I’ve always had the best of intentions to do advent and until last year it never happened…at all. But last year was different. And it was good. After seeing this pin on Pinterest about Random Acts of Kindness, I knew this would be a new Kelley tradition and we would do it fully and we would do it well. It made my heart happy and I felt like it set the focus for our family in a season that is full to the brim of hustle and bustle. So began our kindness advent. We made a list and set out to do one act of kindness everyday in December leading up to Christmas.
Here’s how we did ours from last year…pulled from THIS POST)…ignore the not-so-great-pictures, I was working with a broken camera:)
**I don’t have a lot of room in our house, so I needed an advent that would not take up much space. I decided on envelopes and today Harper and I made our official advent envelopes. Here were our supplies:
Glue sticks, small clips, small paper bags (Hobby Lobby), number stickers, plain paper and patterned paper.
First we covered the front of bags with some patterned paper.
Then we cut out some small circles and added number stickers and then glued the circles to the front of the bags. Josh and I had brainstormed earlier this week, so I re-wrote our ideas on individual pieces of paper. I had to modify the original ideas because of the 3 small Kelleys. Let’s face it…we would be a disaster trying to load someones groceries into their car…they may even pay us to leave them alone 🙂
Harper stuffed the envelopes.
Then I hung up our ribbon and attached the envelopes with the small clips. Easy cheesy.
So that was last year. This year I wanted to do a little something different because I want to leave up our thankful leaves until Christmas cards start rolling in.
So I bought these cheap little wire hanger things on Pick Your Plum and just clipped all my envelopes to them instead. Super easy.
Sidenote: If you do Pick Your Plum deals, go in with a friend and save on shipping. Courtney and I are notorious Pick Your Plum groupies and it saves us money. Insert fist bump here.
Here’s a list of lots of different options for your own Kindness Advent.
*Cupcakes to bank *Leave encouraging notes or gift cards on cars *Volunteer your time
*Buy someone’s breakfast/lunch/dinner *Send flowers or giveaway flowers
*Doughnuts to school *Take balloons and/or treats to hospital
*Pump someone’s gas *Go caroling *Carepacks for homeless *Feed parking meters
*Leave a big tip *Anonymous chalk art or door hangers *Food gift cards for homeless
*Give gift card to shopper or leave in shopping carts *Gift cards for single parent
*Birthday/Christmas bag drop *Make & leave bookmarks at library or bookstore
*Hide $1 bills at Dollar Tree *Over pay for Contributor newspaper
*Sticky notes on public bathroom mirror *Treat for Salvation Army bell ringer
*Donations to Crisis Pregnancy Center *Tip drive-thru worker
*Muffins to pediatricians office *Hold the door for shoppers *Decorate someone’s porch or mailbox
*Leave change at laundromat *Return shopping carts from parking lot
*Tape change to vending machine or bubble gum machines
*Pay strangers over due fees at library *Gift wrap presents for free
*Treats for library workers *Help a family for Christmas *Do free yard work for someone
*Bag of groceries with recipes to a family *Pass out candy canes *Paint rocks and leave for others to find
*Popcorn, candy & movie rental bucket to a family *Babysit for couple/single parent
*Handmade cards to nursing home *Pay for someone’s Santa picture
*Giveaway balloons/stickers/books to kids shopping w/parents
*Treat for mailman, post office workers, trash collector and/or police & fire station
*School supply donations to a classroom *Bring up neighbors trash can
*Gift or flowers for custodian at school *Give genuine compliments
*Card for loved one *Pay for car behind you in drive thru line
*Mail handwritten letters of encouragement *Pick up trash
*Coffee for people waiting for bus or outdoor workers *Donate blood
*Treat for bus driver *Donate non perishables to food pantry
*Gift card for all night gas station/store worker *Share Sonic happy hour
*Leave surprises at playground (Coins, small toys, filled Easter eggs) *Read to a classroom
Like last year, I will be documenting each day of our acts of kindness. I cannot wait. The kids are getting excited. This year took a little more planning since Harper is in school and I wanted her to still be able to participate, but I think we took care of everything and planned well. I hope you will join us. It’s going to be fun. Tis’ the season for kindness…you know you want to do it too.
Happy Wednesday.