Even with all of the modern ways to write messages to one another today, the handwritten card or note is still a relatively popular way to express gratitude in English. Cards expressing thanks can be simple or complex, and you might use formal or informal language. The type of card you write can depend on the situation or the person to whom you address it. Although there is no need to overthink things, there is a little more to writing a proper thank-you note than you might see on the surface.
Our goal here is to provide a set of guidelines that anyone might be able to use in order to craft thanks messages for any event. In doing so, we will go over some of the important aspects of how to write these notes properly. There are very few hard rules, but we can provide some tips that might help you outline your cards in a process that you can streamline quickly, or you can use our hints to adapt any kind of note to the situation or words to say thank you. We have also touched upon tips for parents and teachers to help children write thank you messages to their teachers, grandparents, siblings, or family members.
At any time of year, it's important to express gratitude for all the wonderful things people do for us. Here are some tips for parents, teachers, and more to engage children in building writing skills and expressing thanks at the same time.
Use this list to inspire your kids or use it to write thank-you notes to the little ones in your life. The vocabulary is simple and straightforward.
We mentioned already that the process for writing a good note of thanks might be more complex than it seems on the surface. However, there are just a few basic guidelines that you would need to keep in mind. Once you memorize them, or once you write enough thanks messages of your own, you will be able to do this for any occasion or person. We can break up our guide into bullet points below for your convenience.
The structure of any given words to say thank you might change based on the topic for which you are expressing your gratitude. We’ll start with some examples that can help you write proper messages for events that you’ve attended.
When you are the host
You can write about how grateful you are that the person attended your event. This is true even if there was no precedent for giving gifts.
Gifts
Should gifts be relevant here, try to mention the specific things that each person gave you in your thank-you words to them.
For an additional effect, you might talk about how you plan to use the gift in the near future, or you can offer to send a photo of you or someone else making use of the thoughtful gift.
Mention the event
It is a good idea to mention the particular event as a reminder.
Some examples of things we’ve talked about above might include:
Someone who is hospitable to you might invite you into their home. While this is something of an event, it is not quite the same thing as being grateful for attending anything formal. However, it is still an excellent opportunity to show how much you appreciate the other party’s kindness. Depending on how well you know them, you might use formal or informal language when you craft the thank-you note. You might write any of the following:
All you need to do for this category is mention the gift specifically.
We list some examples of these kinds of notes below.
These kinds of thank-you note examples might include the following: