We just celebrated my son's fifth birthday with an AWESOME camping party at our home. (Pics soon, I promise!!) One thing I am trying to teach my son is to be grateful for the things he has and gifts he receives. 

We started him "writing" his own thank you notes at the age of three. He would draw a scribble across the card, or whatever he felt like, and I'll fill in the "thank you" part. Now that he's older, writing words still isn't quite on his skill list, but drawing pictures is. For each gift, he'll draw a picture - sometimes of the gift, sometimes just a picture and write his name. If he can, I'll spell out the recipient's name for him to copy as well. He is always so proud of his cards and loves to send them. We discuss why we say thank you and how we show our appreciation to others while he works on the notes. He usually has an array of markers and stickers to use as well. 

I know the "rules" of Thank You's is to send them three days after receipt of the gift, but I am betting it's okay to extend those rules when little ones are involved. We're now two weeks past, and still writing notes, just a few a day. So, if you haven't gotten yours yet, dont' worry - you will!! I hope that teaching him early to be thoughtful to these types of things will sink in and he'll continue to write as he becomes an adult. I've seen the generosity grow in his heart over the years, and it's a good feeling to have as a parent. I think the lesson runs so much deeper when you teach them that there is more to being thankful than just saying the words "Thank You." 

Nathan and his card for his friend, Cole. A drawing of the bug-catcher he received, complete with a bug!

Since I am rather new to blogging, I thought I would come up with some themes to help me get into the swing of writing weekly. One thing I am pretty passionate about is sending thank you notes, so why not have a Thank You Thursday? What do you think?

One of my absolute favorite things to give and receive are thank you notes; real hand-written sent by snail mail thank you notes. To me, these tiny little notes speak volumes, even when they are only a few words. Taking a couple of minutes to wAlthough they are nice, no email or phone call quite measures up to how I feel about receiving a thank you note, and I save every single one. 

I use to feel daunted by a stack of thank you's to write, but I found a great little Hallmark book called On a Personal Note A Guide to Writing Notes with Style that breaks down the different kinds of notes you may need to send and gives you a guideline for writing. If you want to brush up on your note writing, I suggest picking up a copy of this book! Check back here too on Thursdays for tips and ideas for writing your notes. 

Start simple, make sure you have a stash of note cards and stamps at all times, you never know when you'll need one! When I buy stamps, I usually tear of 4 or 8 to leave on my desk and add the same amount to my wallet, that way I always have one when I need it. Note cards are fairly easy to come by, and you'll find that we offer quite a selection of thank you notes as well as personalized note cards that are perfect to have around for when you want to say thanks or thinking of you!