- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
2nd Trimester
Baby shower thank-you note etiquette
I thought of this after reading a baby shower related post in my due date message board....what do you ladies think?
The planners of my baby shower are inviting friends, family and co-workers mostly via email and facebook. I do wish to send a thank-you note to those who give a gift. Can I do so via email or facebook? I won't have snail-mail addresses for most attendees...is it weird to ask for them?
I've read that the proper etiquette is to only send hand-written notes but I've also read the same about invitations. But, things have changed. For example, a friend who recently had a baby sent me a thank-you note via DM on Twitter. Not sure what to do here.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Baby shower thank-you note etiquette
I personally still think hand-written notes are the most "proper". It shows that you took the time to personally write the note out. What your baby shower hosts could do is have everyone write their address on a Thank You Card Envelope when they get there, that way you have all the snail mail addresses for everyone and it saves you time addressing the envelopes.
As you said though, times are changing and I don't think electronic thank you's are taboo. Just be sensitive to older family members or those who might not be as computer savy or might not even have email addresses.
I have only ever received hand written thank you notes for baby showers (and bridal showers/weddings), even if the invitation was sent in electronic form. I think a hand written note means a little more.
It is not weird to ask your friends/family/etc. for their addresses to send them thank you notes. These are good things to have anyway. I still use my wedding invitation list from years ago when doing Christmas cards.
People like getting handwritten notes, it is something special. These are people who went out of their way to get you a gift, so why not go out of your way for them? I'd personally be annoyed if someone sent me a thank you tweet. Also, I don't have a twitter account, so maybe I wouldn't have gotten a thank you from your friend anyway.
I seriously think e-thanks are SO tacky.
I may be over the top, though, because I also think that addressing my own thank you card envelope is also tacky, even though basically everyone does it at their shower. I either sent them a FB message or called asking for addresses I needed. It doesn't take much effort to get an address.
Not to be all repetitive, but...yes, a hand-written note is a must. A short, sweet, personal, "thank-you-for-the-_______, I love it!" is all you need. I once received a generic, auto-generated, unpersonalized thank-you email after attending a friend's wedding. Not a thank-you for the gift, just thank you, period. It was automatically generated from the site they used for their e-invitations (something I wish I had done but would still have written real thank-you cards to everyone), after the wedding.
Here is how my MIL does things when she throws a shower for someone: she buys thank you cards, does the "have everyone fill in their address on an envelope thing", then throughout the shower, used those envelopes to draw names for prizes. Then the honoree takes home those envelopes and cards and fills them out, sticks them in the mail, and BOOM! done.
This is exactly what I would suggest. If you want to do electronic only I think email over FB.