Sending out thank you notes regularly=FAIL!
I know, it is not something I am proud of. I really AM a thankful person, so I thought it was time to start showing it, and to teach my girls the importance of a thank you note…better late than never, right?
My girls actually do a great job of writing thank you notes, in fact, there is one sitting here on my computer desk as I type, that was written by my 6 year old to her Aunt Kathy. It says…
“thank you for the Hershey’s bar
I love it.
Love you!
Love, (her name)
to. ant Kathy”
Aww! Love the misspelled “ant.” She wrote that without any prompting from me, which is really the case a lot of the time. I can’t tell you how many notes my girls made that just sat here, unsent.
I know, thank you notes diligently made by little hands but unsent=FAIL!
Obviously, the problem is me, not them. I stopped to think about what is keeping me from sending them, and came up with 4 excuses obstacles:
1. Finding the right sized envelope
2. Stamps
3. Addresses in a handy place
4. Lack of decent mailbox (we just have a slot in our door, one that the cover has broken off of. We used to stick our- out going mail right under the cover. Guess I better put that on my Anti-Procrastination- Doozy- Of- A- List)
Well, I found some solutions that I think are going to work!
Solution to obstacle #1:
I went to Office Max and found some postcards for our printer. They were blank, perforated, and came 4 to a sheet, 120 sheets! That’s a lot of postcards! I paid $15.00, which in my mind is not too bad considering what one pays for a “stationary set of 8 cards” now- a- days!
My thinking with the postcards-there is no need for an envelope, and my girls can get creative with what they would like the front of the postcard to say/look like.
Solution to obstacle #2:
Buy the girls their own stamps! Doing this meant that they would need to have their own place to keep them, so I proceeded to make them a little thank you note tote!
Solution to obstacle #3
Addresses. Ugh. One of these days every last address of every last person I know will be beautifully organized in my imac address book. Until that day, when I am 80 which should be soon, because it is on the Doozy List and you are holding me accountable on tuesdays, I decided to make the girls their own little “Addresses On A Ring.” I wrote the addresses of people they write thank you cards to most often, (or should be writing thank you cards to, or are writing thank you cards to but their mom doesn’t send them out-FAIL), and put them on a little ring. I like that they will hand write the addresses, because it is something every child will need to learn how to do. I thought about making handy little address labels, which would work well for younger kids, but I decided my kids were old enough to fill the address in themselves.
Solution(sorta) to obstacle #4
Well, because it would be up to me (or entail begging my very kind, handy dad) to get a new mailbox put on the house, I resorted to my handy dandy wooden clips that I use for everything. I love them so much they got their very own post! When we have outgoing mail, I will just clip it on to our open slot and hope it doesn’t rain!:)
I put this little Thank You Note Tote together while the girls were at school. I told them about it in the car and they all 3 were pretty excited and quite impressed. The first thing they did when we got home was write a thank you!
There can be variations to this idea. If you have a younger child who has a bunch of thank yous to write, you could have them draw one picture, scan it, then print it on the front of the post cards. You could also print “Thank You” or whatever else you want to say onto the postcards, just like I added the lines and address on the back with my computer. I kept the front of ours blank so they would have lots of space to get creative, and also because I want them to have the freedom to write any type of note, not just a Thank You note.
I didn’t add too much to the tote for them to get creative with. We have a sticker drawer that they regularly use and will go to if they want a sticker for their card, and they can grab their Art Bags if they need anything else.
This post is linked to:
Show And Tell Wednesday @ Blue Cricket Designs
Strut Your Stuff Thursdays @Somewhat Simple
Get Your Craft On @ Life As Lori
Thrifty Thursday @ Tales From Blogeritaville
Make Your Monday @ Twice Remembered
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping It Simple
