Thank you etiquette

I have to start making thank you notes. With Munchkin #2 coming soon, I know that gifts will most likely soon follow. But I like having thank you notes on hand all the time. It is the ultimate in recognizing people’s generousity. I have yet to find the person who was offended by receiving a thank you note. I know plenty of people who have been offended by NOT getting one.

For instance, with the summer in full swing, we are now in the season of weddings and bridal showers and graduations. I will give credit where it is due. We had 3 graduates that we sent cash gifts to, and as of today, all three of them have responded with a thank you note. It makes me feel good that their parents instilled in them (or insisted on) the respect for other people’s time and consideration in sending them a gift.

Conversely, I am still waiting for thank you notes from certain brides who were married last year. I will cut one a little slack, though not much. We combined resources with my parents and purchased a gift together, with both families’ names on the card. My parents received the thank you note; we did not. The other bride simply hasn’t bothered sending out any thank you notes at all, as far as I have heard. This I consider the ultimate in rudeness and arrogance – and I thought the bride was a pretty considerate person!

I’m really not trying to keep score. I don’t expect thank you notes for every little thing that I give or do, honestly! But big things – like weddings – deserve the consideration of a thank you, in my opinion. And yes, I walk my talk. When the Webmaster and I got married, I had all my thank you notes out within 3 months (per Emily Post, that is the acceptable allotted amount of time between wedding and thank you note received), and every gift received after the wedding got a thank you note almost immediately. When the Munchkin was born, I kept a careful list of gifts received, not only for the baby book, but also so I could get the thank you notes out in good order. Not only do people appreciate it, it reflects well on my parents. I was raised right, in this particular case.

So, I made lots of thank you notes for all the gifts that Little Cousin has gotten, and my sister has kept on top of them all. Anything to help grease the wheels of good etiquette, consideration for generousity, and making the people who spent the time to think of, buy, and give a gift feel good about the effort that they went to.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 27th, 2005 at 10:27 pm and is filed under General.
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