World Kindness Day Falls on Friday the 13th This Year. Here Are 5 Ideas Borrowed From Real People

World Kindness Day is November 13, which in 2026 lands on a Friday.¹ Friday the 13th has spent years building a reputation for bad luck. This year it gets a better assignment.

You don’t need a big gesture to take part. Some of the best examples in our archive started with someone noticing a stranger’s worn-out shoes, or the first few comments on a video.

When is World Kindness Day?

It falls on November 13 every year. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, which runs one of the best-known campaigns around the day, lists this year’s date as Friday, November 13, 2026.¹

Where World Kindness Day came from

World Kindness Day was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of kindness groups from different countries.²

Does being kind actually do anything?

Yes, modestly. A 2016 review led by Oliver Scott Curry at the University of Oxford looked at 21 studies testing the idea and found “a small but significant improvement” in the well-being of people doing kind things, less than one point on a 0-10 happiness scale.³ His summary was refreshingly unhyped: being kind “will not change your life, but might help nudge it in the right direction.” The review was commissioned by kindness.org, a US nonprofit.³

A much larger 2020 review in Psychological Bulletin, covering 201 studies and 198,213 people, also found a modest link. Informal acts, like helping an older neighbor carry groceries, were more strongly tied to well-being than scheduled charity volunteering.⁴

5 World Kindness Day ideas, borrowed from real people

1. Stop for the person who’s struggling. Jordan Hope, 18, was driving to the bank in Maricopa, Arizona, when he saw an elderly man whose shoes were falling apart. He gave the man the size 13 Nike slides off his own feet, helped him get his prescription and called him a ride. The two have talked every day since.⁵ Smaller version: ask one person who looks stuck if they’d like a hand.

2. Pay for a meal and leave. In Incheon, South Korea, a diner paid a 27-person welfare center group’s bill and added seven servings of beef tartare, for a total of 600,000 won (about $420). The diner had left before anyone could say thank you.⁶ Smaller version: cover the coffee behind you in line.

3. Get to the comments early. Tyler Brickley started The Kindness Mob on the theory that the first few comments on a video set the tone. Each day, the volunteer group picks someone being bullied or overlooked online and fills their posts with sincere compliments.⁷ Smaller version: leave one specific, kind comment on a stranger’s post.

4. Take what you’re good at to people who can’t come to you. Min Luo, 12, and her sister Fei Shan, nine, noticed that a family friend with dementia calmed down when they played piano. So they started playing at aged care facilities in Tasmania.⁸ Smaller version: call a local care home and ask what would brighten a resident’s week.

5. Ask about the strange thing in your neighbor’s yard. Dale, 86, has been building a 62-foot steel boat by hand in his Mineral Wells, Texas, front yard since 1987. Three visitors knocked on his door to ask about it, and a fundraiser followed, with about 1,640 donors helping to finish it.⁹ Smaller version: ask a neighbor about the project they’ve been working on.

More World Kindness Day ideas

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation offers a free download of 30 more ideas on its World Kindness Day page.¹ Nobody on that list is asking for your shoes, though it’s nice to know the bar is there.