One night I had talked to my dad and he'd mentioned that my grandpa had been ill with shingles and wasn't doing very well. In the same call he told me of my aunt and three cousins who were desperately looking for a new place to live. I had also talked to my husband's sweet friend who was going through a lot of things (think physically, emotionally, mentally, the gamut) recently and she'd been on my mind. Finally, I have a close friend from high school who has been fighting some really hard physical battles who has needed some uplifting.
I knew that in each of their situations I could not do anything to take their pain or confusion or anxiety away, but I hoped to simply give them a smile and make their circumstances seem just a little bit more manageable. With those four circumstances in mind, we headed to Target to get some things to brighten their day for our Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK).
Grandpa
If there's one thing that my grandpa LOVES, it's black licorice. I picked up some soft Australian liquorice because it was on sale in the Target Dollar Spot! Score!
Aunt & Cousins
This one was tougher because we had several people to pick things for, wanted it to seem significant, but also knew we didn't have a huge budget for big gifts.
I've heard it said it's better to laugh than to cry, so in addition to the card, we included a fun game for their family to play together. If you haven't played The Game of Things yet, you need to! It's a lot of fun!
To keep each of their gifts separate, I wrapped each of their 'bundles' in twine and used washi tape to label whose gift was whose. The girls got nail polish, and my Aunt got lipstick.
Husband's Friend
My husband's friend got the same thing as my girl cousins, but I included a darling teal sequined pencil pouch. It reminded me of The Little Mermaid, and our friend has gorgeous red locks like Ariel, so I couldn't resist!
Old Guy Friend
This one was harder because boys are always harder to buy gifts for, I swear!! I pretty much just threw stuff in my cart as possibilities the whole time, and once I got in line to checkout I narrowed it down to just a few things.
My friend has had a lot of food restrictions put on him so that they can find out what's causing him so much pain. He can pretty much only eat meat, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. He's also in a lot of pain, so I thought a movie was one thing he could do relatively pain-free.
Something else I included in each of the packages was a personal drawing from my 2 1/2 year old. He had a lot of fun coloring for the packages and it's always a hoot to hear what he's drawn. He drew my husband's friend two skunks (which we kindly labeled for her) and my grandpa a wildebeest. The things that kid comes up with...
At the end of the day we spent more than we'd planned to (after shipping costs), but felt really good about where the money was going. Sure we could have used that money to serve ourselves, but we found it much more fun to shop for those we hoped we could help! Since doing this initially RAOK, we've decided to budget $50 each month to do fun RAOKs like this monthly!
Something I've discovering about myself is that I can help when there's a need, and that's refreshing.
What are some fun things that you have done to serve someone lately (or something that someone else has done for you)? Also, what are some inexpensive yet thoughtful gift ideas you've found for adult men??? I'm really at a loss here, so anything would help!
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