Now that school is back in session I am reminded that the life of a parent is busier not just during the week, but all weekend long. The reason? BIRTHDAY PARTIES. The onslaught of invitations to these precious events has prompted me to write this post for a product that is not only near and dear to my heart, but one that I think parents (OK mostly moms) would benefit from immensely. I know I did. This is the story of the creation of “My First Thank You Notes.” These awesome kits are my personal attempt to keep the art of the written thank you note alive!
Growing up I was taught that you always wrote a thank you note for any gift. In fact, I remember not even calling my grandmother to thank her for the twenty bucks, but immediately sitting down to draft her a written thank you note. But Noni was ALWAYS sending us twenty-dollar bills, even on St. Patrick’s Day! So that meant I had to get creative. I remember developing a systematic and foolproof method for thank you note writing. I never actually thought that I would have a use for this until it came time for me to instill the “art of thank you note writing” in my own children, hence preserving the good manners my own mother tried so desperately to grace us with.
[box]GROWING UP I WAS TAUGHT THAT YOU [highlight]ALWAYS WROTE A THANK YOU NOTE FOR ANY GIFT.[/highlight] IN FACT, I REMEMBER NOT EVEN CALLING MY GRANDMOTHER TO THANK HER FOR THE TWENTY BUCKS BUT IMMEDIATELY SITTING DOWN TO DRAFT HER A WRITTEN THANK YOU NOTE.[/box]
So it all started when my daughter, Uma, was in Kindergarten and she was writing thank you notes for her birthday gifts. As any mom these days knows, one is pretty much commanded by politically correct standards to invite every student in the class to the party, so in this case that meant 16 thank you notes. . . all hand written. . . by a five-year old. Needless to say, that took some time, about 2 weeks from what I recall; roughly one per day. It also took some serious effort and determination from both my daughter AND me. 
I began by drafting a fill-in style version of the thank you note, a cheat sheet so to speak, that my daughter could use. She copied the words on the card and when she got to the line left blank, we filled in the specific name, gift, etc. for each card.
The day that poor kid finished drafting her last thank you note, it sparked a whole plethora of emotions, but mostly pride in my daughter and motivation to make a product that would mean WE NEVER had to go through THAT again. The next day, I began the conception our My First Thank You Note card kits. I loved the idea for the fill-in note cards only slightly 
more than I loved the idea of doing my part in society to keep the art of the written thank you note alive for future generations!
BELOW ARE MY RULES FOR THANK YOU NOTE WRITING, each of which has been incorporated into these totally awesome modern thank you cards for kids. And even cooler (OK, not a word but just go with it), Uma got to put her own artwork and handwriting on the back of the box. She thinks she’s famous now. And in my eyes, she’s right.
Most Sincerely,
Melissa Foster
Founder
2 Comments
What a great idea! The baby just celebrated her first birthday and even though she’s still too young for these, the 4-yr-old is inching closer to learning to write. I think these are perfectly age-appropriate and adorable.
[…] I am so inspired that you are teaching Uma to write her own thank you notes. I didn’t learn thank you notes until a seminar class in college, when our painting professor encouraged her class to individually write notes to our weekly guest speakers or field trip destinations, who volunteered their time for our benefit and learning. And I learned I was the only student in her class to follow that suggestion after one guest came up to me at a gallery opening later and thanked me for the quality of my thank you note. […]