I have been thanked for my thank you notes. Sometimes people have said to me “Thank you for that really nice thank you note you wrote to me, it really made my day.” People have said that I write very nice thank you notes and that they really liked that I took the time to think about what I wrote. It makes the person you are writing to feel appreciated when you write a heartfelt note expressing your gratitude towards them. Here a few tips on how to write a good thank you note to someone.
Handwriting your notes is the best idea. You’ll want to start out with a greeting such as “Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith” or “Dear Aunt Martha.”
Think about the gift that this person gave to you. Let’s say someone at your housewarming party bought you a toaster oven as a gift for your new house. You could write, “I am glad you were able to come to my housewarming party. It was nice seeing you. Thank you so much for the toaster oven that you bought for me to use in my new house. I already used it to make pita pizzes and they were delicious. It works great and I like using it a lot! I appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness. I hope you had a nice time.” If you used the item, make sure you tell them that. Tell them how it works and why you like it. Of course, use your own words.
If this person didn’t give you an actual physical gift, but gave you their time by helping you out in some way, write all the ways that this person made your day much easier. For example, let’s say someone helped you to move into your new house and spent half the day lifting your heavy boxes. You could actually give them a gift in return for their time and service. Perhaps you could put a gift card/certificate to their favorite store or restaurant in the thank you note to really show how thankful you are for their help. Then you could write something like this, “Thank you so much for helping me to move into my new house. I really appreciate you taking time out of your day for me. I know those boxes you carried were heavy. You were such a big help and I want to return the favor by sending you this gift card and note to express my gratitude towards you.” Elaborate on how much this person helped you and what they did to help you. It will make them see that what they did really made a difference and that they were appreciated for their time.
The best time to write a thank you note is when you have time. If you are in a hurry or are distracted by other things, you may not put as much time and thought into what you are writing and it will look like a generic note that you write to everyone. Thank you notes are so much nicer when they are personal. If you just sign your name to a thank you card, it doesn’t really show much appreciation for what was given to you.
At the end of the thank you note you could write something like “Hope all is well with you” or “Hope to see you soon.”
You should write your thank you notes within the month that your gift or service was recieved. If it is a wedding gift, however, you have a longer time to write the note, usually up to a few months after the wedding.
What happens if you don’t like the gift someone gave you but you want to thank them anyway? You could write “I appreciate your kindness for the gift that you bought me. Thank you for thinking of me and for your genorosity.” You don’t really want to go into detail with the gift if it’s something you will never use, because then you would just be lying. If you are okay with lying though, you can also write “It will be put to good use” or tell them how much you like the gift. However, I find it hard to lie when I really don’t like something because I want to be sincere when I write.
At the end of your note, depending on how close you feel to the person, you can write “Love, Jessica” or if you don’t want to write the word love, you can write “Sincerely, Jessica.”
