I have always been one to send handwritten personal thank you notes after receiving a gift. However, I am curious if there are ever exceptions to this – where an email to a group would be appropriate and/or acceptable?

My office hosted a shower for me with coworkers from a couple different departments in attendance. In total, there were 26 people (2/3 of which were men!) who were there or may have contributed. I’m not sure who all contributed to what and I don’t know the best way to say thank you. Is a really nice, thoughtful email to the group EVER appropriate for a situation like this???

If I were to do handwritten notes to each person, the message inside would have to be somewhat generic, so basically everyone would get the same written note. I suppose I would leave them at their desks/offices early in the morning or late in the evening when they aren’t there.

Unfortunately, there is not one central location where I could leave bagels/muffins/cookies and a single handwritten note of appreciation for the group where everyone would see. Everyone is spread between a couple different floors and the common areas are used by other departments as well.

I have received thank you’s for group office gifts in both ways – a group email and a handwritten note. Personally, I haven’t been offended at all by the email route for an office setting. But it’s just not something I’ve ever done myself and want to make sure I don't do anything that's in bad taste.

What do you think – is an emailed thank you ever okay for a situation like this?