WRITING THANK YOU NOTES

my sweet friend grace sent me these beautiful monogram cards from her stationary line - grace notes!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I want to send out thank you cards for no reason (and some for good reason! We are so lucky to have the kindest friends and family). Growing up my mom put a huge emphasis on manners and the importance of writing good thank you notes (thanks Mama!). In turn I've become very interested in the art of both. I specifically remember being a teen and being handed a copy of the classic: Emily Post's Etiquette. It was mandatory that my sister and I read it and I will most certainly do the same with my girls. Thank you cards and etiquette in general have been thrown out the window with instant messaging and email, but it's so important to keep these traditions alive (at least to me!). 

Admittedly with having two little ones, I've let a few notes slip through the cracks but I'm reminded daily of how important it is to make time to thank people for what they've done for us. We have so much love poured out for our family and I don't want anyone to ever think it goes unnoticed. I am incredibly grateful and blown away by the generosity and love that people show us. I truly feel the unselfish, love of God through the people we are so blessed to have around us.

When writing thank you cards I have a sort of general outline that I run through that makes them more personal and meaningful, with each note I try to put a lot of effort because I want the appreciation to be felt. To me there's nothing worse than receiving a generic "Thank you for the meatloaf." At the risk of sounding a little bratty, I'd rather they didn't even bother. Anyone feel me on this one?

Here's my template for writing thank you notes (with room for heartfelt emotion of course!):

Address the person(s) you're speaking to,

On the first line I always try and immediately address what the thank you line is for. If it's a special event or a lovingly prepared dinner I start by saying how much we enjoyed the evening.

I then go into specifics. If it's a dinner, I talk about how incredibly delicious the casserole was and how thoughtful it was that they made enough for two meals (whatever stands out - portions, the extra rolls for the following morning, the homemade dessert, etc).

I also like to include something personal to them, ex: "There is no one that can make a better [insert food here]" or "I truly admire your ability to warmly welcome people into your home" or "I wore the bracelet you gave me the other day and got so many compliments." etc.

I close with telling them how much they mean to us and how happy we are to know them or have them in our life.

I'm not an expert by any means but this is my general way of putting together (hopefully) meaningful notes to people we love. Do you have a similar technique? I would love to hear! I'm always trying to improve my writing skills. :)

ps less than two days to enter the sugarboo giveaway! 

twitter/ facebook/ pinterest/ instagram/ bloglovin'