I know there are so many kindness ideas from donating toys, bringing food to homeless, sending cards to soldiers, but I wanted something that the boys could do that day without any planning. The idea is to remind them about daily kindness, patience, and appreciation. Little things that might make a big difference in their day or for someone else.
Here is our KINDNESS advent calendar shaped like a Christmas tree!
We are doing a Christmas advent countdown with punch cups.
The idea is to "punch" open each cup and read the act of kindness for that day.
You could do envelopes, balloons, or jar of kindness.
I found some old holiday themed scrapbook paper. Really really old scrapbook paper from 1996. Again, this proves I'm a hoarder pack rat super smart and thrifty to keep every single thing and never throw stuff out. :)
What you need: cups hot glue foam core cardboard notes tissue paper rubber bands candy (optional)
I printed all the little notes on the back of the scrapbook paper and cut into strips. IDEAS:
Compliment five people today
Write a note or text someone you haven't talked to in a long time
Help someone today without being asked
Smile! It's a contagious feeling and can benefit you and others around you.
Tell someone you appreciate them
Commit to a day of positvity. Find the bright side to everything that might not go your way. Give your pet or friends pet extra attention today Stay off your phone or social media - interact with someone around you Let someone go ahead of you in line or go through the door first Stay clear of words like "never" or "can't" in a negative context Focus on patience. Don't let the little things bother you. Just say thank you. Even for the small things. Show appreciation when you can. Share your extra treat with a friend or two at lunch. (I have teens. This might not work with younger children with food allergies) Take time to listen to someone. Ask how they are doing or what they are planning for the holidays. Your choice! Pick up litter you see throughout the day
And for December 25th - Keep the kindness and interactions going all year long! You can make the notes more specific for your family. For example my boys forget to turn lights off on a regular basis. One day might have something about being extra energy efficient. EEE day! Or maybe something for the dogs. They love to go to the dog park and we don't take them enough or give them a really long brushing.
I decided to add some candy too and printed red and green numbers.
(free downloads below)
Cut tissue paper into squares.
I didn't have brown tissue paper and couldn't find any at the store. I spray painted cream tissue paper brown. Lol! I really wanted brown tissue paper.
1.5 lever punch to cut numbers.
Two Hershey's Kisses in each cup. The boys will take turns "punching" open each cup but included candy for both of them. The bag had 53 Kisses and I need 50. Whew! Worked out perfectly.
I sorted all the acts of kindness based on if the boys were in school, on break, or if it was a weekend. I can't ask them to share a treat at lunch if it's Saturday.
Filled all the cups from the bottom up. I tested my tissue paper color pattern. :)
I've done this during the holidays but with my online shopping habit package
delivery growing, I decided to make a snack and drink bucket year round. Since
it's summer, I'm buying non-melty items.
Here is what I have so far:
Candy boxes (no chocolate)
Pretzels
Nuts
Chips
Granola bars
Breakfast bars
Cheese and peanut butter crackers - We'll see how these do. I might remove
them until it gets cooler.
I attached this sign to the bucket. Free downloadable below.
I might add a little cooler at the bottom for drinks and only leave snacks in the bucket.
Randomly I check our Ring and here is our UPS guy thrilled with the treats.
Well.........can you believe I found something even easier and even quicker!!?? CHOCOLATE DIPPED NUTTER BUTTER COOKIES! They taste fantastic and I can dip 32 in 4-5 minutes. Not that it's a race but I could totally beat that time!
Look how pretty!!
Everyone goes crazy for them like the oreos. I've made them for appreciation events, birthdays, Christmas, and just recently as a thank you gift!
Coconut oil (optional but it makes the melts easier to work with)
Nutter Butter cookies
Parchment paper or foil (parchment paper works better)
Bags & ribbon
Heat candy melts in a bowl for 45 seconds in the microwave. Stir. Usually I heat an additional 20 second increments until melted. If it's basically melted but a few chunks you can continue to stir until smooth. You don't want to overheat or it will get thick and stay thick.
HUGE TIP!!!! I wrote coconut oil is "optional" because I don't always use it. I apparently do this to make things more difficult for myself. :) Afterwards I always say I should've added it. Soooo I recommend, especially if drizzling chocolate, to add a little coconut oil.
Once the candy melts are melted and you have almost a pour-able consistency, you are ready! I only dip Nutter Butter cookies half way and shake off excess chocolate. Just a couple shakes and place on parchment paper. I try not to touch the bowl or tap the cookie to prevent crumbs and breakage.
Chocolate will dry fast so if you are adding sprinkles you may want to dip 8-10 and add sprinkles. Then continue to dip the rest.
Once they are dry you can drizzle with colors
TIP- I like to drizzle one base color on all of them first. Then I pick two other colors to drizzle on half. For example, the ones pictured I drizzled orange first to all of them. Then I added red on some and pink on the others.
I saw these smaller individual drizzle bags in a bunch of colors and flavors. Very cool. I haven't tried them but it would be great for these treats.
These were made for someone at the local retirement residence that was turning 90!!! Sweet birthday surprise.
Since you are only dipping half of the Nutter Butter cookie, they will go stale if you don't bag them. DON'T WORRY!!! It's okay because I usually bag and give them away soon after I make them. IF I don't....I'll eat them all. It's called motivation to get them out of the house! I've only waited 2 days after bagging before eating them all delivering and they were perfect.
For bagging I ran out of my regular bags so these are resealable 4x5 bags I cut the tops off. I'm closing them with ribbon so I didn't need the closure.
I picked a few different ribbon and packaged one chocolate and one white chocolate for each bag.
