It's sad to me that our society has really lost the use of etiquette in our every day lives. Sometimes I hear "please, and thanks!" and every once in a while I see people holding doors for the strangers walking behind them.... But I never recieve Thank-you notes! I feel like weddings are the only time people make the effort to write out thank you notes, and even these are being substituted with electronic thank you notes or generic pre-printed cards in place of a hand written thank you note. I must admit, I'm one of THOSE people who always sends Birthday, Anniversary, Wedding, Baby etc. cards/gifts, and I can count on one hand the number of Thank You cards I have received. Even worse, I rarely even get a "Thanks" on facebook, in a text or in an email.... I don't think my friends are purposely trying to be rude- I just think that Thank-You Etiquette has been lost.
Last weekend, The Good Dr. and I were invited to an end of summer party with everyone in his department. I made an effort to bring a hostess gift ( a bottle of wine, a bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates, or a house plant) are all nice things to bring, especially if it's the first time you have been invited to their home. We had a wonderful time, and as we prepared to leave I made sure to seek out our hosts and personally thank them for inviting and hosting us- sadly, I noticed the majority of guests there did not do this. The next day, I sat down to write out a thank-you note and got it into the mail ASAP.
I'm pretty sure that:
A) people don't even think to do this any more
B) Some people may think about it, but don't know how to write a Thank You Note,
So, without further ado, here is an example:
Dear Dr. and Mrs. Smith,
Thank you so much for the great party this weekend! We had such fun seeing everyone and getting to know you two better as well. The hot-air balloon and pony rides were over the top! What a great way to end the summer!
Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Dr. and Mrs. Jones
It took less than 5 minutes to write this out, address an envelope and walk it out to the mail box, but I know it will let our hosts know how much we appreciated all the trouble they went through. We're also much more likely to be invited again!
So ladies, next time you're at Target, pick out some cute Thank-you notes and start writing them!
At the very least, even an informal thank-you email, text, or FB wall post would be appreciated, but nothing beats getting something pretty in the mail that's NOT a bill!!
Striving to be,
The Good Doctor's Wife
I love thank you notes! I have a collection of pretty ones so they are always there when I need one. It was only last week that I sent one to a lady who had organised an afternoon tea.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that these sweet little things are gradually being phased out of society by both technology (like email and texts) but also by the changing attitudes of society.
I think it is essential to write thank you notes. It is a sign of good manners and good manners never go out of style. People do enjoy hearing how much you appreciate the thoughtful things that are done for you. When I raised my 3 girls I always told them the importance of writing a thank you note. A Verbal thank you is nice but nothing compares to the written words you write in a note.
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