<p>I have been pretty busy lately with work and summer travel that I have neglected my graduation thank you cards. However, my mom is getting on me and wants them done by Wednesday to be mailed and/or delivered by Friday. All my gifts have been cash. I want to write a generic thank you because the cash gifts were about the same amount. I need some suggestions(sp), however. I am partial to Dear Blank Thanks for the cash. I will save it for books and other things. Sincerely Me. However, my mom is not going for this. So I would like some in writing thanks you notes.
Sincerely,
Me</p>
<p>Maybe if you punch it up just a little she will be happier with your effort. Try something like:
Dear ______<strong><em>,
Thanks so much for the cash. I have already put it into my savings account. I plan to use it for books and spending money this year at </em></strong> University. I appreciate your thoughtfulness at this milestone in my life.
Thanks again!
Sincerely,</p>
<p>That’s not too different from what you had, but maybe a little “more” will satisfy Mom.</p>
<p>I think that sounds great, Scootron. Then if you just add a short personal note to each, I’m sure Mom will be quite pleased. (Said as a mom whose son had a graduation open house yesterday, which means I will soon be bugging him to write his thank you’s…)</p>
<p>The personal note can just be something like, “It was great seeing (or hearing from) you, Aunt Ethyl. Glad you have recovered from the operation.” or “It’s great having such supportive neighbors.” etc., etc. Just a little something so they know you are thinking of them specifically, not totally doing a generic note… :-)</p>
<p>Why mention “cash” ?</p>
<p>Dear ________
Thank you for thinking of me. (or substitue, Thank you for your thoughtful gift). It will certainly come in handy when I go to college in the Fall (most likely, whatever it is/was!). Yours truly, ___________</p>
<p>and my obligatory clever version: Thank you for your thoughtful gift. It was just the right color!</p>
<p>While the generic ideas are good ones to utilize, I agree with the poster that said you should personalize each note. The effort to do this is not that much but it shows in the note. One can tell what is generic and what was written specifically to the person. I don’t know how many gifts you got but this is not that much work and it is the least you can do when people have been generous and thoughtful to you. </p>
<p>My daughter’s graduation was yesterday. We held an open house but wrote “no gifts”. She still got some but mostly she did open gifts from relatives at a family celebration the night before. Today we are enroute out of state to her summer program, just 24 hours following graduation. She wrote all her thank you’s in the car ride. There was no other option and something like this should not wait. Just a few months ago, she received about 50 gifts from far and wide when she was hospitalized and recovering and she wrote a personal note to each person. Your mom is right. Each note should have something geared to that person or what they gave. So, get going! (I’m a mom, so I can say that!)
Susan</p>
<p>My philosophy on thank you notes: the longer you wait, the better the note needs to be. If you get it out right away, people think “wow, he really acknowledged the gift quickly” and it doesn’t matter what it says. If you wait a while, needs to be extra eloquent & personal.</p>
<p>So this is what I have come up with for my rough draft.</p>
<p>Dear_____<strong><em>,
I was very happy to receive your gift. It will come in handy when I start Vanderbilt University in the fall. I feel extremely lucky to have such thoughtful (family, friends, etc). Thank you for supporting me as I enter a new phase of my life. I greatly appreciate your support(or something similar). Sincerely,</em></strong>__.</p>
<p>Is this okay? I think it sounds nice and succinct(sp?), which fits me perfectly. Thoughts on improvements are appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>Just get them out ASAP!</p>
<p>One last question is sending a note to immediate family absolutely necessary. By immediate family I mean grandparents, aunts, uncles, and those I see on a daily basis.</p>
<p>I think your note sounds great! And, yes, notes to immediate family should not be neglected. A heart-felt, written “thanks” to re-affirm your gratitude will let them know you don’t take them for granted, and will go a long way in showing you have “class”!</p>
<p>and… I agree with previous posters that the word “cash” could probably be substituted with something like “generous gift”</p>
<p>Here’s another question on thank you note etiquette – my son got a gift card to his college bookstore from his co-workers/supervisors at his internship. Four of them chipped in on the card – should a thank you note go to each of them, or can one note be addressed to x, y, z, and w together?</p>
<p>I would say, if it was a joint gift from a single place (the company department), a group “thank you” would be absolutely fine. If there was one person in the group that seemed to make a special effort to help him during his internship, it might be nice, in addition, to send that person a personal thanks for their help above-and-beyond. Just a nice touch, if someone really tried to make a difference for him.</p>
<p>The rule in our house is that you cannot cash a check you received as a gift until the thank you note is written. I just think it’s incredibly rude that the first notice someone gets that a check has been cashed is on their bank statement! And while I don’t insist they be works of art, I do feel some sort of personal touch should be in there somewhere.</p>
<p>Fredo - we have the same rule and due either to that or excellent parental training ;), S got his thank-you notes done quite soon after graduation. However, being a fan of the “generic” approach, he wrote the same note to all with a lot of nice information describing the graduation ceremony, where it was held, how his band performed in it, etc. He planned to send this note to his grandmother and aunt who were present at Graduation! I nixed that and he has resisted creating a new one.</p>
<p>Today (13 days past Graduation) I informed him that I would be donating the $$ amount of those to gifts to charity if he couldn’t get around to composing appropriate notes.</p>
<p>Guess what he’s doing as we speak? :D</p>
<p>my mother found your story to be very funny, jmmom. She didn’t have to go tooo far with her threats. 
</p>
<p>She was actually surprised that my “thank-you” notes were done well (she has even received compliments for my notes). So this is my thanks to posters on this thread! 
~especially NJres, “thoughtful gift” was just the phrase I was looking for!</p>
<p>What’s the policy for thank you notes for people who just gave you cards? Like, with no money in them. Should I bother writing them? It seems kind of silly, exchanging cards for cards.</p>
<p>If you see the card senders, you can thank them personally. No need to send a card in return.</p>