The Man's Guide to Thank You Notes

If you were sent a gift from someone, it is a basic courtesy to send a thank you note. For some men, thank you notes are not always fun to write. However, it should be done and as a bonus, thank you notes do give a very positive impression of you to the sender of the gift. This guide is designed for men of any age, from teenagers to working men to seniors.

There are only 3 rules:

1. That you send one

2. That the note is hand-written

3. That it is timely (this guide strongly recommends you do it within a week of receiving the gift, to avoid forgetting altogether). A late thank you note, however many months late, is still a lot better than none at all.

Don't worry about making the note long. The recipient of the note is hardly going to expect a lengthy epistle from someone who is known to be a man of few words in real life! Two or three sentences is plenty for anyone.

a) Thank the person for the gift, b) make a comment about how you plan to use it, and c) close by thanking them again in different words.  

These examples are expressly made for gifts that might be a bit difficult to say how you plan to use them. Odds are you will receive an easier-to-write-for gift than one of these!

Dear Cousin Thelma,

Thank you for the Christmas present. What a surprise to receive smiley face socks! I plan to wear these to brighten rainy weekends at home. Thank you again for this gift.

Love

Jim

Dear Uncle Alex,

Thank you for the little statue you sent from your travels in Morocco. I have put it on display in my guest room, where it will look good and also be a great conversation piece for guests. Thank you again.

Love,

Josh

For thank you notes for cash gifts, if you have something specific you plan to use it for, it is great to put this in the thank you note. If you don't have anything specific, then instead say that it will be very helpful to you.

Dear Uncle Eric,

Thank you for the generous cash gift you gave me for high school graduation. I plan to put this toward my upcoming college expenses. Thank you again. I really appreciate you thinking of me.

Love,

Thomas

Finding manly notecards is not always easy, but rest assured they are out there! When you find them, aim to purchase one or two packs that you can keep on hand for future thank you notes. The best place to find manly thank you notes is in a personal stationery store. Next down the list is supermarket and dollar stores, which can offer surprisingly good patterns and good value. Bookstores on the other hand tend to be hit-and-miss, frequently offering more feminine patterns. If all else fails, try purchasing monogrammed blank cards with the letter of your last name; several of the above stores will stock notecards with an A-Z initial and these are almost always masculine-looking.

Using this guide, writing thank you notes will become a short and straightforward process.

 © 2010  Giselle Maine