AH we did it- Happy 30th!

Today December 3rd 2011 it happened 30 random acts of kindness in one day!

This year rather than presents and fussing over myself for the 30th Birthday, I gave to people, in 30 random acts of kindess! First of all I have to say thank you to some fabulous people who made this happen. First and foremost my husband Troy who thinks I’m crazy was my driver along the way, my sons who helped mommy make the Christmas Cards, My mother in law who helped me with some planning steps/donations and of course all my friends who have added endless encouragement on this journey, I couldn’t have done it without any of you!

Today was a good day to warm some hearts since it was a cold one:

So here are our 30:

1. Coffee for a few Hockey Parents:

These folks were happily surprised by free hot coffee at 8am at the cold old rink in our town!

2. A Treat of Candy:

This was one for the non-hockey siblings who were happily sitting waiting for the game to start. For those of you unfamiliar with Saturday and Sunday morning hockey, it’s slow torture fun!  You leave your nice warm bead to go freeze rink side! Here’s to hoping some holiday treats keep them warm! ( I love this boys hat!  Also I have no idea what I am doing in this picture? It was early don’t judge!)

3. Thanking the Mailman:

I have a small side business that often includes packages oh and I have an online shopping habit, it’s called Amazon. So this was my special thank you to the man who makes it happen.

4. Sending a Handwritten Letter:

This may not seem like much but when was the last time you sent a kind, hand written thank you letter, letting someone know what they mean to you?

5. Leave Change on the Machine:

This little gift someone will find and I hope it makes their day!

6-11. Five bottle of Water to Runners:

How often have you been working out and needed some H2O? We surprised some Gym go-ers at the YMCA this morning with some much needed relief! And runners may be the nicest people in the world!

Here is the Gym:

And one of our happy folks:

12. Candy Canes Drop #1

Nothing says minty happiness like Candy Canes!

13. Putting Away Shopping Carts:

So I saw this cart just hanging out and some others like him so to help out we kindly put them back:

14. 15. & 16. :  Giving Out Some Gift Cards to Morning Shoppers!

I gave out 3 gift cards that I had purchased earlier in the week! This couple actually told me a great story about a friend of theirs who on his 50th birthday gave out 50 trees to his friends to plant. It’s something to think about for next 20 years

17. Get Well Soon Gift:

There is a little girl in my son’s class who was recently diagnosed with Cancer. So my son helped me make a super cute card for him along with a bag of apples since you know what they say about them!

This was our only hang up of the day!

My son has spent plenty of time in hospitals for us to know it’s never good to show up uninvited to someone’s home.

I assumed we would just put these in the mailbox for them to find.

But that led to me feeling dumb being introduced to  the strangest mailbox I’ve ever seen in my life! Needless to say I put the bag and card on top of the mailbox and in my embarrassment left without a photo. So instead here is a picture of the card.

18. Donated Clothes to Good Will:

Since our good will drop off is in a busy place, I wasn’t able to get a photo but basically it was trash bag full of gently worn clothes! You can image

19. Donated to Charity:

This is one of my friend Amanda’s favorite charities so we donated to their cause:

20. We mailed coupons to the troops:

Did you know overseas families in the military can use your coupons?  Last week we got an extra paper and sent the coupons inside to some very deserving individuals using this site. Be sure to know all about mailing foreign customs rules I struggled a bit with this one.

21. Baked for Volunteers:

In our town every winter there is an event called Dickens Christmas. It is one of the cutest things I have ever seen, mind you I moved here so I have no idea what it was like was like before it. But if you are ever in Central New York please visit us! Basically the character from Dickens famous story A Christmas Carol walk throughout the town, there are sleigh rides and photos with Father Christmas! It’s super cute and most of these folks volunteer their time so this was our way of saying thank you!

These folks were wonderful, they actually clapped for me which I was not expecting!  It is wonderful to see people so happy to give!

22.-28. Thank you’s to the Wonderful Shop Owners and Patrons in our town:

We selected some local stores in town and gave them a jar of holiday candies to give to the people who come into their shops and also for themselves.

For some reason I never took at a picture at the Irish Store so I don’t have a photo there but here are the places we visited:

Bijou Salon, Skaneateles 300′, Skaneateles Jewelry, The Irish Store, Paris Flea & The Toy Store(the name is escaping me, I’m so sorry!)

       

29. Held Doors for People:

Sometimes it’s the very simple acts of kindness that are the most meaningful so all day we held open door for people and said Hello with a smile!

30. Candy Canes #2:

One of our favorites for a family dinner is Willow Glenn Cafe!  They always have a bowl of candy to take when you walk out, so today we filled up their bowl as our act of kindness.

31.+ OK so we couldn’t stop at just 30 so here are some additional things we did today!

We donated coats to the local coat drive, We made Christmas Cards that we gave to a local nursing home (additional photo’s to come on that one, we can’t go until later), We sent some Christmas Cards to the local VA hospital. We picked up litter where ever we saw it! We donated toys to Toys for Tots! We warned people to be careful since it was icy this morning.

It was a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday and we hope we have inspired you to give some kindness this holiday season!