Random Acts of Kindness Day 2027

What is Random Acts of Kindness Day?

Random Acts of Kindness Day 2027 is on Wednesday 17 February 2027. It falls on 17 February every year.

Random Acts of Kindness Day is a day for doing something small, unexpected and generous for another person: a stranger, a colleague or someone in your own house. It is run by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, a US non-profit whose stated mission is to “make kindness the norm”. In the UK it is marked informally by schools, workplaces and community groups rather than by any official body, and it is not a bank holiday.

The day sits inside Random Acts of Kindness Week (RAK Week), which the Foundation lists as 14 to 20 February 2027. It is a different observance from World Kindness Day on 13 November, which is led in the UK by Kindness UK.

On 17 February people are encouraged to carry out one or more acts of kindness that the recipient was not expecting, and then, if they like, to share what they did so that others are prompted to do the same. The Foundation’s own ideas range from posting a handwritten letter to organising a community clean-up; the emphasis is on acts that cost little or nothing.

The Foundation backs the day with free lesson plans for every school year, printable posters and certificates, a workplace assessment and a “7 Steps to Create Kindness at Work” guide. The materials are written for a US audience, so UK users will want to adapt spellings and references, but the activities travel well.

Random Acts of Kindness Day vs World Kindness Day

The two days are often confused.

Random Acts of Kindness Day grew out of the Foundation’s work in the United States and focuses on individual, spontaneous acts. World Kindness Day was created by the World Kindness Movement, an international not-for-profit whose formation it dates to a conference in Tokyo on 20 September 1997. Kindness UK says Kindness Day UK on 13 November was set up in 2010 and is celebrated across the country every year.

History of Random Acts of Kindness Day

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation’s materials carry a copyright line running from 1995, and it describes itself as a non-profit with a mission of making kindness the norm. It promoted a single day in mid-February from its early years and later wrapped a full week around it so that schools could run a daily activity. RAK Week always includes 17 February; in 2027 it runs from Sunday 14 to Saturday 20 February.

The Foundation has since shifted its emphasis from one-off gestures to building habits, under the registered slogan “Make Kindness The Norm”. Its free school curriculum is the main reason the day spread beyond the United States and into British primary schools. Kindness UK, founded in London by David Jamilly in 2011, runs the November day and does not organise the February one, but its school resources suit either date.

What happens in the UK on 17 February

There is no national programme for the day in the UK, so nobody needs permission or a budget to take part. In practice it is picked up by:

• Primary schools, which run a kindness assembly, a class kindness jar or a paper chain with one link for each kind act spotted.
• Secondary schools, where it folds into PSHE or tutor time, often alongside Children’s Mental Health Week in early February.
• Employers, particularly HR and wellbeing teams, as a low-cost engagement activity after January.
• Community and faith groups, which use the date to recruit volunteers or run a food bank collection.

Because 17 February often falls in or near the February half-term in England and Wales, schools sometimes bring their activities forward a week.

The NHS lists “give to others” as one of its five steps to mental wellbeing, saying that acts of giving and kindness can create positive feelings, give a sense of purpose and self-worth, and help you connect with other people. Its examples include thanking someone for their help and asking a colleague how they are, then genuinely listening.

30 random acts of kindness ideas

None of these needs a budget, and most take under ten minutes.

Ten ideas for schools

1. Start a kindness chain: each pupil adds a paper link for a kind act they saw.
2. Write a thank-you card to the caretaker, cook or office team.
3. Pair older pupils with younger ones for a ten-minute reading session.
4. Run a compliment post box of anonymous positive notes, read out by the teacher.
5. Tidy another class’s cloakroom or book corner without being asked.
6. Learn “thank you” in the home languages spoken in your school and use them all day.
7. Invite someone who usually sits alone at lunch to join your table.
8. Make a welcome pack for a pupil who has just joined.
9. Collect spare stationery for a local charity.
10. Run one of the Foundation’s free lesson plans on what kindness looks like in practice.

Ten ideas for workplaces

1. Send a short, specific thank-you email to a colleague and copy in their manager.
2. Cover a task for someone having a hard week, without making a point of it.
3. Bring in something home-made for the team, or for the cleaners and security staff.
4. Leave a kind note on the desk of someone starting early or finishing late.
5. Introduce a new starter properly to three people they have not met.
6. Ask a quieter colleague for their view in a meeting and give them space to answer.
7. Set up a one-day collection for a local food bank or refuge.
8. Walk a colleague through something they are struggling with rather than sending a link.
9. Put a thank-you to the whole team in the weekly update.
10. Complete the Foundation’s workplace assessment and share one practical change.

Ten ideas for home and the community

1. Write a letter by hand and post it to someone who would not expect it.
2. Check in on an older neighbour and offer to pick up shopping or a prescription.
3. Leave a positive note in a library book or on a bus seat.
4. Donate a book you enjoyed to a community library or book swap box.
5. Let someone with fewer items go ahead of you in the supermarket queue.
6. Thank the people who serve you, by name if they wear a badge.
7. Pick up litter on your street for ten minutes.
8. Phone a relative you have been meaning to call rather than sending a message.
9. Give up your seat or hold a door, and look at the person as you do it.
10. Do a chore that is usually someone else’s, without announcing it.

Making kindness last beyond one day

The Foundation’s message is that kindness should be the norm, so treat 17 February as a starting point: schools can repeat one activity every Friday for a term, and workplaces can carry the thank-you habit into regular one-to-ones.

Related awareness days

Time to Talk Day, the mental health conversation day, is in early February, and Valentine’s Day on 14 February opens RAK Week in 2027. Volunteers’ Week in June is the natural follow-up for anyone who wants to turn a one-off act into regular giving, and Anti-Bullying Week in November shares the same school audience and sits in the same week as World Kindness Day.