Thoughts on Thank You Notes: Do You Send After Christmas?
When I got this lovely lined basket for Christmas, filled with some “carefully crafted, thoughtful, gourmet, Italian” ingredients (post to come), I knew I wanted to fill it with something special and not just store it with my other baskets.
I’ve also had a running list of “thank you notes” running through my mind, of people I need to thank for some savory meals that we’ve had over the holidays.
I’d love to hear your thoughts regarding whether you send thank you notes for every single gift you receive at Christmastime, or if you forego notes for verbal thank you’s?
I tend to send thank you notes for dinner parties or meals that we’re invited to at Christmas, but not for every gift, plate of cookies, or loaf of bread. I think at Christmas a call or an email or a “thank you” at the time of delivery is enough.
I decided to fill this lovely basket with my collection of thank you notes. What a brilliant idea! To have a place of their own, a basket I can carry over with me to the sofa and sit down and think and write …
Okay, this is my favorite box of cards that I have right now. I bought them at the CIA in Napa Valley during this trip …
But usually I find my thank you notes at yard sales during the summertime. You can get such a bargain on unique cards this way.
Which reminds me, I have a few to write right now …
How do you handle thank you notes at Christmas time? And how do you store your cards?
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I think it is so important to remember and to say thank you to the people in our life. It is so nice to find that notecard in the mailbox and to know someone thought of you…it does not have to be a special occasion. I was in Michael’s craft store yesterday and picked up a new supply…$1 for a package of 8. Over the holiday I was cleaning and organizing and found some letters and cards that my Mom had sent when my children were born (she passed away 2 years ago) and I can not begin to express how much it meant to see her distinct handwriting and read her loving words….
I just did a post on this VERY subject! Check it out:
http://organizingmadefun.blogspot.com/2011/01/writing-thank-you-notes.html
I absolutely think thank you notes are important, but agree that little things sometime warrant a thank you at the time of getting it. I think it’s more important when you send something to someone to hear back from them…I often don’t ever hear back from some family members when sending Christmas or birthday gifts and I don’t even know if they got it!
Becky B.
Carol Ann—I was going to ask the exact same question as you.
I sent thank you’s for all my Christmas gifts, but do I send them for the hostess gifts as I hosted Christmas Eve dinner?
If I didn’t write a thank you note for every gift, meal, trinket or expression of compassion, my mother and
mother-in-law would scob my knob (a phrase used extensively by my grandmother who was the queen of the eloquently written note). I’m 53 years old and, believe me, I’m terrified of forgetting to properly thank someone for their generosity because it was so fervently taught in my family.
Etiquette question of the day: Is it necessary to write a note for a thank you gift? For instance, if I help give
a wedding party for a bride and she gives each hostess a gift, is it necessary to write a note to the bride thanking her for the thank-you gift? Hmmm…..
No way. I don’t even have to look it up in the Emily Post book – LOL. No, you do not have to write thank you notes for a “thank you.” Easy, huh?
The mother -to-be to be shouted, “Here’s my verbal ‘Thank You’ because
I don’t do thank you cards!” This was the scene I witnessed at a
babie shower this past year. I couldn’t believe the tact of shouting it,
really, and thought all the attendees (especially the older ones) were
going to fall off their chairs.
I have seen a trend with a young generation (younger than me…I’m 38)
who have not been trained to write thank you notes at all. I had one
mother, whom I mentor her daughter, pull me aside and ask that I bring
up the topic in our next meeting together.
I was raised with a grandmother and mother who were so wonderful and
thoughtful with letters, anniversary, birthday and thank you cards. I was trained
by them to do the same. I keep a desk drawer full of pretty cards, address labels
and stamps to make it easy. Author Alexandra Stoddard inspired that idea.
I am now training my four children to do the same. After parties or holidays, I make
a quick list of gifts and the next couple days, I slowly have them write their “thank
you’s”: with colors, stickers, home-made drawings, etc. I have hopefully made it fun
and passed on the importance of expressing a tangible thank you.
I am a note writer for sure! Born and raised! But I do distinguish between a plate of cookies from a neighbor and more “formal” gift-giving, especially if the plate of cookies was reciprocated. A verbal thank you suffices then. But otherwise I write, write, write. Nothing like a hand-written note.
I love your idea of keeping them all in a basket. I have mine on a little shelf organizer over my desk, but I often end up carting them off elsewhere to write them– family room sofa, breakfast table, back deck, etc.
Happy New Year!
What fun! I’m “surfin’ the net” (ha) about thank you notes because I’m doing a persuasive speech on writing them. I’ve read a gazillion blog posts and I run across a familiar name! My name may not be familiar to you, but maybe you’ve seen it on something of Pamela’s! I’ve really got to give this blog thing a try!
As for thank you notes, I’m a stickler! I’m using it as a speech topic for speech class and I hope to inspire people to start doing this if they aren’t already. I’m even taking an assortment of thank you cards and stamps that I will give to any of my classmates willing to write the notes to someone who needs to be thanked!
Good to see you! (so to speak!)
Well I have my thank you notes sitting on the end table where I sit to watch televison but have not written them yet. I too buy my thank you cards at garage sales and thrift shops. I also buy my Christmas cards at garage sales, it amazes me what beautiful cards you can pick up at garage sales. I always have this lofty idea that I am going to make our Christmas, Thank You cards, I love to receive the hand made ones. We have several crafty , artistic friends who do beautiful cards. But alas I procrastinate a bit too much, I mean you cannot wait until Thanksgiving weekend to whip out, write in, and mail those cards……. so I just make sure that the ones I do send are meaningful, and that I write a personal note in each card. We I guess that tonight I will need to get going and write those notes…..
Blessings to you and yours, oh and Sandy watch out for those mean Medford sidewalks, I myself have walked those and they are vicious, they reach right up and grab you LOLOLOL
Curtis & Sherrie
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I was just talking about this issue with a good friend today! I’ve always sent thank you notes, and do love to receive them. We send them to our family and friends who have sent us presents or money; as well as to people who send in financial contributions to our ministry.
So far, we’ve already received thank you’s via email for gifts we’ve sent to people. Okay, I know we live overseas and it’s expensive (98 cents) to send a note. The question becomes then, do we send an email thank you in reply for what that person sent to us?
I need to buy more cards. I think because I don’t care for my handwriting, I avoid writing them and stick to verbal or e-mail thank yous. I will occasionally write a note or an e-mail expressing my gratitude. We went to a NYE party hosted by friends and I took her a small gift with a thank you card attached to it. You’ve motivated me to expand my collection of cards.
Yes I do send thank you notes and always had my children sit down and write thank you notes to their aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas. My mom loves it when she gets a thank you note from one of the grandchildren. It means they really care to her and appreciate her gift. I think if you know someone appreciates a hand written note it makes it even more special to make sure you send them one. I sent each of my children a thank you note for their gifts this Christmas and for a little encouragement.
My note cards are in some cute baskets on my counter in my computer room.
Connie
Like you, I do not send them after Christmas for each and every thing. I also store my cards in a basket. As for looking for cards at yard sales, I have never thought of that. What a GREAT idea!
I am a HUGE advocate of writing thank you notes. I feel like it is a mark of good breeding and a gracious heart. In fact our Gracious Maven Quest a few days ago on Living Graciously was to do just that (write Christmas t-yous!). I’m a stamper, and so I generally make my own.- It is certainly a dying art…I receive maybe one or two thank you notes a year, and am always delighted when I do! Makes my month! It’s so worth the little extra effort to go out of your way, for someone who’s gone out of their way to show you some love!
thank you notes are on my to-do list for the weekend. it’s something i’ve done since i was a little girl, and even though it’s always a bit of a hassle, i know thank-yous still mean a lot. something else i’m going to do this weekend? putting all of my stationery in a pretty basket… genius! and it would help me have easier access to all of my writing supplies!
the lost art of the pen.
I used to write them for everything. I think it was because i had this beautiful monogrammed stationary that i adored. When that ran out, i think i stopped making the time and started emailing and facebooking thank yous. Sad huh?
I do have a few thank you notes that i have to send out though because we have received some wonderful unexpected packages this season.
I am a thank you note writer….it is something my precious husband has taught me, because I never remember my mom making us do it as kids. Which now, I make my kids write thank you notes to people for all sorts of things, not just material gifts. They think I am crazy, but it is a life skill that is vanishing in this day and age.
I love that you filled your basket with your cards, very organized, I just have a drawer that should be organized better…thanks for the inspiration to do just that!
We buy thank you notes at Costco, garage sales, and Papyrus clearance sales. We use the box from Costco assorted cards with dividers and place all of the others within the tabs. The box is huge for just the 30 cards that come inside. My eldest is 6, and a first grader. I have him write the thank you cards for gifts for him and his brothers. I do not have him write adult thank you cards. I also do not hover over every misspelled word in the card.It adds charm. Finally, I write the 3 year old’s name in highlighter and have him trace, and I trace the baby’s hand on the card and write his name inside his outline.
I’m a stickler for thank you notes. I think it’s a lost art. I tell my kids that if someone can take the time to shop and buy a gift for them, then they can take five minutes to write a note. If they fuss, I tell them they don’t have to write a note but they do have to return the gift … they get the message. Even if we have the chance to verbally thank someone, a note always follows. I want my kids to have a heart of gratitude and I think putting pen to paper helps that.
I usually send cards to those who have sent gifts, or dropped off gifts that we do not personally get to thank at the time. Others, I thank personally when the exchange takes place. I keep thank you notes in a photo box with dividers.
I always think a verbal thank you for hostess gift type items is enough (cookies, bottle of wine, etc.) Otherwise I send thank you notes. Unfortunately my cards are stored in an old shoe box, nothing you’d want to see, LOL!
I think the idea some commenters left of sending a picture with the child using their gift is a great one. I know I’d appreciate receiving that.
Darla
I need to get back to the “art” of note sending! Most of the time I just do a verbal “thank-you”, but I do have one thank you note that needs to be sent.
One other project I need to do, is “organize” my cards. Your basket was a darling idea.
We do send thank you notes after Christmas. I think it is an important social nicety that I want to teach my kids; there can never be enough heartfelt thank yous out there in the world!
We absolutely send them and ours are already in the mail. In fact, we all have a printed chart where we (or a parent) can write down the giver and the gift as they open them up; when we sit down to write thank you notes, there is a column to check. My oldest daughter has a “writing box” and I store our cards in a drawer. Because we’re so far away and our mail system can work a little slowly, I’ve also used Shutterfly a lot recently. I add a picture of the child, they dictate while I type and then we have the company mail them out for us. A little pricier, but for the few we do that way, it’s worth the little extra.
I usually give a thank you card to our families members after the holidays. Where do I store them….I grabbed some this year, right off my bedroom window ledge…exactly where I had “stored” them after last Christmas. (my bedroom is a sadly neglected area….in case you couldn’t tell…) I also have some cute/easy one’s for the kids to fill out and send.
I love thank-you notes. I always say thank-you there and then but then I follow up with an email or a card later.
For birthday presents, always cards.
Another thing I do which makes people very happy is if my twins get anything and they’re using it, I take a pic and when I do my weekly or bimonthly photo downloads, I compress the pic and send it to the person saying something like, “look at how cute Kendra looks in that t-shirt you bought for her birthday” or “see how much they’re enjoying crawling through the tunnel you guys got for them”.
People love this and it takes about a minute or two extra but for me, it makes a huge difference in expressing our gratitude.
I also like to send cards for lunches/ suppers but since the twins came along (they’re 18 months) I’ve lowered my expectations to follow up with a text or email.