Our eyes immediately scan the mail for something, anything that is NOT a bill.  Wouldn't it be nice to receive a cheerful thank you note in that stack of junk flyers?  Here are some tips on how to get the maximum wow factor with your personalized thank you notes from Thank Goodness.

 Choose a colorful envelope  Go with a crisp white card and shake things up with a bright envelope to catch the lucky recipient's eye.  Think strawberry pink, papaya orange or bluebell.  Go ahead and add some sparkle with sapphire or silver.

Select an envelope sash  You could choose to have us print addresses right on the envelope.  Then again you could go wild and add either a horizontal or vertical envelope sash for the addresses as a fancy-schmancy design element (see photo).  We knew you had it in you.

Photo stamps  Sometimes the post office has really great stamps that coordinate perfectly with your stationary.  For other times, choose your favorite snapshot and we can put it on a stamp for you.  It's the perfect finishing touch to the perfect thank you note.

Lined envelopes  It's what's on the inside that counts.  We use fabulous prints and patterns to spice your cards up.  Just give us an idea of what you'd like by selecting a style from our drop down menus and we'll do all the legwork.

Unique inscription  Traditionally, thank you notes are inscribed with just that:  thank you.  It's straightforward and certainly drives your point home.  Why not think of a fresh take on this practice and print something clever like:  fabulous!  love it!  wow-za!  or no gift receipt was necessary!  We can inscribe your thank you notes with whatever you can think up.  Make it memorable!

When life began to keep me awake at night and the reality that my thank you notes MUST begin to arrive at their destinations, thank-goodness.com rescued my sanity and my sleep.

Joey created the most adorable notes for me, impeccably worded and as personal and loving as my friends would naturally expect from me.  They were in the mail, literally within hours of my first contact with thank-goodness.com and the response from my friends was…a THANK YOU for my thank you notes!

The price of this service is nominal for the comfort and quality that is offered. The rapid pace of our lives often causes us to let the “extras” lapse.  With thank-goodness.com, our etiquette is as perfect as our grandmothers would demand.  I have offered the services of thank-goodness.com to my friends as it would just be wrong to keep this excellent service a secret!

Thank you, Joey!
Barb Hirsch-Giller
Des Moines, Iowa

One book that should be on every night stand, or at the very least lurking somewhere in your personal library is Emily Post’s Etiquette: The Definitive Guide to Manners, Completely Revised and Updated by Peggy Post.  This is truly the rule book for every social situation you might be trying to navigate.  We trust Ms. Post and her bright blue book implicitly.  Read on to see what she has to say about wedding thank you notes.

Whom To Thank
Who should you include on your list you send us of people to thank?  According to Ms. Post, EVERYONE who gives you a wedding gift should be thanked with a prompt, handwritten thank you note.  (Be sure to have us convert your handwriting!)  

Who is EVERYONE?  Read on.

Anyone who gives you a package wrapped in pretty paper  This includes people who literally hand you a present in person.  AND anyone who contributed to a group gift.  Don’t forget those shower gifts!

Those who gave you money (cash, checks, contributions to charities)

Attendants  Especially your college roommate who is wearing that bright chartreuse dress, just for you.

People who entertain you or your guests (shower hosts, people who have opened their home to out-of-town guests)

People who stick their neck out for you (the savior who accepted delivery of gifts for you, the cousin who saved the day as a last-minute usher, the officiant of your ceremony, the music director of the church)

Suppliers and Vendors We know you paid them, but a thank you note to those who went above and beyond or did an exceptional job shows the good manners your mother taught you.




Record Keeping

Organization just makes things a whole lot easier.  Ms. Post suggests keeping a record of specific gifts and the gift givers as soon as you receive them.  Gift cards can be lost and you might easily forget who sent you a platter and who sent you a soup tureen.  Here’s the minimum of what should be recorded:

A specific description of the gift  Simply recording “bowl” won’t be helpful if you registered for several types of bowls.  Be sure to write “large glass serving bowl” or “wooden salad serving bowl”.  Also be sure to include the quantity:  “4 white pottery cereal bowls” or “6 porcelain ramekins”.  

The name and address of the gift giver(s)  Be sure to double check your spelling and zip codes.

We'll be happy to email you a template for a spreadsheet we’ve created for you to use throughout this process.  Use this to keep track of everything and email it back to us so we can get your thank you notes out in a timely manner.  Voila!

 Post, Peggy.  Etiquette:  The definitive Guide to Manners, Completely Revised and Updated.  NewYork, NY:  HarperCollins Publishers, Inc, 2004.

Good for you.  You take reusable bags to the grocery store.  You recycle all aluminum, paper and plastic.  You've stopped buying bottled water and refill your SIGG bottle instead.  You're even considering using the Gdiaper instead of those oh-so-convenient disposable diapers the majority of parents use.

But did we just catch you actually throwing a mass-produced, pre-packaged box of thank you notes in your authentic French Country market baset?  Do you have any idea where that paper has been?  Or how it was made?

We're proud that you are going to send thank you notes, but, like you, we are concerned about our environment.  So, we do the research necessary that allows you to be an eco-friendly consumer without compromising the good manners your mother taught you.

Rest assured that Thank Goodness chooses rich, high-quality paper, cards and envelopes containing recylced material with the highest percentage of post-consumer waste possible.  We also support manufacturers that create paper products using renewable energy sources such as hydro power or wind power.  We can't help but prefer paper companies that offer prodcuts containing renewable content such as cotton or other plant fibers, without the use of elemental chlorine.

Now please don't print out that email forward about the luck of the Irish.  Thank you, and, of course, you're welcome.