12 Days of Gifting!

Around this time of year you hear a lot about giveaways. Many talk shows are following this trend. The one that comes to mind most to me is Ellen’s 12 Days of Giveaways. The idea of this got me thinking, it’s always so nice and feels so good to be on the receiving end - with that in mind, what if we did our own 12 Days of Gifting? I know this time of year is stressful for many, but taking the time to do something for someone else allows us to truly get into the Spirit of this season. Our small acts or gestures can make a huge difference for another and it allows us to BE from our heart. I’ve included a list of 21 possible gift ideas. You can gift anonymously or in person. Most of the gifts on this list hardly take up much time or resources. A lot of the links are for the U.S., but the idea applies anywhere. I invite you to join me in participating in your own 12 Days of Gifting. If you have any other gift ideas, please feel free to add them in the comments section below.

1.   Smile at someone who needs it.

2.   Pick up litter in your neighborhood, park or beach.

3.   Donate a book to a library, shelter, school or hospital.

4.   Help someone with yard work or shoveling snow.

5.   Take a meal to a family going through a hard time: illness, loss of employment, death of a loved one…

6.   Leave a post-it note with an uplifting message for someone at work or school.

7.   Send a card/box of candy/flowers to someone in a retirement home who doesn’t have family.

8.   Call a friend who you haven’t connected with in a long time.

9.  Take some ‘luxury items’ to a homeless shelter or domestic violence shelter – books, puzzles, magazines, chocolate bars, hair bands, hand warmers, shampoo, etc.

10.  Make a donation or take some goodies to your local Ronald McDonald house for families who are there with their children over Christmas http://www.rmhc.org/other-ways-to-help & http://www.rmhc.org/chapter-search.

11.  Send a card or gift to someone at your local hospital who may not have family or could really use some cheering up and encouragement.

12.  Send a card or a deck of playing cards to your local V.A. care facility.

13.  Donate to the Wounded Warriors http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org

14.  This site has a ton of links for doing something for the military: 
http://www.military.com/spouse/military-life/military-resources/how-to-support-our-troops.html

15.  Click for food for shelter animals – all you have to do is click on a button – it couldn’t be any easier than that: http://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/ars/home

16.  This site has fantastic links for easy ways to help out animals in need: 
http://www.animals-shelter-me.com/Feed.html

17.  Take food or supplies to your local animal shelter.

18.  Donate to a worthy organization. Two of my favorites are Blink Now: http://www.blinknow.org 
and Little Red Wagon Foundation: http://www.lrwf.org

19.  Help create change and sign a petition: http://www.avaaz.org/en/

20.  Take a gratitude snack to the workers at your local post office, firehouse, library, non-profit, etc.

21.  Share this post.

 Enjoy your 12 Days of Gifting! Love, Adrienne :)

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