<p>I just had my graduation party, and now I’m writing the thank you cards. How do I address a whole family? For example, say a card is signed from the Smiths. Would it be more appropriate to write “To the Smith family:” or “Dear Smith family”? Or some third way?</p>
<p>i would go with the “to the smith family” – or the “dear smith family” would also work if you want to be more formal. </p>
<p>or if you are using a card you can personalize – like a blank card, maybe you can write “thank you to the smith family!” on the front of the card? and then on the inside you can also use “dear smith family.”</p>
<p>If it is an aunt and uncle–write Dear Aunt Jeana nd Uncle Toby and cousins–the adults bought the gift after all.</p>
<p>The thank you should include 5 or 6 handwritten lines–with one or two expressing a personal thought about graduation or the next phase of life or something that would interest them.</p>
<p>A three line thank you which says ‘Thank you for the money’ is not appropriate.</p>
<p>It depends how well you know the family. On the envelope, you could address it to the Smith Family OR to Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Family. But inside, if you know this family, it is nice to write: Dear Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith, Johnny, and Mary…or if you know the parents on a first name basis, Dear David, Susan, Johnny, and Mary…If you don’t really know everyone in this family, you could write Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith and family…</p>
<p>I agree with Soozievt. I’d address the envelope with Smith Family and then inside the card list everyone’s names individually.</p>
<p>I was taught you should never use “Dear” or “To” in cards, you should just write “Mr. & Mrs. Smith and family” or “David, Susan, Johnny, and Mary”</p>
<p>I have never heard of not using “dear” in a personal note. In a business letter, maybe not. But I have written a zillion personal notes/cards in my life and my children have written a real lot too and I think they all start with DEAR…(to people whom they know…)</p>
<p>Interesting. I was taught in any kind of formal letter or note, you use “Dear”, but in a card you shouldn’t use anything, and you should never, ever use “To”. Admittedly, it makes no sense…</p>
<p>Address the envelope as “Smith Family” or “Mr. & Mrs. J. Smith & Family” (or Dr. & Mr. Smith & Family, or whatever - you get the idea). Inside the card, list by name at least everyone who came to your party. If they were kind enough to come, they should be thanked personally.</p>
<p>After you’ve named the people who came, look at the card that came with the gift. If it’s signed just “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, they’re the ones you should thank. If it’s signed “The Smith Family”, you should thank the entire family by name: “Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith, Sam, John and Sue” (you can leave off the family pets). No one wants to be called “and family”.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for helping! I don’t really know this family well, even though they’re my neighbors. So I think I might write “The Smith family” on the front and address it to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, since they’re the ones who attended. While I know their daughters’ names, I’m not sure I can spell one of them correctly, so I figure it might just be safer to write, “Thank to you and your family for the…”</p>
<p>Would that be appropriate?</p>
<p>That sounds good, Demeter. Kudos to you for wanting to do this the right way (and for wanting to do it at all!!).</p>
<p>Demeter,
I second Zimmer. Even if you screwed it up completely, no one in their right mind is gonna hold it against you. Kind of like going to a place of worship wearing the wrong clothes. Good for you for being conscientious, but don’t sweat it too much, just write the note!</p>
<p>Thanks for the posts. (:</p>
<p>I’m writing thank you cards along the lines of “Dear [name], Thank you for celebrating my graduation with me, and thank you for the [specific gift]…” but what would be the proper etiquette for someone who sent a check? I obviously want to thank them for the generous gift (they gave me $100!), but as cheers mentioned, “thank you for the money” doesn’t sound quite right. I’ve never written a thank you card in my life (it isn’t customary in Sweden, as far as I know), so this is all new to me.</p>
<p>Thank you for your gift as it will help me to prepare for college… or something like that.</p>
<p>My little sister just wrote out invitations to her graduation party and she addressed everything to Mr and Mrs Joe Smith and family, or Mr and Mrs Joe Smith and daughter/son… unless if it was to just one person, then it would be to Joe Smith.</p>
<p>camellia, my sons received mostly monetary gifts, so they always said something like, “thank you for the generous gift. It will come in handy as I prepare for college at … I’m looking forward to studying …” etc.</p>
<p>here’s how i did mine:</p>
<p>dear rick, liz, and “the gang” [aunt, uncle, cousins],</p>
<p>thanks so much for coming my graduation party last weekend. i had such a great time seeing you guys again–everyone looked great! thanks for they money too. i can’t wait to start dorm shopping for mizzou! next year is going to be so much fun. don’t forget to come visit! thanks again.</p>
<p>love, kristin</p>
<p>Thank yous are a pet peeve of mine. I once hosted two girls for ten days–whizzing them all aorund the countryside in a fantastic holiday tour. I got a joint thank you which read–“Thank for letting us stay with you!!! Love, X and Z” Grrrrrr. What unappreciative girls.</p>
<p>For money, you can politely refer to it as the ‘gift’. kristin has the right idea–with six lines and some bits of personal information.</p>
<p>My D is writing notes similar to what is posted above – something along the lines of “Thank-you for thinking of me with the graduation card and generous gift. It will come in handy over the next few months as I prepare for college.” Then another line or two to tell them her plans for next fall. She isn’t mentioning amounts of money. They are ALL generous, no matter how much.</p>