Teaching Children to Write Thank You Notes

Even with text messages, email, social media and near-instantaneous communication in the 21^st century, the art and etiquette of writing a thank you note is not lost. 

At More Than Paper, writing a handwritten note and sending it in the good old fashioned mail is important to us and, therefore, we’ve been teaching our kids how to write thank you notes since they were young.  Is it something that you value?  Here are some tips to teach your children how to write thank you notes.  

Around age 2-4

It’s never too early to start – and yes, children this young can help in creating a thank you note!  Most children this age love using stickers or rubber stamps.  How about the grown-up writes the words “THANK YOU” and the child’s name on a piece of paper or cardstock – and have the child decorate with stickers, stampers or crayons! Explain the activity and why your child should write a thank you note (“Remember the teddy bear that Aunt Diane got you? Let’s write her a thank you note!”).  The child will begin to learn about the concept of why one writes a thank you note and will also have fun doing the task.

  

Around age 4-6 

By age 4, children can get more involved in the “writing” part of thank you notes. Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children are in the beginning stages of learning to form letters and words, and many children at this age have the dexterity and attention span to copy letters.   When our children were young, we wrote the words “thank you” and their names using dots and simply asked them to connect the dots.  This was a delight to grandparents, aunts and uncles, and family friends who had been kind and generous enough to give our children a gift or gesture.  They absolutely loved seeing our little ones write their names and the words thank you.  That is all it took. 

Around ages 5-8

As children being reading and writing, this is a good age to have them start writing their own “Dear ___, Thank you for my gift.”  We typically wrote this message out on a piece of paper and let them copy it while studying the paper.   This helps speed up the process.  Another idea is to let them phonetically spell and compose the message all on their own.  Likely you’ll get a ton of misspellings, but you are not striving for perfection here! Plus, the free-form phonetic spelling can be quite funny and will make a great keepsake for the future! Plus you’re allowing the child a lot of independence and creativity.  Just be sure to give them enough direction or assistance so they don’t feel overwhelmed by the blank card. 

Ages 8-11 

Here’s where children can begin composing their own letters.  Teach them the salutation, punctuation, and value of good penmanship.  It is also a good time to remind them to be specific about the gift they’ve received and why they like it or how they will use it.  Rather than “Thank you for the gift,” your child might write “Thank you for the doll that I wanted. I am so excited to play with her.” 

Ages 12+ 

If you have been encouraging your children to write thank you notes since they were little, hopefully you don’t get a lot of pushback from your preteen or teen on writing their notes.  After every birthday or holiday, have them sit down with their personalized stationery and list of people to thank and write several a day.  If they have received a lot of presents, encourage them to break the task of writing notes into chunks – just a few at a time. Then it is not so overwhelming.   At this point, they should be writing several sentences being specific about what they are thanking the person for, how they intend to use the gift, and what they like about it.  We also encourage something personal to the recipient.  This can be done with ideas like, “I hope your holidays were fun, and we missed celebrating with you this year. Can’t wait until we can get together in the summer!” or “Hope you are feeling better after your knee surgery! I was thinking of you.”  A little personal touch or extra sentence or two can make the letter feel more personal and less curt. 

Quite honestly, there is no wrong way to write a thank you note, especially thank you notes written by children. They are so unexpected these days and a treat for people to receive that your recipient will just be glad that they have written one. 

Here are two other unique thank you note ideas that we have seen from children. 

1)     Draw a picture instead of writing a note. Especially good for really little ones, a picture (of rainbows, the dog, anything!) can be a nice thank you! 

2)     Use your Instapix camera! Take a picture of the child holding the gift and smiling. Sign the bottom, “Thank you!! Love, ____”.  Send the picture in an envelope! 

What ideas do you have? 

Shop our personalized stationery for children and adults at More Than Paper and find your perfect correspondence for thank you notes, everyday letters & anything else you need!  

Baby Gift Etiquette

These days it may feel like you need a gift for every occasion.  By the time your best friend is having a baby, it's likely that you've celebrated (and given gifts for) many of her birthdays, engagement, bridal shower,  and wedding.  Some time has passed and now it's time for baby. Do you give a gift when you hear she's pregnant? At the baby shower? Do you give a gift when she's in the hospital or when the baby comes home? So many gift giving opportunities all get to be a little bit overwhelming. 

How do you balance your desire to shower your friend with love and affection for her baby, but also keep things under budget?  More Than Paper is here to help.   

As soon as you learn of your friend's pregnancy, send her a card or personal note on your stationery. (Or try a box of letterpress baby clothes line stationery by Crane like the one shown below.)  Be honest, sincere, and express your excitement for her new and growing family. Save your gift giving until the shower.  

When it comes time for the Baby Shower, we recommend giving a registry gift if it's her first baby, and a more "fun" gift for subsequent babies.  Second and third babies often don't need a stroller or car seat, but Mom will appreciate personalized goodies like bibs, place mats or trays. 

Many times that will suffice as far as a gift goes.  But you may want to bring flowers or a card to the hospital when you visit.  A personalized onesie that doesn't break the bank is also a fun, inexpensive gift to meet baby with (assuming you know the gender and name!) 

Remember that your friend will appreciate your support and help more than any gift you buy after the baby is born.  All those hormones after birth can really be difficult to manage. Drop a note in the mail to her every few weeks, be sure to call her frequently (even if she is too busy to answer), and shoot her texts asking about baby.  Letting her know you care is worth everything in the world! 

Shop everything you need for baby gifting at More Than Paper! 

Valentine's Day Gifts from the Heart

Marriages and relationships go through ebbs and flows, ups and downs, and are ever changing. When our children were much younger and we were growing our business, there wasn't a whole lot of extra time for each other, which made every moment together that much more important.  Showing each other you care in the smallest of ways can make a large difference.   Going the extra mile means everything.

If you are lucky enough to be in love, use Valentine's Day to celebrate it! At More Than Paper, we have 5 last minute ways to show your man you really care.

1. Write a love note.
2. Wake up 15 minutes earlier, make coffee and breakfast for your hubby.  Serve breakfast in bed! 
3. Leave him an unexpected note in his car, briefcase, or wherever he will find it during the day while you are apart! Let him know you miss him and look forward to seeing him tonight.
4. Create a photo scrapbook, or assemble pictures of the two of  you when you first started dating. Try to recall that young love and spark you felt in the beginning by reminiscing. 
5. Make a list of all the "tasks" around the house that your husband does not like to do. Write out a few "free passes" that he can redeem during the year to get out of them. (For example, your husband really protests changing dirty diapers. You know he should get over it, but you'll give him a free pass, and next time he can redeem and not have to change one.  It's really a win for you because as everyone knows, there will be plenty of opportunities to change diapers but one free pass will make him feel like he wins!) 

Above all, take a few minutes to remember what this day should truly be about.  Not chocolate, candies, flowers, and gifts, but a day to show appreciation for the ones you love.   The littlest thing can go a long way!

Monogram guide

These days you can monogram just about anything.  At More Than Paper, we have over 20,000 products on which you can place your monogram.  From boots to candles, mugs to necklaces, cell phone cases to calendars, monograms are a fun way to personalize things in your life and make great gifts.   But the last thing you want to do is get it wrong, and monograms can be tricky.   So we've assembled this easy guide to monograms.

Individual Monogram Etiquette

Women’s Monogram Etiquette: The most common rule is first name initial, last name initial and middle name initial, in that order. So Margaret Eleanor Given’s monogram would look as follows:
M G E

Men’s Monogram Etiquette: The most common rule for men is a straight monogram, first name initial, middle name initial and last name initial, in that order and they are three equally sized letters. So Owen William Martin’s monogram would look as follows:

O W M 

Married Monogram Etiquette
Modern Monogram Etiquette: The most common rule is Woman's First Name, Married Last Name, Husband's First Name. So Margaret Eleanor Given married to Owen William Martin’s monogram would look as follows:
M M O

Family Monogram Etiquette

The “Mom Monogram”: A new trend that will feature the first initial of each Child’s Name and the first initial of the Family’s Last Name.  The Martins have two children, Jude Chrisman Martin and Lucille Cobb Martin.  So the monogram for the  Martins' Mom would look as follows:

J M L

Pin this handy reference to a board on Pinterest and you'll never have questions again! 

When in doubt we refer back to Emily Post and remember that the lady always goes first and that the bride should refrain from using her married monogram prior to the wedding date. Also remember that the More Than Paper customer service team is always more than happy to help you with any questions you may have before ordering.  

An easy guide to thank you notes

There is an art to writing a charming thank you note and an etiquette to it, too.  With emails, texts, Facebook and other electronic forms of communication, traditional handwritten thank you notes seem to be losing popularity.  Our grandmas would be disappointed!  However, because we have become such a digital age, when one does receive a snail-mailed, handwritten thank you note, it becomes that much more special - all the more reason for you to send one!

At More Than Paper, we value the importance of a handwritten thank you note and are here with some tips to make the process less painful.   Notes don't have to take a lot of your precious time. With a few quick tips, you'll make your grandmas proud and get back to writing thank you notes. 

Here are some tips to writing a good thank you note: 

• DO be specific about what you are thanking them for (avoid "thank you for the gift...") 
• DO tell the recipient what you like about the item, how you will use it, or how whatever they did will make your life better
• DO add a sentence or two about when you will see them next.  Adding a personal touch about what your kids are up to, or inquiring about how their family is doing adds length to the note and makes it more substantial
• DO invest in some personal stationery.  Writing on beautiful paper with your name on it feels much more fun! 

Here are some things to avoid: 

• DON'T ever use a “fill-in” thank you note
• DON'T wait too long.  A note should go in the mail within 2 weeks of receiving a gift (but we like to think better late than never - so send the note even if more than 2 weeks have elapsed!) 
• DON'T mention specific dollar amounts. Instead, tell them how you plan to use the money and thank them for their "generous gift"

More Than Paper has a variety of personalized stationery for every budget and style.   Capture the chevron trend with this Stacy Claire Boyd design, now 20% off! 

You’ll love the simplicity and versatility of this clean and simple design by Boatman Geller.   

Sometimes you need to have a little fun with your stationery, too.  We love this one for a golfing enthusiast. Shop a variety of fun styles here. 

Whatever style you choose, just make sure you write those thank you notes! The recipient will really appreciate your thoughtfulness and time.