Our friends (both with kids and without) have been so generous! We've gotten lots of Christmas presents for our nine-month old already. Would you send thank you cards for gifts you received in person for your LO?
Our friends (both with kids and without) have been so generous! We've gotten lots of Christmas presents for our nine-month old already. Would you send thank you cards for gifts you received in person for your LO?
apricot / 490 posts
@Jess1483: Thanks! I figured we can make a custom card with a cute Christmas card and send it out after the holidays.
cantaloupe / 6164 posts
Nope. We have never done thank you cards for Christmas. I haven't ever received one, and never heard of anyone doing it. We do them for parties and showers, but not holidays.
honeydew / 7622 posts
@photojane this is what I would expect to do. Good post, it gets me thinking.
cherry / 181 posts
I would say if it's customary where you are from. I've personally never seen thank-you cards for holiday gifts ever. It never occurred to me to do this. However, if it's something you've seen done in your community, go for it!
apricot / 490 posts
@renee: I have never seen them sent either but I'm just going to do it anyway! A little more work but oh well!!
nectarine / 2132 posts
no, that's way too formal for our friends and family. but we always express our appreciation at the time the gift was given.
eta: plus that would be a fortune in postage stamps!
nectarine / 2631 posts
Yes! I normally do! I know some people think is over the top- but I know it means a lot to someone to get a thank you card in the mail!
nectarine / 2132 posts
@teawithpaloma: something i do try to do is whenever lo is wearing or playing with a gift, i will take a picture and text/email it to whoever gifted it to us. i think it makes people feel good knowing you're getting use out of what they bought.
nectarine / 2641 posts
Wow, I've never heard of anyone thinking it was too much or over the top. I definitely have written thank you notes since I was little, and have received many as well, from friends all over the country. Hm… Interesting.
I think no one could fault you for sending them, where they could possibly be offended if you don't (honestly, I'd be a bit miffed to not get a Thank You). But obviously that's not the case for everyone!
ETA: We don't send to our parents or siblings, assuming we saw them over the holidays, but anyone else would get a note.
pomegranate / 3872 posts
Nope. We're all about thank you cards for most other occasions but not for Christmas. We thank people in person (and generally these are people we also have a gift for) and if we get a gift in the mail and don't see the person over Christmas, they get a phone call.
persimmon / 1495 posts
I think of thank you notes as being nice but optional if you open the gift in person (though I guess baby showers are the exception - then it's necessary).
nectarine / 2784 posts
I ALWAYS sent thank you notes for holiday gifts as a child, even for people I saw in person. Just not parents and siblings. I will have my LO do the same- no one is going to be miffed that they DID receive a thank you note, so it doesn't hurt anything!
clementine / 995 posts
@jmarionsmith: My SIL is really good about doing this. I love seeing pictures of my niece in the cute little outfits that I get for her. I like this more than getting a written thank you note.
blogger / grapefruit / 4836 posts
I was always expected to send thank you cards for christmas presents growing up so I just assumed that was the norm. Although that was only to family out of town so I wonder if that is why? I honestly don't know!
pomegranate / 3858 posts
YEs! Growing up we had to have thank you notes done before we went back to school.
grapefruit / 4056 posts
I used to send thank you notes to everyone for every gift, but then some family staged an intervention and told me I didn't need to send notes for every little thing LOL. Now if I see them and thank them in person I di t send a note, but for faraway family we don't see I send a note.
apricot / 268 posts
Interesting, I never heard of sending thank you notes for holiday gifts! I send them for shower gifts, birthday parties, and "just because" presents, but not Christmas. So, I wouldn't but I also don't see anything wrong with it! I also do what a couple other people mentioned and send people pics of LO wearing or playing with the gift, or even a little video of her opening the gift if it came in the mail.
watermelon / 14206 posts
If I/LOs received a gift from someone long distance, we do. My brother lives far away, so if his family isn't here for Christmas, we send a thank you note for their gifts (and them to us). But, if we give in person, we thank in person and forgo a note.
clementine / 880 posts
Yes, everyone in my family always sends thank you notes. My FAVORITES come from my cousin's kids - when they're little she writes from their point of view ("thank you so much for my new ___, I really love it and have been playing with it every day") and she lets the kids scribble over her hand writing with crayon/paint which is adorable. And now that they're a little older they write the cards themselves, complete with backwards letters and huge font. Love them! She just does them on slightly thicker regular white paper and cuts/folds them to fit an envelope, so they're inexpensive but SO appreciated.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
@photojane: same here. showers, weddings- yes; bdays-maybe, if giver wasn't in person to thank, holidays- no, a thank you phone call is placed, but a note is not written.
honeydew / 7586 posts
I've never heard of sending a thank you note for a given-in-person holiday gift. I'd much rather receive a thank you in person/over the phone and save the paper.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
For gifts received and opened in person, I don't send a thank you. But if my LO (or myself) were sent a gift or given a gift that we opened away from the gifter, definitely send a thank yuo!
apricot / 490 posts
This was so fascinating to hear different experiences.
FWIW, I have never sent a thank you card for a Christmas present as a child and I can't remember ever receiving one from any of my nieces or my cousins' cousins.
I think if the gift is given in person we will try to open it there and express our gratitude. If not, that's okay and we'll just let me know we got it informally. Either way, for our friends we are just going to email or text a photo of her playing with it. I may even just tag on IG. For older relatives I will probably send a few snapshots in a card after the holidays.
So there you have it!
nectarine / 2220 posts
I send thank you notes if we receive a one sided gift. Like, if one of my aunts gets something for LO. But if it's another family/friend that we exchange gifts with, we don't send a thank you, just a verbal thank you.
grapefruit / 4997 posts
@Adira: I agree with this too. During Christmas, for gifts received in person, I say thank you in person. For gifts received through the mail, I will send out a thank you card. We've received some very generous gifts for DD so I plan on calling to say thank you and then send out thank you cards with Valentine's Day cards this year.
grapefruit / 4817 posts
I've never sent or received thank you cards for holiday gifts. They are the norm (for us) for birthdays, showers, and just because gifts, but not for Christmas. We just text or email photos of DS playing with the toy to the gift giver when we get a chance, which is typically the same thing we receive from people whose kids we have bought for.
GOLD / watermelon / 14076 posts
Nope. And I've never received one (nor have I expected one).
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