It seems as though thank you notes have fallen by the wayside and are a thing of the past. Over the past couple of years، we have attended several events including weddings، birthday parties and engagement parties where we have given gifts. Only on one occasion did we receive any thank you notes، and we were quite surprised when that one showed up in the mail box!
Growing up، my parents insisted that I write thank you notes for any gifts given to me whether the giver was present at the time of opening or not. In their eyes it was the least we could do to thank them for their generosity. Especially in the cases of gifts being sent to us by mail، as sending thank you notes was also the way of letting the giver know that their gift was in fact received.
Now it seems as though thank you notes are not even given a second thought. I always feel awkward to see people that I may have forgotten to send a thank you note، so I immediately apologize and thank them in person for their generous gift. However I have run into several people that I have given gifts to and never received thank you notes from، and they don’t even act like they ever received the gift in the first place. I hate to sound like an old fart، but it is just common courtesy to thank someone for the gift they have given you! I do not hold a grudge whatsoever and I try to give them the benefit of the doubt، but it certainly crosses my mind when I see these people.
On the other end of the spectrum، though، are the die hard grandmothers and grandfathers who insist on thank you notes for every little thing. I actually have a friend that requested of her grandparents to not give her any more gifts because she was hassled so many times about the lag time in sending her thank you notes، even though she explicitly thank them when she received the gifts. It’s not as though she never sent the thank you notes، it just took too long apparently. In my opinion that is just ridiculous! I may think it is nice to receive some acknowledgement but I absolutely would not hassle people to send me one! Isn’t there any joy in giving gifts to people without being put on a pedestal each and every time?
