Simple Tips on How to Structure a Handwritten Thank You Letter

Ever since I was a kid, it was instilled in me to send out thank you notes or letters if someone was generous enough to either give me a gift or to show appreciation for something they did for me. I know that we live in the Internet age where a simple text or email saying thank you can be sent, but it seems so impersonal. I always feel so appreciated when I receive a handwritten thank you note or card. The time that a person takes to write a personal message, no matter how short, means so much in the busy world we all live in.

If you are a small business owner, it's definitely important to send out thank you letters to your customers. After all, if they didn’t buy your products or services, you would not be in business. You really can’t afford not to!  As a customer, it's really neat receiving a handwritten note from someone's business I supported. It shows me how important I am to them as a customer, and oftentimes means that I will purchase from them again in the future.

Tips for writing a thank you letter: 

• Always address the person by their first name.  
• Be very specific why you are thanking them. If they gave you a gift, mention that specific gift, and possibly how you will use it or if you enjoyed it. 
• If you had a party or event, be sure to thank them for taking the time to attend and how much it meant to you having them there. 
• If someone made a purchase from you, tell them how much you hope they will enjoy that item, and maybe write a short tip that can help use the product if it applies. 
• If you need to write a lot of letters, it helps to type it up and check for grammar errors so that you have a handwritten thank you letter format to go back to time and time again. 
• You can’t ever say thank you enough, so don’t be afraid to end with “thanks again, you're the best!”

If you are short on time and can’t hand write dozens of letters, you can always use an online service like Handwrytten that can do the writing for you. The recipient will still feel special, and most likely won’t even know that you didn’t take the pen to paper yourself. Of course the message will be provided by you to keep things personalized. 

There are countless reasons you would need to send out thank you cards from birthday parties, graduations, weddings, holidays and more. Let’s not make this small, yet important gesture a lost art. Do you send out personal thank you letters or cards?

Shelly

Good manners make moms happy!

Some days William goes into overdrive when it comes to not listening to me, making a mess or being wild. Of course I take into consideration that his is only 3 and is also 122% boy. I let the little things slide with him... maybe it's that sweet smile or that special way that he says "pleeeeeease". One thing I will say that I get all day long from him are the words "thank you". He thanks me for everything... food, bathing him, taking him to the store, giving him his toy, brushing his teeth, getting him dressed... It doesn't matter how small it is, he thanks me. He even takes it the extra mile and requests a hug and kiss. This makes me feel so good to see that he is grateful for everything. It never gets old hearing him thank me and those sweet hugs and kisses are a bonus :)

Sometimes stupid just comes out

I was at the grocery store this weekend with the kids. I was shopping in the later part of the evening so I was not as familiar with some of the night shift workers. I got in line to pay for my stuff and the cashier was staring at my kids. She then asks me if the girl was my daughter (meaning Briahnna). I told her yes and that all 3 of the kids were mine. She then goes on to say (in front of my kids and other people around) "Oh, I did not think she was your child since her skin is dark and her hair is different". All of our mouths were on the floor and in my head I cussed somethin' nasty. Of course I am a lady and I told her that she was indeed my daughter. The lady then feels like an ass and makes some other comment about hair straightening and I just took my receipt and left. I felt so bad for Brie since she looked like she was confused. How could someone say something so ignorant and stupid and make a kid feel bad? I told the girls that I was really annoyed about what she said and they both told me they too were very annoyed. We spoke about it for a few minutes and had to chalk it up to ignorance and the fact that just because you are blood related to someone does not mean you are supposed to look like them. I think it took me 24 hours to get over it. I just know that people should never assume anything when they see that kids of the same family do not look alike. I have seen families with kids of multiple races and it does not phase me. I just know that I reassured all my children that they are all beautiful and uniquely themselves. There will never be anyone else like them in the world.

I was lied to

I wanted to say that to all of you who said that raising boys are easier LIED. I just can't see it that way. My girls have been a breath of fresh air. The boy has made my hair get even more gray. I have been told that diapering a boy is easier. REALLY?? If I could get him to stop trying to escape then maybe I can find the answer to that one. I tell him to stop. Apparently this means GO GO GO! I say no, he feels like I said yes. I talk, yell, scream and almost want to cry and it only makes him more out of control. I have had people say that girls = drama. Not the case here. Boys are hard. Very hard. The next time anyone tells me that boys are easy, I will offer for them to follow me around for a few hours.

Not your average teenagers

Our family went away to Atlanta for the weekend for a little R&R. We packed up the car and the kids and were off on a road trip! We ate out a few times which is rare for us so it was nice to not have too cook and clean. The girls were thrilled to hang out with their cousins and William just wanted to run wild. As long as he was outside, he was happy! Dwayne and his uncle Mike took all the teenagers shopping. Since my kids were the guests they let them pick where they wanted to go. Of course the junior Shellys wanted to go to Kohl's. They were gone for a few hours so this was a good time for Willie to come down from all the physical activity he participated in ALL day. He was fed and bathed and very calm. The kids finally returned and my girls walked up to me (Kohl's bag in hand). I figured they convinced Dwayne to buy them something. Turns out I was completely wrong. They handed me the bag and told me it was for me and to open it up and see what I got. I was really surprised and said that they should not have done it and they insisted that for all I do for them I deserve something nice. I got a shirt that I wanted, black flip-flops and a couple undies. All of the sizes were exact but the part that made proud was that they bought everything on sale or clearance. Also they used their own money. Dwayne offered to pay for it or even reimburse them but they would not take the money. They wanted to do this for me. Words can't express how special that made me feel and how proud I am of how they did something so selfless. What sweet girls and not your average teenagers. I know they will be great wives and mommas some day ...many, many years from now!!) I LOVE MY DAUGHTERS SO VERY MUCH!!!

Trashing your school is okay?

I was at Chardie's high school waiting in the carpool area (early of course) and was noticing the vast amounts of trash throughout the parking lot. The trash was made up of primarily of food related items and a lot of fast food bags and cups. The part that was most noticeable is how these fast food bags filled with empty wrappers and napkins were perfectly placed alongside the driver or passenger door in the ground. Only several yards away lies a HUGE metal trash can. It sits there empty. Last I checked, high school students range from ages 14-19. You would think that they know better than to do that. Obviously not. What burns me up is the groundskeeper is left to clean up all that trash do by himself. When Dwayne and I were in high school, students that were caught skipping school, cheating on tests, caught fighting or anything that could result in detention or in-school suspension were forced to do the grounds clean-up (work detail) of the school. We even would have to wake up at the crack on a Saturday morning and report to the school for work detail. It was so humiliating and trust me, you opted to stay away from trouble to not have to endure further work detail duty.

I decided to speak with the nice gentleman and asked if they ever have students help with cleaning up the trash. Sadly he said No and that the teachers, staff and administrators did not care about the matter. It seems they only look at graduating numbers to keep the school up on their quota and maintain a "good rating". Hmm, but these soon-to-be adults can't even show some respect and pride for keeping their school looking nice as well as protecting the environment? I was really pissed off to hear that. He says they get detention and they mostly just sleep. So you skip school and your punishment is to sit in a heated or air conditioned classroom and just chill out? That really sucks. It really, really does.