take a hug without asking. People will always happily accept a cuddle if they know one is available!
56. Bite your tongue and let the other person win the argument, even if their point was completely invalid.
57. Tell a parent how well behaved and mannerly their child is while the kid is in the room.
58. Write a love letter. Date it. Leave it where only your significant other will find it, but don’t make it easy. It may take them a few hours, a few days or weeks, but they must discover it on their own.
59. If you are envious of someone, tell them. The thing you are envious of may be the very thing causing them immense insecurity.
60. Always say thank you.
61. Send a small gift anonymously to someone that is having hard time.
62. Find the perfect balance between being a complete child and being the adult while babysitting. Wrestle with the kids, play house, let them choose the movie and eat chocolate. When it’s time for bed, read them a story, sing them a couple of songs, even though both of you don’t want the night to end.
63. Compliment a stranger sincerly.
64. Hold the elevator.
65. Ask someone ‘how are you?’, and mean it.
66. Answer your phone when your best friend drunk dials you at 2am. Listen to them proclaim their love for you and/or their pressing troubles that could not wait until a more reasonable hour.
67. Give someone vouchers or coupons that you will not use.
68. Help an elderly person put petrol in their car.
69. Say yes to someone, when you really want to say no.
70. Surprise someone with flowers at their place of work, just because.
71. Run an errand for someone.
72. Create an ‘Appreciation Day’ for your each of family, and celebrate it every year.
73. Leave a book that inspired you on a train, plane or in a coffee shop. Add a note explaining what you got from the book and what you hope the next person will take from it too.
74. Bring the small kids (and big kids) in your life to the zoo.
75. Help someone reach a goal that is important to them.
76. Wash someone’s car for free.
77. Say you are sorry.
78. Offer someone your newspaper once you have finished with it.
79. Write a note in the foggy mirror for the next person who showers.
80. Make faces at that baby/toddler who is a little unsettled in an attempt to distract them while their parents are trying to do something else.
81. Say good morning, good afternoon and good evening to everyone you meet.
82. Say I love you ❤
83. Change the ring tone on someone’s phone to a tune that will make them think of you and laugh.
84. Give someone a 2 minute shoulder massage.
85. Learn how to say something in the native language of a close friend or family member. Say your phrase with confidence, no matter how ridiculous you think you sound.
86. Put up fairy lights in your sister’s bedroom. Leave a note where she will see it explaining they remind you of her – always sparkling and spreading happiness wherever they are.
87. You know that sweater you were looking at and then decided not to buy? Fold it neatly and put it back where you found it. That dress that just slipped off the hanger? Pick it up and hang it where it belongs. The sales assistants in Topshop will thank you for it.
88. Always say please.
89. Invite someone to go fly a kite.
90. Send postcards to friends & family when you’re visiting a different city or country.
91. Find something that is so funny that you cannot stop laughing. Laugh loud and vigorously until you shake. Cause such scene that others around you cannot help themselves but laugh at you laughing at something they cannot even see.
92. If all else fails, pictures of puppies, kittens, baby pandas or *insert cute animal here* will melt hearts of stone.
93. Give someone a personalised mug to drink out of. There is nothing happier than sipping a hot beverage from a mug with a special story or memory attached to it.
94. Put on Frozen – movie or soundtrack, it really doesn’t matter. Instant smiles. Do you wanna build a snoooowman?
95. Lend someone an item that is extremely precious to you. One that you would never loan to anyone you didn’t love or trust.
96. Ask someone if they’d like to watch the sunset with you.
97. When in a restaurant, let a child drink their juice from a wine glass.
98. Suck the helium out of a balloon and sing a Frozen song. Or any song for that matter.
99. Simply smile at people. Smiling is contagious – the chances are that they will smile back 🙂
100. Do any of the above, and realise that you’ve just made yourself smile too.
Now it’s your turn! Let me know in the comments how you made someone smile lately.
Charlene
xoxo
This Day Last Year: 25th November 2013 – Life is Like a Box of Chocolates
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