{Thrive} Kringle, Our Holiday Kindness Elf
Kindness. It’s free. Sprinkle that shit everywhere! Especially now. With the holidays on the horizon, I am thrilled to share with you to one of my favorite traditions, our “Kindness Elf”. His name is Kringle and he exist to remind our family of the true meaning of the holidays: giving to others, kindness, acceptance and of course, LOVE. Starting on December 1st, he brings our family an act of kindness for each day of the month leading up to Christmas. Along with that act of kindness, he brings us an immense amount of joy and gratitude as we work together to touch the lives of others in a meaningful way. Want to start the tradition? Here is how. Kringle came to be last year as I was struggling to find a way to teach Hudson, my five year old, about the true meaning of the holidays which can become more difficult if you are not Christian. I wanted him to know that Christmas was not just about Santa and gifts. It was also important to me to avoid the association between good behavior and gifts as we try not to reward him for good behavior with material things. I also believe that kindness is one of our most powerful and important assets so anytime I have the opportunity to reinforce this, I do.
Step One:
Find an elf that you love. I chose a small elf that would fit into our countdown calendar. More on that to come. I ended up using a plush santa-like ornament that I found at Anthropologie last year (these are similar). I love the ornaments at Anthropologie but they can be expensive. Here are a few cute and reasonably priced options I found online through amazon.
Step Two:
Introduce your elf! First you get to name him. This was really fun! Then, on the first day of December, our elf appears with a note explaining his purpose (to spread kindness) and the fact that he would stop back each day. Every few days Kringle would bring a small gift like a chocolate or a matchbox car as I found this helped to keep Hudson excited and interested. This is obviously optional!
Step Three:
Come up with 25 acts of kindness. These can grow with your child. I gave you a head start with a few ideas which are listed below. You could create a kindness calendar for an older child but I used gift tags, like the one below that you can purchase here. I wrote an act of kindness of the front of each one and a note from Kringle on the back. I often waited until the day of to write the note as I would include a nod to the previous day and how much Kringle enjoyed seeing Hudson do ______________ *act of kindness. This made it feel very personalized and Hudson felt proud.
Each morning, Kringle would be tucked into the appropriate pocket of our countdown calendar with the tag in his hand. We bought our countdown calendar a few years back at Pottery Barn and it was not cheap. I found this one that is really similar, so cute and affordable!
Step 4:
Sprinkle kindness everywhere and be sure to make time for a few gratitude checks because spreading kindness is a truly rewarding experience! Here are a few of the acts of kindness Kringle shared with us last year. Some are big and some are small but they are all worth it!
- Donate books to a school, library or shelter.
- Hold the door open for someone
- Tell 5 people that you love them
- Compliment 5 people today
- Put money into parking meters so that they don’t run out
- Leave a kindness note on someone’s car
- Make kindness bags for the homeless (we did hats, gloves, granola bars, etc)
- Leave a kind note in a library book
- Make a card for a family member
- Bring flowers to your teacher
- Bake dessert for a neighbor
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen
- Set the table for dinner
- Donate outgrown clothes.
- Buy a coffee for a stranger
- Pass out scratch off tickets in the park (this was an really amazing family activity as we made so many people smile with this simple gesture)
- Help make dinner.
- Make stones that say, “YOU ARE LOVED” and leave them around for strangers to find
- Hug 5 people
- Make an online donation to an organization that is meaningful to you
For more ideas, check this post on 100 acts of kindness.
How do you celebrate the spirit of the holidays and spread kindness?
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Love this idea! Keeps the meaning of the holidays at the forefront 🙂
I agree Emily, it’s easy to get caught up in all the materialistic aspects of this season so we try to keep in perspective for all of us 🙂
I am 100% on board with spreading kindness. Thanks for this nice post!
Thank you, Maggie!
These are soo cute! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Brittany!
What a wonderful post! More people need to dial up the kindness, dial down the stress at this time of year.
Totally agree, Abby! Thank you 🙂
With you 100%. Love the elves!
Thanks, Shahzadi! They definitely make it super fun!
Little acts of kindness help everyone feel better! And the little Kringles make it so much more fun!
You got it, Sarah! Thanks for helping spread kindness!
What a beautiful idea! I think this would be a great holiday project for my girls. : )
This is such a great idea! I don’t have kids yet, but I will definitely be teaching my kiddos kindness this way when I do have them! I love the message of giving love and kindness to others, you never know what a difference it can make!
Yes! Spread love & joy everywhere you go!
Love this idea! The Holidays are the perfect time to spread a little kindness, and adding the elf in is so much fun!
Hi Marue, it truly is such a great feeling and so much fun!
I love this so much! I do a similar thing with 25 RACKs (random acts of Christmas kindness). I chronicled it on my blog a few years ago. I really love the idea of making it an advent calendar sort of thing though. I’ll definitely be joining you for this!
Awesome!
What a sweet idea, love this. Once my little guy gets a bit older (he’s 15 months) we’ll do this. Reminds us to remember the true spirit of the holidays.
That’s what it’s all about!
Everyone needs more kindness – what a wonderful tradition! I love these actionable ideas and will work them into our traditions at my house with my 8 and 10 year old.
Awesome, Jodi!
I absolutely LOVE your sprinkles of kindness. Wonderful ideas to spread holiday cheer and make the world a better place <3 <3 <3
Thank you, Lauren 🙂
Don’t think it’s possible to love this post any more. Thank you for this!!! xo
Awe, thank you! 🙂
I love this! Spreading kindness is where its at (and I love the elves) 🙂
I agree, thanks for being on Team Kindness!
I don’t celebrate Christmas but this is a great idea for other holidays too!
Thanks, Nazima! I think we could definitely incorporate the concept in to many other holidays too!
Love these! The elves are so cute!
Thanks, Lindsey! I agree, we love our Elf 🙂
That is such a great idea. So inspiring and yet unique, among many other traditional ideas.
Hi Roxana, thanks for the compliment!
I absolutely love this idea! What a great way to spread holiday kindness and cheer!
Thanks, Kara! Feel free to join in the fun!
What a FABULOUS idea! More so than anything, I am proudest of my kids when they are kind to others. This is a great reminder for ALL of us {myself included!}, to spread kindness and good cheer to everyone!
Thanks, EA! I agree, it warms my heart the most to see Hudson being kind to others. Thanks for helping spread holiday cheer!
I love this idea and those elves are adorable!
Thanks, Lara!
I think writing this post should count as one of your acts of kindness 🙂 Love this!
Yay, thanks!! xo