Have you been looking for a way to slow down and connect with your kids this holiday season?
And do a little good at the same time?
Then you will love going to Candy Cane Bombing a Parking Lot!
It may sound crazy but it is such a fun Random Act of Christmas Kindness to do with kids or even by yourself.
We have been having so much fun doing 24 Days of Random Acts of Christmas Kindness each Christmas season. The first year we did it on Christmas Eve we candy cane bombing a parking lot. It was so much fun we can’t wait to do it every year now!
What does candy cane bombing a parking lot mean?
It’s simple!
We just go around sticking candy canes and a note on car windshields for people to discover.
It’s such a great surprise for the recipient and equally as fun for those who are doing it! Kids love watching to make sure no one sees them leaving candy canes and to watch and see who discovers the candy canes. It’s a great way to practice doing something for someone with no expectation of anything in return.
RACK’d Card Printable
I made a free Random Acts of Christmas Kindness printable that we hand out with each act of kindness. You can use it too for candy cane bombing and any other RACKs you do this month.
- Just right click on it.
- Save it to your computer.
- Print on 4×6 inch photo paper–you can even have multiple copies made at Walgreens or an online photo site!
I print it on 4×6 photo paper to save myself some time and ink but you can print paper copies at home too.
You may link to the card if you want, but please don’t upload it onto your blog or website without permission. Thanks!
We tape candy canes to the corners of the cards before we hand them out so everyone knows what we are doing. It’s a good time to sneak in some fine motor and counting practice too!
Then comes the fun part–candy cane bombing!
We chose to spread kindness in our school parking lots where the teachers park. We thought they deserved a little extra kindness–especially this time of year.
We’ve also given out candy canes in store parking lots, hospital lots, church parking areas, and at the park. Basically, anywhere you feel like you can safely walk around and pass them out with your kids.
This is different for everyone depending on how busy the area is and how old your kids are. You know your kids best so pick a spot that works for your family or group.
Which brings me to the update for 2020.
Safety always comes first, especially when doing acts of kindness. If going around a parking lot and sticking candy canes on cars doesn’t work for you this year, don’t worry. We have a plan for this year.
Mini candy canes to the rescue!
That’s right. Instead of taping on large candy canes try the mini size ones. You can then stick the cards in envelopes to secretly (or not so secretly) pass out to neighbors or mail to faraway friends.
We tested it out and one mini candy cane taped to a RACK card doesn’t even require extra postage in the US!
Random Acts of Christmas Kindness Printable Calendar
Want to spread even more kindness?
Print out our free printable Random Acts of Kindness Christmas calendar!
Download here—> Random Acts of Christmas Kindness Advent Calendar
Or try making this Christmas Kindness Countdown Chain!
Download here—> Christmas Kindness Countdown Chain Printable
More Random Acts of Christmas Kindness:
- Help a Neighbor with Yard Work
- Give a Cup of Coffee
- Candy Cane Bird Food Treat
- Applesauce Ornament Neighbor Gifts
- Holiday Mail for Heroes
- Popcorn Surprise Random Act of Kindness for Kids
A fun idea, and simple to do with young kids! Love that you used them to spread some smiles at the school. Sharing this!
Sheila it was so much FUN! Thank you for sharing!!!
This is a really cute idea! I hope everyone enjoyed their candy canes!
We heard they were a huge hit!!! Thank you Ashley!
Hi Megan! I absolutely LOVE this idea! And I love the phrase you coined: candy cane bombing a parking lot! So fun and clever 🙂 Thanks for making the world a sweeter place!
Making the world a sweeter place with candy canes…I need to add that line to the post!!! As always thank you so much Katherine!
This is so cute! We are so doing this today…watch out Target parking lot! Wishing you and the family a wonderful Christmas and as always…we love all your ideas!
How fun!!! I can’t wait to hear about it!!!
I am always looking for things to do with my little sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters. this will defiantly be one.
Great idea!!! Have so much fun!!!
Sounds like fun and I am sure it would be. But how many people in a parking lot do you think actually ate the candy cane? Not knowing if it was laced with something. It is a sad thing that this world is like that…but it is. If a candy cane…or any other thing..popcorn bag….was left on my car in the trash it would go.
We did it in the teacher parking lot where we know all the teachers so it wasn’t really an issue for us, but that is a very good point!
I rec’d one on my windshield in our Wal-mart parking lot today. I was taking my mom to town. Mom doesn’t drive and dad recently passed away, so me taking mom to town has become a new thing. It has been a mullygrub, cold, rainy, dark day and us missing dad made it even worse. We got back in the car and I backed out, turned the windshield wipers on and BAM! I was like “WHAT was that?” Ha! I turned the wipers off and saw the candy cane. It brought a smile to our hearts to be picked randomly. Something so small can brighten someone’s day and you never know the hurt and the need of the person you are blessing so easily! So…….to the person who “bombed” the wm parking lot in Duncan, Oklahoma… thank you! P.S. I ate it immediately and didn’t even think about being poisoned until I read the comment above. Call me naive. LOL
Oh Amy I’m so happy that someone candy cane bombed you! So sweet!!!!!!
This sounds awesome. I will plan to candy cane bomb the parking lot at church. Can’t wait to hear about it the next week
Have fun!!!!!
My 7 yr old grandson and I did this last year, except he just handed the candy canes out to shoppers. The look on his face was priceless! And to see the kids’ faces light up and the adults’ expressions turn from harried and stressed to a smile was sweet, too. Can’t wait to do it again!
How sweet!!!! I love that!
We thought about the candy cane parking lot one and decided to change it up a bit,,,we will do local police and fire parking lots and the homeless shelter and food pantry too 🙂 Thank you so much for coming up with this and this world today needs things like this to go viral <3
That’s awesome!!!!
What do you mean by “BOMB: a Parking Lot ?????
Hi Paul! It’s candy cane bomb a parking lot! He he! We left notes and candy canes on all of the cars in the teacher parking lot at school for them to find when they got out. 🙂
I was the recipient of one of these! It was taped to the vending machine at work along with 4 quarters! It’s really made my day! Just these small acts of kindness go a long way! Thank you for spreading this joy!
Woo hoo!!!!!
I was feeling dark and gloomy when I pulled my car into a parking lot of my local community center. I had just remarked to a friend that I think I just don’t like people very much and they don’t like me. Several hours later, I returned to my car to head home and there it was! I had been RACK’d! I read the card and felt like some kind of miracle had just occurred. This candy-cane random act of kindness reminded me there are people in the world that do make it a better place. I felt hugely relieved and grateful that this random act occurred at just the right moment for me. Thank you, mystery person.
YAY!!!!! I’m so glad you got RACK’d!
What does Rack’d mean?
R- random A-act C-Christmas K- kindness 🙂
Hi Megan, I love this idea! Such a nice thought! Unfortunetly I missed it for Christmas, but I was thinking about trying it for Valentines Day or another month coming. Have any suggestions? I will keep you posted if we end up trying it with my Girl Scout Troop! Thanks again!
unfortunately..lol sp!
What if they just made and stuck valentines on cars? That would be a fun surprise!!!
I didn’t read through all of the posts, but thought since it snows here, we would put the RACK card and candy cane in a zip-loc baggie first to keep it weatherproofed.
Oh so smart!!!!
I LOVE this awesome idea! And should not be geared to children only…I am using your RACK’d concept and reminding adult Christians I know that there is no time like Advent to do what you can to make the world a better place. I will share with my weekly rosary group as a start. Thank you !
You are right about that! Love it! 🙂
I love this and can’t wait to do with my kids! As a side note – what kind of printer do you use? Mine always have trouble with ‘special paper’ – thanks!!
I have a Canon, but we’ve printed at Walgreens too!
Hi! I LOVE the font you used for “You’ve been RACK’d!!!” on your cards. Do you mind sharing what it is?
I *think* it was Chelsea Market from Picmonkey. Check it and see! 🙂
Hi, im a part of a RAOK group in my city we help a lot of homeless but id love to know what other ideas you have for the other 24 days……
Click on the link for the RACK calendar–it has more ideas for you!
I love all these ideas. Will be pitting some to use. Thank you for your love of people and your obedience. God bless