Is the thank you note dead?
Is this something that you still do? Or your children still do? Or has modern technology replaced them?
We always have a stash of note cards in our house. I mean, of course we do, it’s my house!
I have plenty of notelets, cards, letter sets and the like here, as I do adore my stationery. They are mainly for me and happy mail, but from time to time the kids will use them too, though naturally I ensure that they also have their own stationery sets.
It means that whenever we need to drop a little thank you to someone, we are ready to do so.
But is there any point?
There’s no doubt about it, dropping someone a quick text is easier, isn’t it? A thank you via WhatsApp, or perhaps a photo and thanks over on Facebook, these seem to pretty commonplace these days.
I totally get that, it’s super easy to do. And free, as a real bonus.
It just doesn’t feel quite as special, does it?
A note takes that little bit more effort, that little bit more thought. And now that the kids are old enough to pen their own, I think it’s a nice way for them to connect with friends and family.
In our home, if the kids receive gifts for special occasions, if they don’t get to thank someone in person for them, they write a thank you note. It will tend to be aunts and uncles we rarely see in person, but that never forget the children. Or friends of friends or family that we don’t bump into all that often.
I don’t want them to think that their cards or gifts aren’t appreciated. That we haven’t noticed that they have remembered us.
I guess it just feels polite, doesn’t it? But would a text be sufficient?
For us, in a house where snail mail is second nature and there are always note cards and stamps to hand, I can’t really imagine doing anything else.
But what about you, do you still bother with thank you notes? Or is the thank you note dead?
Not at all, messages have their place but thank you cards are very much alive in our house. 😊
Wonderful! I think you’re right, it’s about getting the balance right between the two.
The people in my house write thank you notes and writing thank you notes isn’t difficult especially since we have note cards and envelopes at the ready all the time
My position is this – if someone has taken the time to give you a gift – selecting it, purchasing it, wrapping it (and mailing it if the person lives a distance away) then the least thing you can do is pick up a pen and a note card and write a thank you. It’s the polite thing to do.
That’s my thoughts exactly, and like you, we always have thank you notes on hand so it really does just take moments.