On Thank You Notes

There's a lot of gift giving during this time of year and it follows that there should be a lot of thank you notes written. Are thank you notes that important? It seems to be a bit of a lost art today, but I think people still appreciate them.

My mama is a stickler for thank you notes (perhaps it's part of that Southern manners thing) and she worked hard to instill it in me. I'm really grateful to her for teaching me a simple thing like writing a thank you note.

When the shoe is on the other foot and you are the giver, how does it make you feel when you receive a thank you note... or at least a verbal acknowledgement of the gift you gave? For me, it makes me want to give that person a gift again!

Are thank you notes hard to write? I'm sure, for some, it can be a challenge. After all, how many ways can you say thank you? I believe it's something that comes with practice. And I've learned a lot from others-- I have a lot of appreciative friends. :)

So, here are some suggestions (if you need them) that helped me in writing thank you notes:

- Always mention the gift(s) specifically
I have received thank you notes that, when I finished reading, made me wonder if they even knew what I gave them... which then made me wonder if they were actually thankful. :)

- Get out that thesaurus
Expand your thank you note vocabulary to include words like appreciate, sincere, grateful, generous, kind, thoughtful, giving, benefit, gracious, etc.

- Give them something in return
Give them a blessing, wish them a prosperous year, or just be interested in them.

- Be genuine.
I think if you really are sincerely thankful, that will come through in your writing. I try to always remind myself that this person didn't have to give me anything.

- It's a person, not a project.
Don't treat it as something to check off your to do list. One thank you note I received looked like, while writing, the person was thinking: "Ohmyword!Ineedtogetthesenoteswrittenandoutthedoor!Ihavesomanytowrite.Hurry!Hurry!Phew,nowIhavefulfilledmysocialobligation.Check!" It sort of defeated the whole purpose. :)


I hope I'm not sounding like a thank you note expert! I have learned from others and just wanted to pass the tips along. What do you think about thank you notes?