Thank You Notes
As I was writing out a Thank You card for a very thoughtful gift I recently received, I started to wonder if this was a lost art form. Is sending a written thank you card no longer the proper thing to do after spending a weekend at a friend’s house or receiving a gift? Is the verbal “thanks” enough?
I first started writing Thank You notes after my wedding. I was told that it was fine to send the thank you up to a year after the wedding, but that just didn’t feel right to me. These people were kind enough to take time out of their busy lives (not to mention money out of their pockets!) to celebrate the beginning of our new life with us. If our guests could do that, certainly I could thank them for it! So, on the flight down to Mexico (on our honeymoon) I wrote all of our notes of thanks – and I addressed all of the envelopes on the way back.
Since then I have tried to stay on top of my letter writing, not because I feel that I HAVE to, but instead because I enjoy letting the person know that I enjoyed their hospitality or appreciated a gift, or even that it meant something to me when they took time out of their life to talk to me when I was having a hard time with mine.
So, how about it? Do *you* send Thank You cards? Do you think that it is a lost art form? Or do you think it’s just an out dated one?
May 7th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
I have been recently thinking about this; I helped my mother throw a shower for a friend of the family and paid almost $400 including a gift for the bride and didn’t get a thank you note! Then, we flew to Vegas for her wedding and got her a gift for the reception, and no thank you for that either! I’m disappointed that someone would be so rude.
Of course it’s nice and appropriate to send thank-you notes; however, I think it’s even nicer to receive them! It just makes you feel nice.
One of my favorite things about Crystal is that even though note writing is sadly becoming a lost art, she sends thank-you notes AND thinking-of-you cards. In the day of e-mail, someone who takes the time and effort to send a handwritten note (complete with a seal!) is someone very special!