Your birthday is one of the most fun days of the year, especially if you’re planning a birthday party! Once the streamers come down and the drinks are all done, it’s time to reflect on all the love showered on you by your friends and family members. From helping you set up and pack down to bringing you gifts and cards, or even just making the effort to come along to celebrate with you, there’s heaps to say thank you for. Birthday thank you cards are a great chance to show your gratitude in a really tangible way.
Why send birthday thank you cards?
In our age of quick text messages and social media, it can seem like a relic of the past to actually sit down and write physical birthday thank you cards after your party. Won’t a group email do the job? Or a Facebook status saying ‘thanks to everyone who came along and made last night so awesome!’? While this is clearly better than nothing, there’s something really special about receiving a physical card. It shows that you really mean it, since you’ve taken the time to write something especially for them, and it allows you to express some personality, just like with your birthday invitations.
Thank you cards are also great physical objects that can be kept over time to preserve memories and document a friendship. Not only can you take the time to say thank you for something specific they did for you or for a specific gift you received, but you can also tailor it to your relationship and take the time to tell your friends the things you love about them.
What situations call for birthday thank you notes?
Of course, it’s always a good idea to give someone a thank you card if they’ve done something you’re thankful for. That’s pretty simple, right? But of course, we’re all time-poor and it’s not always a priority to get thank you notes out just because someone did something nice. In certain situations, however, it’s not just ‘a nice thing to do’ to send thank you cards, it’s actually considered rude not to. So when do you need to prioritise it?
In general, if you’re planning a formal birthday party, you should adhere to formal rules of etiquette. That means thank you cards are a must! Match your behaviour after the party to your behaviour before it. If you’ve just thrown together a spontaneous event using social media, people probably aren’t expecting a formal card afterwards. If you sent them a save the date and a paper invitation with an RSVP card, there should definitely be thank you notes for birthday guests. If you’re somewhere in between, it’s a good idea to err on the side of caution.
Who should I send birthday thank you cards to?
If possible, it’s a good idea to send birthday thank you cards to every guest who attended your party, along with anybody who didn’t attend but who sent a card or a gift. If you know you’re not going to have the ability to write thank you cards for everyone (or you don’t even know exactly who was at the party!), don’t let this scare you off. You can still write thank you cards to stand-out friends and family. Start with people who did anything beyond attending. Prioritise people who helped with the party, or who gave you a card or gift. Of course, if anybody travelled to attend your party, they should definitely be included in the list as well.
It can be helpful to keep a list of people who help you or who give you a gift and keep notes on what they did. Noting these things down as you go will make it way easier when you finally sit down to write your thank you notes.
When to send birthday thank you cards?
Your birthday thank you cards should be sent out within two months of your birthday party, but the sooner the better. Start writing them out straight away while the event is fresh in your mind and remember to post them! It might sound silly, but it’s far too easy to write a letter, stick it in an envelope, and find it under a pile of junk six months later.
The best way of making sure you get your birthday thank you cards out in a timely fashion is to order them ahead of time, when you order your other birthday stationery. This makes sure you have them on hand when you need them and there’s no delay after the birthday itself is over. Losing momentum can ruin the best of intentions. When your thank you cards arrive two weeks after the party, that doesn’t leave you with long to write them and get them sent out.
Birthday thank you cards for kids
It’s a great idea to have your kids write thank you notes for birthday parties they host, to help teach them good manners and to be grateful for what they receive. You can get cute kids birthday thank you cards for them to write in, or just have them write or draw a picture on blank paper. For younger kids, just writing their name or scribbling something on the page will give them the experience of expressing gratitude, and will be meaningful for your guests to receive.
Should birthday thank you cards match your invitations?
Your birthday thank you cards might match your birthday invitations or other birthday stationery, or they could be a completely new design. The choice is entirely yours! There’s no rule that says you have to buy from one particular design set. In fact, some people choose to write their thank you notes on plain lined paper, so there doesn’t have to be a design at all. The benefit of matching your thank yous to your birthday invitations is that it will instantly remind your guests of the party and bring back the mood of the day.
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