Graduation is over, your party is over and you have a massive pile of cards, envelopes, and checks. What to do now? Well, if you’re like many other unfortunate high school graduates who can’t find employment this summer, you probably aren’t doing anything useful with your time anyways. So stop procrastinating and start writing some thank you cards. This is a good way to show your appreciation to those who attended your graduation party and gave your generous (or even not so generous) gifts, most of which, I’m guessing, consisted of money. This may also ensure that you continue to receive similar generous gifts for future events, such as birthdays or weddings. Here are some tips to make writing those thank-you notes go smoothly and quickly so you can return to laying around and doing nothing.
1.Record your gifts and keep ’em organized I suggest having a huge covered box with a slit on top for cards. They sell these at most party stores and outlets. This way, you can spend your grad party mingling with guests and worry about the hassles (yes, hassles) of gifts later. When the party is over, devote some time to looking at your cards and gifts. Keep a record of each gift, the gift giver, their address, and if money, the amount of money. Each time you write a thank you note, you can cross out the person’s name or put a check next to their entry in your records. Make sure you rip the envelope in a way that keeps the address legible. Put the envelopes in a basket, and put the card in a different basket and the checks in a labeled envelope. If you receive a cash gift, put this in a separate labeled envelope. If you get gifts that are not money (really?!) put these in another basket. This will keep all your cards, envelopes, and gifts organized and in safe places in case you need to refer back to them, which could save a lot of time when you think how long it might take to dig through a pile of cards, money, envelopes and other junk in search of an address or specific check. It also prevents you from accidentally throwing out money that you failed to remove from an envelope or card.
2. Buy or make your own cards If you’re in to arts and crafts, it might be fun to create your own cards with a personal touch. You can find great supplies at any scrapbooking store. Many stores even offer kits, with card paper, stickers and stamps. Of course, this may be time consuming, especially if you received a ton of graduation cards, so it may be better to just buy a set from a card and party store. There are many inexpensive sets of graduation thank you cards to choose from.
3. Address and stamp the envelopes After you buy or create the cards and envelopes to go with them, I would suggest working on the envelopes first. Using the record you created earlier, write the person’s name in the center of the envelope and then stick a return address label in the left hand corner. Don’t waste your time writing your address 100 times. If you don’t own address labels, either go get some (they’re cheap!!) or mooch some off your parents. It’s probably safe to assume that the person you’re writing to will recognize the return address as that of your parents. Finally, put your stamp in the right-hand corner, being sure that your stamp is up to date, since prices keep changing. I would suggest using the forever stamps for your grad cards and everything else because they make things so much more simple, so that you’re not stuck with a million stamps you can’t use without filling your envelope with 1 cent stamps. And another reminder-don’t seal the envelope! You need to write the cards and put them in first!
4. Write the damn thank-you’s This moment had to arrive at some point. Start at the beginning of your recorded list. Begin by thanking them for attending your party and express how much you enjoyed yourself, even if you had a lousy time. If the person didn’t attend the party, thank them for the ____(insert pleasant sounding adjective here) card. Add some other detail about graduation or summer plans, like how you can’t believe that you’re finished with high school already, or about the college orientation you’ll be attending next week, or a tidbit about the summer job you scored this year. Next, thank the person for their gift. If it was money, don’t mention the amount of money they gave you, but be sure to tell about the good use it is going to, such as tuition, books, laptop, etc. If you blew the money on a new Wii, this is not the place to be honest. Add another personal touch, perhaps something like, “I’m so glad I got to see you!” or ask a polite question, such as “How are you enjoying your study abroad?” etc. End by thanking them once again, and signing your name at the bottom of the card. When the card is finished, slide it into the envelope, seal it, and put it into a basket or bag designated as the place for finished thank-you cards.
5. Send them out ASAP! It’s best to finish these within a week of your party and send them out as soon as you can. Don’t let them sit around in a pile and accumulate dust. When they’re finished, cart them over to a mailbox and dump them in. It’ll be a huge relief to be finished with all of that. Then you can go cash your checks and (hopefully) enjoy the rest of your summer.
