Ideas for Wording Thank-You Notes
- The best way to make a thank-you note personal is to mention the gift. Be as specific as you can. Describe anything that you really liked about the gift when you do: for example, "Thank you for the blue Snuggie blanket. It is really comfortable and will keep me toasty warm this winter." When you thank someone for money, mention what plans you have for the money. For example, you could write, "I appreciate the money you sent us. We plan on using it to purchase new furniture for the living room."
- If someone gave a gift to a charity in your name, then you should mention how much you appreciate it and what that charity means to you: for example, "Thank you for the generous gift you gave to the American Cancer Association in our names. As you know, my grandfather lost his fight to cancer several years ago and so the ACA has always been close to my heart."
- Thank-you notes should be honest, but not too honest. In other words, while you should not tell someone you hate his or her gift, you are not required to lie and say you loved it. Perhaps the gift was "creative," "unique," "generous," or just "thoughtful." You could also say how you might use it in the future or how you will think of the giver every time you see or use it.
- You might want to mention how good it was to see your addressees or how much you missed them if they could not attend: for example, "It was great to see you at the party" or "I'm sorry you couldn't attend the wedding." If possible, mention a future get-together, especially if one is already planned, by writing something such as "I hope we see each other soon" or "I look forward to seeing you at Bob's graduation."
- If you start to get in a rut, pull out the thesaurus and start expanding your vocabulary. Instead of saying "thank you," you can use words such as "appreciate," "value," "enjoy," "grateful," "obliged," or "in your debt." Similar synonyms can be found for "cute" and "wonderful."
