So Christmas is over and it’s time for our final kindness advent calendar update. We’ve had so much fun over the last month participating in these activities and finding out what other people have been up to and how we have inspired them. Doing an act of kindness every day has taken a far amount of prior planning and organisation which isn’t something I’m particularly good at so I’m really proud to have completed the whole month. Here’s how our finally week went, check our our week one update and week two if you need to catch up or read more about our Random Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar.
Day 19
We quite often play with salt dough. It’s so easy to make up and lots of fun to play with, plus once finished the little things we’ve made make lovely gifts and keepsakes for friends and family. Today we created some lovely Christmas decorations and stamped Christmas messages and names onto each. After they were baked we threaded string through the hole we had cut out and gave them out to our loved ones.
Day 20
This activity is easy because Dil’s favourite song ever is Jingle Bells! We spent the day singing it around the supermarket then visited some family who got a special rendition from Dil.
Day 21
The doorstop challenge is one of the acts I’ve been most excited about. I first discovered it when researching random acts of kindness for this project. It basically involves leaving a bag of gifts on the doorstep of someone who may appreciate them, knock and run style. We popped out and picked up a few gifts for a very special family who seemed to be having a bit of a tough week and left them on their doorstep. So many warm feelings from this one. If you do one thing from this whole project I would definitely suggest making it this activity.
Day 22
Christmas is getting close! We spent today wrapping up gifts for our friends and family. Dil is an excellent sellotape assistant.
Day 23
Another one of my favourite activities. I’ve really enjoyed doing the totally unexpected stuff, showing kindness to total strangers. I just know that if I discovered a lottery ticket or gift card left for me to find I’d be so touched by the thought behind it. We left two £5 gift cards at the bottom of empty baskets in Tesco with a little note reminding the finders to treat themselves. I really hope that whoever found the cards was made to smile.
Day 24
Christmas Eve! Today’s task is to leave out a drink and a snack for Father Christmas and his reindeer. We left some of our special home made jam tarts and coconut milk out for the big man and a carrot with some magical reindeer food out for Rudolph and his pals.
Day 25
Our final activity for our Kindness Advent Calendar is to give some gifts to people we love, which for me is what Christmas is all about. We spent today with friends and family, sharing the joy of the day and creating special memories.
My aims with this project and our Summer of Kindness project have been to introduce Dilan to the importance of being kind, to spread a little happiness as far as we could spread it, and to remind everyone that being kind isn’t about huge gestures. All acts of kindness, from tiny ones to those requiring a little more effort, start a ripple of kindness which can reach further that you’d even realise. We’ve had so much fun this month with all our activities and the support we’ve received has been overwhelming. A little reminder about how wonderful the joy of being kind can be is something we all need from time to time.
Will you be doing anything similar to our kindness advent calendar next Christmas? What about having a go at a few random acts of kindness of your own this month? Look out for our next kindness project if you need some more inspiration, and don’t forget to follow along on our instagram and on #thejoyofbeingkind.
