I HATE writing 'Thank You' cards!

[Freyja]

Maybe you should move to Iceland. Thank you notes are unheard of here. If you thank the person in person, well then you don´t have to thank them again, if you didn´t meet them and they sent a gift, well if you´re extremely nice you pick up the phone and thank them, otherwise you thank them next time you see them or talk to them on the phone. No body gets insulted, it´s just the way things are around here.

 

[disykat]

But now it seems people are starting to write thank-you notes for birthday gifts given at birthday parties. I really don't see the purpose of that unless it's to get children in the habit of writing thank-yous but I honestly think it's overkill. I've taught my children the same way I was taught - if the person is not there to personally thank a note is a must, otherwise a verbal thank you is sufficient. But now, I'm starting to feel the pressure to conform and I'm wondering if people think we're rude for not writing notes.

I don't know where you live, but this is nothing new. I wrote thank you's after my birthday parties 35 years ago, and my kids write them now. My kids know that if there's any whining about writing them, no more parties. With a few exception, they have always received thank you notes from parties they attended. I've already spent more time replying on this thread than it would take me to do a couple!

Thank you notes take so little time. Whenever we have to write them, we just do a couple each day until they're done. If the OP has 50 to write, ten a day for 5 days and she's done.

 

[mickeyboat]

Maybe you should move to Iceland. Thank you notes are unheard of here. If you thank the person in person, well then you don´t have to thank them again, if you didn´t meet them and they sent a gift, well if you´re extremely nice you pick up the phone and thank them, otherwise you thank them next time you see them or talk to them on the phone. No body gets insulted, it´s just the way things are around here.

I was just talking about this to my Icelandic friends last night. We babysat their daughter for a couple of hours and I remarked how polite she was and how well she used her manners (she's 2 1/2). They said her manners are much better in English than they are in Icelandic, because in Iceland they don't interject as many verbal expressions of gratitude. They might nod or smile to acknowledge the giver, but they are not as profuse as we are. It must be really hard for them to adjust to American customs.

Denae

 

[Candleshoe]

Hated it, but figured if someone was going to spend time and money for me I could survive. I didn't have a baby shower with my little boy, because it just wasn't worth the hassle though!

I didn't want one either, plus I was well over 30 at the time, and it felt sort of 'wrong'. But my older sister and my childhood friends wanted to give me one.

So... my sister made it painless. At the sign in table she had people fill out the envelopes with their addresses! When the party was over she handed me the list of gifts and the already made out (correctly of course!) envelopes. So all I had to do was write the thank yous. And you know what? I had FUN. I actually had fun! I could concentrate on the message and the joy and not worry about all the secretarial stuff of thank yous.

I used to be of the "oh well husbands all manage to get out of it and that's okay" crowd, but now I think that maybe they should have the grunt work of filling out envelopes with addresses. They can't say "I don't know what to say" for that! LOL

Just had a thought, they could also slip in a piece of paper with what the gift was! *g*

 

[safetymom]

Personally I think it is tacky when they have you write your address on the envelope. I felt like I should write the thank you too if it was too much trouble for the person to acknowledge my gift.

They didn't have a problem finding my address to send me an invitation expecting a gift.

Just my opinion and not directed at anyone.