A month of giving and gratitude

A friend of mine recently mentioned that she’s participating in 25 Days of Giving this December, and her gift for that day was to post on social media that if any of her friends were feeling blue about the holidays they could email her or give her a call. That really resonated with me. What a wonderful gift to give someone, so following her lead I decided to consider December a month of giving. I did a little research and put on my thinking cap and came up with many ideas to choose from. So if you, too, are inspired and are looking for ideas, below is a whole selection to choose from. Wishing all of you well during this holiday season. 

1. Volunteer to help with projects in your local school district.
2. Compliment a stranger or someone you don’t normally talk to often. Kind words are a gift that we have all appreciated at one point or another.
3. Wash your partner’s car for them. If the weather is too cold, grab a garbage bag and clean out the inside!
4. Leave an extra large tip when you go out to eat. You could make the day of someone who is working hard!
5. Drop off your old towels at an animal shelter. If you don’t have towels, bring in toys, paper towels, or bleach. And pet the cats and dogs while you’re there.
6. Every night before you go to bed, think of three things you’re grateful for.
7. Make plans with that person you’ve been putting off seeing.
8. When you hear that negative, discouraging voice in your head, remember toleave yourself alone — you deserve kindness too!
9. Invite a local family over for dinner and make new friends.
10. Clean up your clutter and donate the usable items to a privately owned thrift shop. Not only do you straighten up your own space, but you keep a small business owner open this holiday season!
11. Ask your local soup kitchen if you can help out for a day.
12. Give “gifts of service” this year for the holidays rather than material goods, could be coupons for cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, baking a cake, washing the dog, use your imagination!
13. Create a posting on Facebook, Google +, Twitter etc. letting people know if they’re sad this holiday season they can contact you for moral support.
14. Buy a cup of hot chocolate for a utility or construction worker standing outside in the cold. If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere warm, treat them to lemonade!
15. Donate soap, shampoo, or toothbrushes to a homeless shelter. Even if they are from the dollar store, someone could use them!
16. Offer to clean the home of someone who is elderly, just had a baby, or could use a break.
17. Use your extra yarn and crafting skills to knit or crochet hats for babies at the hospital. Premature babies are often unexpected and parents are not always prepared for their arrival, so extra-small hats could make a big difference without using a lot of yarn!
18. Put your spare change at the checkout into the penny jar, or into the can of a worthwhile cause that someone is collecting for.
19. Sit down with your children and draw pictures for family members. It sounds simple, but it’s a gesture from the heart and loved ones appreciate knowing they are being thought of!
20. Shop local stores for presents or goods. Giving your money to your community benefits everyone!
21. Donate your gently used clothing to a family in need instead of a resale shop. Ask your local church if they have a drop box.
22. Bring someone else’s cart back to the corral at the store.
23. Buy or make hats, mittens, and scarves and donate them to a preschool or elementary school so there are no chilly kids on the playground this winter!
24. Donate used board games to schools for inside recess or class parties.
25. Blog or post on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter asking people to help one another. Inspiring others to help spreads the love and makes a difference!
26. Next time you do your grocery shopping, pick up a large bag of cat or dog food, or a few toys/supplies to donate to a local animal shelter. Pet a few of the cats & dogs while you’re there.
27. Ask a nursing home if there is a special patient who could use some visitors and try to spend time with them.
28. Turn off your cell phone while driving, or at least put it in the back seat, the glove box, or in your purse.
29. Pay for someones toll.
30. Pay for someone’s coffee/tea.
31. Make a food donation at the supermarket.
32. Bake a treat and bring it over to an elderly person/nursing home.
33. Call someone you have been putting off calling.
34. Make extra quarts of soup and deliver them to elderly or unwell neighbors or friends, or friends who are pressed for time during the busy holidays.
35. Donate extra jigsaw puzzles to a senior center or nursing home.
36. Bring a well behaved dog to a nursing home for a visit.
37. Hold the door for the person behind you.
38. Let go of an old grudge; being angry at someone requires a lot of energy from both people involved.
39. Volunteer for a charity. Pick a cause that’s near and dear to your heart and donate your time to them.
40. If you head out of town, drop off your monthly public transit pass at a youth or job center. They’ll pass on the pass to someone who is in need of it to job hunt or attend school.
41. Pay for the person behind you at the drive thru. It will make someone’s day!
42. Donate blood. One single donation can help up to 4 people.
43. Think kind thoughts for and send well wishes to all the other drivers stuck in traffic just like you. Or extend that idea to people riding the subway with you if you’re on the train.
44. Take a CPR class. You never know when you might be in a position to put those life-saving skills into practice.
45. Offer to babysit a friend’s kids one night so she and her partner can enjoy a romantic evening out.
46. Pick a day to smile at everyone you pass on the street. An unexpected smile may have more impact that you imagine.
47. Write a letter or e-mail to a good friend or family member to let them know how much you value them.
48. Host a movie night for 10 of your closet friends. Charge $10 admission, provide the popcorn, candy and drinks, and donate the $100 to a charity you all decide on.
49. Shovel a neighbor’s driveway.
50. Offer to wrap presents for a friend who has a hectic work schedule.
51. Stop cleaning and sit and watch a movie with your kids instead.
52. Take a friend for a pedicure.
53. Invite your In-Laws over for tea and cookies.
54. Don’t just give your child’s teacher a Christmas gift, give a gift to the whole class too — a book, a puzzle or other indoor game for indoor recess time.
55. Call a women’s shelter and see what items they need, then donate them.
56. Make ornaments for friends or family, it will be a special remberance for years to come.
57. Decorate gingerbread houses to create family time.
58. Gather allowance money or spare change & donate the money to a cause you believe in.
59. Make a special day with the kids and watch a Christmas movie marathon night (or day).
60. Make paper snowflakes & decorate the windows.
61. Make edible gifts for the birds (e.g., birdseed & peanut butter pinecones).
62. Treat your kids, neices, nephews, grandkids, etc. to an afternoon of ice skating.
63. Bake & take cookies to a local organization like a nursing home, veteran’s home, hospital, youth center, etc.
64. Gather up toys to donate (also clears the way for new toys coming at Christmas).
65. Make Christmas gifts for teachers.
66. Give your partner the benefit of the doubt.
67. Be kind to the customer service rep on the phone.
68. Do the dishes even if it’s your roommate’s turn.
69. Be patient all day.
70. Adopt a family or a child for the Christmas season – thru Toys for Tots or a local angel/giving tree – have your children help you shop for the items.
71. Go caroling in your neighborhood or at a local nursing home, hospital, rehab center.
72. Call a family member they don’t normally talk to on the phone.
73. Bake cookies for neighbors.
74. Make sandwiches to hand out to homeless people.
75. Visit family and neighbors collecting scarves and hats for homeless people.
76. Tidy up the neighborhood. Pick up trash along the side of the road, in a local park, or at a local beach.
77. Make a homemade cards with a list of things you admire, appreciate, love about family members and/or friends share with them.
78. Do something kind for someone secretly.
79. Do a chore for a neighbor or a grandparent.
80. Take some canned food to the food bank (or the grocery store donation bin).
81. Donate children’s outgrown clothes to an organization that gives them to children in need.
82. Catch yourself whenever you’re thinking judgemental or cricial thoughts about yourself and think of something kind about yourself instead.
83. Donate a pair of gently worn shoes to Soles 4 Souls.
84. Walk the neighbor’s dog.
85. Host a party to collect needed items for a local charity.
86. Stay late at school or sunday school to help clean up.
87. Write notes of appreciation to coaches and teachers.
88. If you are traveling this season with children, draw a picture/make a card for your pilot (if you are flying).
89. In the toy section at the Dollar Tree, hide dollars with an “enjoy the holidays!” note attached. Imagine the suprise kids will have when they find the $ to help pay for their toy.
90. Bake homemade dog cookies for shelter dogs, friends dogs, or your own dogs, or homeless people’s dogs.
91. Give up your spot in line.
92. Pay for someone else’s coffee.
93. Help someone do a chore or other job.
94. Do yard work or shovel for a neighbor.
95. Donate books you no longer need.
96. Buy a dozen Mylar balloons at The Dollar Tree and pass them out to kids at area stores and restaurants.
97. Donate toys to a children’s hospital.
98. Donate a pair of new pajamas for foster kids.
99. Make get well cards for someone who needs them.
100. Bring coffee to your teachers.
101. Feed the birds.
102. Leave inexpensive toys anonymously for neighborhood friends inside their screen door when they’re not home.
103. Leave thank you notes or treats for the cleaning crew that comes to clean your office at night.
104. Leave anonomous sticky notes with smiley faces or kind sayings on colleages desks.
105. Buy a big bouquet of flowers at the wholesale club, then give one each to random shoppers and workers.
106. Host a few “playdates” so parents of our kids’ friends can go Christmas shopping in peace.
107. Catch yourself whenever you’re thinking judgemental or cricial thoughts of others and think of something nice about them instead.
108. Tweet or Facebook message a genuine compliment to three people right now.
109. Bring a healthy treat, like cut-up fruit, to work.
110. While you’re out, compliment a parent on how well-behaved their child is.
111. Don’t write the angry internet comment you’re thinking of writing.
112. When everyone around you is gossiping about someone, be the one to butt in with something nice.
113. Cook a meal or do a load of laundry for a friend who just had a baby or is going through a difficult time.
114. If you walk by a car with an expired parking meter, put a quarter in it.
115. Put your phone away for the evening and be fully present with the people around you.
116. Hang out with the person who just moved to town.
117. Let someone into your lane. They’re probably in a rush just like you.
118. Each time you get a new piece of clothing, donate an old one.
119. Don’t interrupt when someone else is speaking. (Surprisingly few people master this.)
120. Email or write an old teacher who made a difference in your life.
121. Compliment someone to their boss.
122. Forgive someone, and never bring up the issue again.
123. Talk to the shy person who’s sitting by themselves at a party.
124. Leave your New York Times or Us Weekly behind for someone else to read at the coffeeshop, the doctor’s office, or on a plane.
125. Cut someone some slack.
126. Help a mother with her baby stroller.
127. Become a big brother or big sister.
128. Let the person behind you at the supermarket checkout with one or two items go ahead of you.
129. Give away stuff for free on Craigslist.
130. Give someone a book you think they’d like.
131. Be the person who puts a tip in the tip jar at the coffeeshop. (Fewer people tip than you’d think!)
132. Bring in fun office supplies to liven up the workday for everyone.
133. When you go somewhere to get or do something, ask the people around you if you can pick up anything they need.
134. If you spill creamer or sugar on the counter at the coffeeshop, or at work, wipe it up.
135. Call your grandparents.
136. Donate your old eyeglasses so someone else can use them.
137. Hold the elevator.
138. Write something nice on that person’s updates who posts on Facebook constantly. They might be lonely.
139. Sincerely compliment your boss, who probably doesn’t often get feedback from her reports.
140. Put sticky notes with positive slogans on the mirrors in restrooms.
141. Let someone else have the parking space.
142. Relay an overheard compliment.
143. Volunteer to read to kids at an after-school program.
144. Bring your partner coffee in bed on the weekend.
145. Try to make sure every person in a group conversation feels included.
146. Stop to talk to a homeless person.
147. Answer that email you’ve been avoiding.
148. Send anonymous flowers to the receptionist at work.
149. Adopt a rescue pet.
150. Donate or recycle your old laptop and electronics.
151. Write a nice comment on your friend’s blog.
152. Compliment someone in front of others.
153. Give someone a tissue who’s crying in the public, and offer to talk about it, but only if they want to.
154. Think kind thoughts and send well wishes to everyone in jail/prision regardless of what they have done, and extend those well wishes to the families of all those people.
155. Listen intently, from the heart, without interrupting.
156. Babysit for a single mom for free.
157. Remind yourself that everyone is fighting their own struggles.
158. Leave some extra quarters in the laundry room.
159. Write your partner a list of things you love about them.
160. Put together a small herb garden for someone.
161. Smile when you feel like scowling.
162. Dog or catsit for free.
163. Bring a security guard a hot cup of coffee.
164. Plant a tree.
165. If you’re a good photographer, take photos of your friends and make them into a digital album.
166. Say thank you to a janitor.
167. Talk to someone at work whom you have’t talked to before.
168. Frame your friend’s favorite lyric or quote and give it to them with a nice note.
169. Send dessert to another table.
170. Text someone just to say good morning or good night.
171. Give up your seat to someone (anyone!) on the bus or subway.
172. Keep an extra umbrella at work and let someone borrow it on their way home if there’s a sudden downpour.
173. Make two lunches and give one away.
174. Reduce air pollution by carpooling.
175. Say yes at the store when the cashier asks if you want to donate $1 to whichever cause.
176. Be encouraging!
177. Help someone struggling with heavy bags.
178. Give someone the rest of your pack of gum.
179. Give your friend a hug, touch their arm, or pat them on the back. So many of us are starved for human touch!
180. Buy lemonade from a kid’s lemonade stand.
181. Clean someone’s windshield.