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Cards to challenge your family to perform acts of kindness and keep the giving chain going!
by Rebecca Klein
Just what do the cards hold? Forget about queens, kings, jokers and aces.
It’s not about getting a royal flush. It’s about what you can give.
A winning play is planting a surprise bouquet on a friend’s porch, leaving a thank you note for the trash collector, going on a neighborhood “trasher hunt” instead of a treasure one and filling up as many bags as you can, or turning off all technology for the night and tuning in to family time.
The Boom Boom! Cards Family Edition ($14.99) includes 26 cards challenging your family to become “agents of altruism” and to complete different acts of “guerilla goodness.”
Only, that’s just the beginning. At BoomBoomCards.com, you can use each card’s identification number to post a story along with pictures or video showcasing the act of kindness (or Boom Boom!) completed. You’re encouraged to pass each card on to someone else so the kindness can multiply. Later, you can go back and track each of your card’s travels online.
Take card #22 — “Go out of your way to get something for someone (a glass of water, gas, toilet paper, groceries… whatever it is they need).” At BoomBoomCards.com, we saw how a Michigan family sprung to action by pre-purchasing a cup of coffee at a 7-Eleven for the next person to order one. The same card then scored a cappuccino for a stranger before getting passed to a Mississippi woman. She writes how for six weeks she has taken her nephew to daycare since his mom has to be at work early. At first the little boy didn’t chat with her. Now he calls her Aunt Pam and hugs her goodbye each day. The card’s fourth stop has a sweet story. A girl helped a new boy in her class find his art supplies and in the process the two became friends.
“I think we are in a world where we are all constantly looking for ways to show our children what kindness means, what compassion means. This is a fun way for children to see it doesn’t have to be something you do on a special occasion. Being kind is something you can integrate into your everyday world and make it a part of the fabric of who you already are…” shares Boom Boom! Revolution’s Co-Founder, Mary Beth Campbell. Campbell, a former teacher, and her business partner, Hélène Scott, a graphic artist, sold their first pack of Original Edition cards in 2007.
The Santa Cruz, California based company also offers Boom Boom! Cards Teen, Green and Everyday Editions, all made from recycled materials. The game is “named for the karmic notion that every good deed comes back around to inspire even more good deeds, boomerang-style…”
The box housing the set geared for families unfolds into an activity board. There are stickers to track your family’s accomplishments, sticky notes for leaving recipients messages, discussion cards and some blank ones to create your own Boom Boom! Cards.
Each set purchased results in more giving. When you register your deck online, you can pick from a list of charities to receive 10-percent of the profits.
