Finn

How do you handle thank you notes?

Kathryn24

I send them to everyone. I enjoy writing notes and using fun stationary.

But the 'green' side of me is wondering if they are necessary ...

JenR

Usually I'll send one if the giver sent me the package. Sometimes I do even if I was given the package in person if it's a big occasion (like a baptism).

mommy23ms

I send them to everyone. I know I appreciate a thank you note so I am sure to write down gifts, or I nominate my sister to do it, as the girls are opening at their b-days. I try to get them out no later than a week after the party if I can.

If it's a special occasion gift for me or DH, I either write a note or make a phone call.

hotgogobot

I mostly send only if the gift giver wasn't there. There are excedptions, though. I might send a thank you for an especially thoughtful gift or if it didn't seem like we had a good chance to say thanks in person. I also no longer send thank you notes to DH's side of the family. It is horrible, but I just feel like it should be his job.

I still need to send a couple thank you notes from Christmas, though. I was really bad at it this year.

BigNutbrownHare

I am glad that you posted this because I have a bee in my britches about thank you notes right now. I am the only person in the entire family who sends thank you notes. The only one. Not one parent, grandparent, sibling, cousin, aunt, uncle, etc on either side ever sends us a thank you note nor do they send them to each other. Just me sending to them. Yet, I get hasseled by my mom and my MIL if someone hasn't received a thank you note from me yet. In several cases, I have NEVER met the giver of the gift because DH has this really warped family that doesn't talk to each other or visit each other but sends random gifts for every big and little holiday on the calendar. It is so odd. So I am stuck writing thank you notes to people I have never met for gifts I neither want or need or else hear about it from MIL for all eternity.

Okay, sorry to turn this into my own vent but I was writing some out last night so it is fresh on my mind.

KATin NJ

I LOVE sending personal notes and find it rude when not thanked for a gift (IF and ONLY IF I did not see them open the gift). It's been an ongoing theme with my mother, and drilled into me from childhood that you must send one, if only to say thanks for remembering me.

That said, my closest girlfriends and I have an understanding that we do not need to send them to eachother, but our kids must. We all want our kids to understand the importance of saying thank you appropriately.

My kids KNOW it's a huge thing with me and they have even designed their own thank you notes! Obviously my 3 yo cannot write a note yet, but he can enclose a drawing of himself reading Aunt Mary's book she sent him for XMas!

jandj-2002

We send to everyone for Christmas and birthday gifts.

Finn

I put other. I had always done them all the time but this year the dog chewed up my list of who gave what, so I think I have to punt and just send to the few people who weren't with us when we opened them. I could probably re-do the list if I really gave some effort, time and thought, but some people I can't think of everything they gave and it is a PITA! I keep thinking "sh*t, it is all family and the kids already thanked everyone when they opened them, so can't I just move on???" I am hoping this poll will help with the guilt I am feeling.

8marie

I send to everyone...well, I should say my kids do
If I were in your situation I might do what I could and move on.