Thoughtful Gifts | Sunburst Gifts

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25 Ways to Pay It Forward| Random Acts of Kindness

The idea behind “pay it forward” is that everyone can make a difference in the life of someone else. When you pay it forward, you make an effort to positively impact a person’s life through a random act of kindness and love.

laundry detergent in laundromat
Leave a container of laundry detergent at a laundromat with a note saying, “Feel free to use!”

Last week, I wrote about my friend Erin who wanted to inspire 34 pay it forward random acts of kindness in celebration of her 34th birthday. In case you were inspired to do the same thing, I thought I’d share with you some ideas of what you could do.

  • Buy a movie ticket for the person behind you in line
  • Send a card to someone in the military overseas
  • Put something you no longer need on Craigslist.org for free
  • Tape a bag of microwaveable popcorn to a Redbox machine with a note saying “Enjoy some popcorn with your movie!”
  • Drop off a toy or game at a children’s hospital
  • Buy a lottery ticket and give it to a stranger
  • Buy an extra umbrella and on a rainy day give it to someone who needs it
  • Anonymously mail cash to someone you know who is having a hard time financially
  • Give a random stranger a compliment
  • Buy two of something you love and give one away
  • At a restaurant, pay for someone’s meal anonymously
  • Offer to help an elderly neighbor with their household chores
  • Buy a meal for a homeless person
  • Pay the toll for the person behind you
  • Leave a container of laundry detergent at a laundromat with a note saying, “Feel free to use!”
  • Bring a treat to work to share with your coworkers
  • Pay for the person’s coffee who is behind you in line
  • Write someone a note to tell them how much you appreciate them
  • Buy a bouquet of flowers and start handing them out one by one
  • Run an errand for an elderly neighbor
  • Buy a car wash ticket and leave it on someone’s windshield with a note saying, “Enjoy a car wash on me. Happy driving!”
  • Volunteer at a food bank
  • Pay for the next car’s meal at the drive-thru
  • Donate blood
  • Pass along a great book you’ve just finished reading

What other Pay It Forward ideas have you heard of or done yourself? Please share in the comments section below!

Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns.  – Author Unknown

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One response to “25 Ways to Pay It Forward| Random Acts of Kindness”

  1. Steve Peery Avatar
    Steve Peery

    Pay It Forward is not about the simple things we can do to brighten someone elses day. It is about 3 people we all decide to do something huge for to give each other worth and value in this life. That is my understanding of the whole thing. It is not about telling everyone about any number of ways one can show kindness. It is about “doing” the hard thing for someone we see in need.

    We seem to live in a society that people say has become very insensitive to each other. I say it has always been that way we just needed to have our eyes opened to it. We needed only to open our own eyes to it and not look the other way anymore. Well, that happened 6 years ago when we were faced with a President who made us all do that. Now we use him as a scapegoat for all of the horrors that we have in the US now and more. I say we need to stop doing that and look at all of those of us who suffer in silence and in very outwardly visible ways. We all need to take a breath and DO the thing that will be huge for 3 other people and continue to believe that we can, “…all get along.” We can even lessen all of the pain inside of each other without ever knowing it. Just DO something huge for someone else without looking up “what” to do on the internet. IT is not something that is supposed to be easy. Even Jesus said that the rich do that much, even evil people do that much from time to time. It is supposed to be a struggle, like your last 20 dollars before you get paid in another week and you give that to the waitress as a tip becuase you see something in her eyes or her demeanor that says she is struggling too. Just something that isn’t “easy” to do please.
    That man in the movie who gave away his brand new car…well he said that he just had been very fortunate but that was not an “easy’ thing to do by anyones standards. Sure it was a movie but that was making a point about the depth of “paying it forward.” To forgive someone, genuinely forgive them, is not an easy thing to do. To say it doesn’t matter is easy. Everything matters.

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