There’s something about the holidays that tends to turn us all into writers. With cleverly worded Christmas letters and thoughtful thank you notes to send after each festive event, it’s the perfect time of year to tell your loved ones how much you care.

When you find the time to sit down with your stationery and pen, you might be wondering where to begin. Don’t fret! We’re here to help. With over 100 years in the stationery business, we’ve written our fair share of thank you notes here at Crane. So pour yourself a cup of tea or cocoa, pull up a chair, and follow these tips for writing the perfect holiday thank you notes. We’ve even included a few samples to spark your inspiration.

The Basics

The best way to get started is to follow this simple formula. In each thank you note, you should include the following five things:

1. A Greeting

Open your note with a simple salutation. When in doubt, you can’t go wrong with “Dear.” Since the tone is personal and informal, if you are writing to a friend or loved one, feel free to use nicknames.

2. Expression of Gratitude

While it is perfectly appropriate to write a standard thank you card, including details about the specific gift you received adds a personal touch and lets the giver know how much you appreciate their gesture.

3. Statement About the Future

Here is your chance to tell your friend or loved one how much you appreciate them and to let them know you can’t wait to see them again. To make your note even more special, mention something you discussed when you received the gift, or the last time you spoke.

4. Reiterate the Thank You

Close on a grateful note and reiterate your gratitude.

5. Regards

There are many ways to end your note; choose one that conveys warmth and is appropriate for your relationship.

Here are some fun examples of ways to sign off that go beyond “sincerely”:

• Love,
• Best wishes,
• Cheers,
• Warmly,
• Fondly,
• Beyond grateful,
• Blessings,
• Feeling spoiled,
• With gratitude,
• Love and thanks,

Need some more inspiration? Here are some holiday thank you note examples to fit a variety of situations.

Monetary Gifts

Gift Card

Dear ____,

Thank you for the generous gift card to [store]. I am so excited to refresh my ski gear before my next trip to Vail. I have a feeling that this season is going to be amazing! I can’t wait to hear about your visit to Spain. Let’s plan to grab a coffee when you get back.

Thanks again. I so appreciate your thoughtfulness and am happy to have you as an aunt.

Love,

Money or Check

Dear ____,

I just used the Christmas gift you sent toward a new pair of boots and I have got to tell you, my feet look fabulous! I’m so excited to wear them. Thanks so much for your generosity. I’m touched beyond words.

I loved looking at pictures of your precious grandkids and cannot wait to see you this Easter. Thanks so much for your generous gift and, of course, your delicious Christmas cookies.

Feeling spoiled,

Gift from a Close Friend

Dear ____,

I cannot thank you enough for the adorable cocktail glasses. They look perfect on my bar cart. You know me so well! I am sipping on a martini as I write this. I can’t wait to have you over for a cocktail sometime soon so we can put them to good use.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful gift and priceless friendship. I am so happy to have you in my life.

Cheers,

Gift from a Distant Relative or Acquaintance

Dear ____,

Thank you so much for the lovely mug and chocolates. The mug will make my days at the office just a bit brighter. How did you know that I had such an insatiable sweet tooth? I can tell that you are such a thoughtful and giving person, and I really enjoyed our conversation over dinner.

Thank you again for your sweet gift. You’ve made my day.

Sincerely,

Office Secret Santa

Dear ____,

I am so lucky to have you as my Secret Santa! I adore candles and can never have too many of them. The scent you chose made my house smell absolutely delightful. Thanks so much for your thoughtful gift and for being such a joy to be around in the office. You always brighten my Mondays.

Thanks again, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday back home in Wisconsin.

Warmly,

Gift from a Colleague or Business Acquaintance

Dear ____,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful holiday gift. My team and I have been enjoying the beautiful holiday treats all week. It’s always a pleasure doing business with you.

Thank you for thinking of me during the holidays. I hope you have a happy and prosperous new year!

Sincerely,

Dinner Party

Dear ____,

What a spectacular party. You really are an incredible host! Thank you for letting us be part of it all. We had a lovely time. My husband and I cannot stop talking about that chocolate cake – we’d love to get the recipe from you next time we see you.

Thanks again for the evening filled with laughter, conversation, and delightful food; I am still smiling just thinking about it.

Love and thanks,

When to Send your Note

The best time to send your note is a few days after receiving your gift or attending a party, but it is never too late to show your gratitude. If a week or two has passed, your recipient will still be delighted to read your kind words.

No matter what the occasion or gift, a handwritten thank you note is the best way to share your gratitude with the ones you love and make a wonderful impression.

The post How to Write the Perfect Post-Christmas Thank You Card appeared first on Crane Post Script.

First things first, gather your supplies. We love using craft paper, markers, crayons, stickers and extra large envelopes.

Also, don’t forget a sweet little snack to get the creative juices flowing.

Next, get creative! Handwritten letters are a gift, and so it’s okay to get creative with your words and the paper you put them on. Letters from the heart, made by hand are a timeless treasure!

Finally, get writing. Letters can be long or short. Sometimes we ask questions that we hope will prompt a letter in return and other times we just send a quick note to say…

Last but not least, we like to package these notes up in an extra large envelope. A great fun way to add interest to the recipients mailbox. The bigger, the better!

Passing on the tradition of sending sentiments through the Post isn’t just a great way to make a loved one’s day, it’s also a fantastic habit to instill in our children for a lifetime of confidence through the handwritten word!

Let the showering of handwritten notes begin!

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PROVIDE AN UPDATE

PAINT A PICTURE

ASK QUESTIONS

CLOSE ON A HIGH NOTE
EXAMPLE

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April showers bring May flowers…

and with all of the rain we’ve had out wet, I mean West, this year…  I’m looking forward to more than just a bouquet come May.

That said, we’ve found a fun way to pass the time inside by showering our loved ones with handmade treasures in the mail.

After all, who doesn’t love a letter in their mailbox?

First things first, gather your supplies. We love using craft paper, markers, crayons, stickers and extra large envelopes.

Oh and don’t forget a sweet little snack to get the creative juices flowing. Like these lemon cookies. Darling.

Next, get creative! Handwritten letters are a gift, and so it’s okay to get creative with your words and the paper you put them on. Letters from the heart, made by hand are a timeless treasure!

Finally, get writing. Letters can be long or short. Sometimes we ask questions that we hope will prompt a letter in return and other times we just send a quick note to say…

Last but not least, we like to package these notes up in an extra large envelope. A great fun way to add interest to the recipients mailbox. The bigger, the better!

Passing on the tradition of sending sentiments through the Post isn’t just a great way to make a loved one’s day, it’s also a fantastic habit to instill in our children for a lifetime of confidence through the handwritten word!

So get out your umbrellas friends. Let the showering of handwritten notes begin!

The post Rainy Day Writing Activities Your Kids Will Love appeared first on Crane Post Script.

Organizers Michael and Nestor. Photo courtesy of Maria Pouchnikova.

When did your interest in the epistolary world begin?
Michael: Oh, we’ve written letters since grade school in my family—not a lot, but regularly. In the past ten years, as email has become just like another task, letters have become special again for me and for the people I write to.

How did Publetters come to be and why do you think so many are jazzed about participating?
Michael: Really, I was just blue-sky chatting with a good friend at her classic Philly corner bar, Doobies. A couple of ales in, I suggested, “What about a letter-writing evening series?” Patti said, “Great!” I talked to Nestor and Cecelia at Casa Papel, the stationery store near Trophy Bikes, my shop. They totally got it, the local newspapers wrote a nice story during our first month and we were off to the races.

I think people like Publetters because we’re all spending too much time in the digital world. In a bar, drinking actual beer, not virtual beer, you really can slow down and think about your friends and family. Scratching out a letter, maybe doodling something on the page, too, is really satisfying, much more so than tapping on a little piece of plastic.

Tara McCray holds up her almost finished letter. Photo courtesy of Maria Pouchnikova.

 Nestor: After hearing the concept from Michael, we understood the attractiveness of Publetters to our customer base, which really enjoys fine paper and bespoke stationery. People are excited because it’s a grass roots thing; it brings local pubs together with a custom stationer, and the quality product causes a tactile and multi-sensory experience.

What do you enjoy most about the event?
Michael: At the end of the evening, we count the letters and note some of the places they’re headed—and it’s like, Wow: Belfast, Ireland, New Orleans, Rome, London, L.A. then little places like Goose Creek, SC or Coal County, PA, and then next I’ll spot an address just a block from our pub.

Nestor, owner of Casa Papel, with a stack of letters, ready to go.

Nestor: For me, it’s seeing everyone with their heads down, getting their words out on paper, and having this worthwhile experience, both visually and physically.

What is your favorite step in the process of written correspondence?
Michael: I call it “the turn.” That’s the place in a letter where you get past the “Hey how are you?” easy stuff and really say what you mean, ask them a hard question or make a joke, or mention something that’s special between you and the person you’re writing to. If I phrase that part wrong, I will often start the whole page over.

Nestor: “The Point”—where you stop the introductions and you reveal your reason for corresponding.

If you could be pen pals with anyone in history, to whom would you write and what would you say?
Michael: Oh, Ben Franklin—hands down—just to get his inside take on the rest of the Signers of the Declaration, and maybe some racy stories about his nightlife!

To whom do you most often write?
Michael: I would say that it’s a tie between my youngest sister, who lives pretty far away, and my mom—she’s 95 and not too fond of computers.

Nestor: My son, who just finds it so amazing to be receiving something addressed to him.

Describe the most memorable letter or postcard you have ever received.
Michael: Well, that letter wasn’t sent to me, exactly. It is one that my dad wrote to the Philadelphia Police Commissioner. In it, he conveyed his gratitude to the officer who rushed my mom in a patrol car to the hospital, where I was born shortly afterward!

Nestor: Receiving a special handmade card from my wife. She used a Japanese linen stock that mirrored the fine fabric and placed on it paper flowers.

What makes a particular letter stand out from a stack of cards?
Nestor: The composition of the actual substrate which the ink is marked upon, coupled with the coordination of additional elements that demand attention—liners, surface texture and so on—this all captures the eye.

Do you have a favorite stamp or stamp series?
Nestor: The Farmers’ Market series. That really gives me a sense of originality.

Michael: I like the musician series featuring Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin. Really good artwork that connects me with my misspent youth, which included seeing Jimi Hendrix as a teenager.

Ray Charles stamps. Photo courtesy of Maria Pouchnikova.

What makes your correspondence distinct?
Nestor: My mixed use of English, Spanish, cursive and non-cursive handwriting.

Michael: Truthfully, a lot of cross-outs! I use a fountain pen and tend to rush sometimes. I’m also fond of footnotes. It’s probably the influence of my spouse Kathy—a book editor for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

What do you think classic correspondence will look like in a decade or two?
Nestor: I think classic correspondence will continue its existing form of “pen to paper,” with the substrates becoming more sophisticated and ink becoming more versatile. Everyone will print out stamps at home, saving on trips to the postoffice for stamps.

Michael: Millennials will start experimenting with home laser cutting to put their signatures on stationery; we’re already seeing the revival of fountain pens for cursive—“artisanal” writing, you could call it! And as the “maker” trend expands, younger correspondents will look to their local shops for wilder handmade papers and inspirations. Japan and Spain are a big influence already in this, producing small-batch envelope and stationery sets.

The post Publetters’ Michael McGettigan and Nestor Torres appeared first on Crane Post Script.

Check out what’s inside the MTV VMA celebrity gift bag here.

Order the same stationery that the celebrities received at the VMAs–Alicia Keys, Heidi Klum, Kanye West, Rihanna, Drake, Ariana Grande and more!

Engraved Aviators Correspondence Card

Engraved Rhinoceros Correspondence Card

Engraved Hashtag Thank You Correspondence Card

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Michaela and Marieke

When did your interest in the epistolary world begin?
I was a voracious letter writer in my 20s. I would write to anybody and everybody: Politicians, passerby, the company who made my favourite lipstick. I liked to write thank you cards; I felt there were too many complaint letters in the world. (To everybody who received a weird ‘I really love your muesli!’ card from me in the 90’s, you’re welcome!) These days I have lots of secret postcard projects, and obviously Women of Letters means we have to keep the flame alive!

How did Women of Letters come to be and why do you think so many high profile women are jazzed about participating?
Michaela and I met in 2009 at a young writers festival in Australia. There were a lot of incredible women speaking on panels and we became inspired to put together an event that showcased female voices—mixing more high-profile women with what we called the ‘dark horses’… brilliant poets, singers, writers, artists, who may not have a huge commercial profile.

We threw a few different ideas around, but as writers ourselves we kept coming back to the notion of ‘letters’. There’s something intensely personal about the act of writing a letter, and we’ve found a huge intimacy that has developed between reader and audience at our events.

We held our first show in Melbourne in March 2010 and have toured consistently since then. Along with our regular monthly events in Melbourne and New York City, we’ve toured Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Austin, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Indonesia and all around Australia. We never dreamed it would get so big. We just released our fifth book (a collection of pieces from live shows) through Penguin. Wild!

What do you enjoy most about the show?
The thing I’m proudest of is that we never, ever record, video or podcast our events. We were firm about this from the show’s beginning, and while there has been pressure from outside sources to make recordings of our events available (particularly when they sell out and people can’t get tickets!), we are fiercely protective of our readers.

Audiences worldwide have been very supportive of the ‘safe space’ we’ve created, and I honestly think (and know from people telling us) that women have stood on our stages and shared some very deep and raw thoughts for the sole reason that the show is not recorded. Edie Falco’s piece at our NYC show in March 2014 was an incredibly stirring work. She told us the only reason she did it was because she knew it existed only in that room, for those people, at that moment. In a society where people can’t have a meal without taking a photo of it and uploading it, we think we’ve created something very special. The chance to hear a story you may never hear again.

What is your favorite step in the process of written correspondence?
Oh well there are two. One is the moment of placing the correspondence in the postbox. I always kiss my mail before it goes in, to help it on its way. And obviously when you’re sifting through your mail and see that amongst the dour-looking bills there’s a colourful piece of handwritten love for you!

If you could be pen pals with anyone in history, to whom would you write and what would you say?
I’d say my hero Aline Kominsky Crumb, though I recently received an email from her (asking after her to do WoL) and my life was totally made. As a pen pal it’s hard to go past Dorothy Parker. Can you imagine getting a letter from her? The only bad thing would be the pressure of trying to come up with your wittiest one-liners when it came time to reply.

To whom do you most often write?
My boyfriend and I have a postcard project that we started the year we got together, 2011. Every June we write a postcard to each other, every day for the whole month. The postcards go to a PO Box and we collect them. We’re entering our fifth year of doing it and we’ve still never read them! I think one day we’ll wallpaper a whole room with them and track the giddying roller coaster of our love affair.

Describe the most memorable letter or postcard you have ever received.
I wrote David Sedaris fan mail back in the 90’s and he sent a personalised letter back. Typewritten, before he got a computer. I was so taken by his kindness.

What makes a particular letter stand out from a stack of cards?
Colour and craft! I like to draw and paint and stick stuff all over my correspondence. People who receive my mail know they’re getting something from me. It’s like a ticker tape parade in an envelope.

Do you have a favorite stamp or stamp series?
In Australia there are a lot of weird series to do with rural development and sporting heroes. The 2011 Australian Legends series for feminists Advancing Equality of Women was a favourite, though.

What do you think classic correspondence will look like in a decade or two?
God, this is a depressing question. I feel like I’m shouting myself hoarse trying to make people remember the romanticism of sending things in the post. It’s such a generous act, a patient one. Think of all the letters in a shoebox we’ve kept for years…stained with wine, tears, alive with the fragrance of a teenage love. You don’t get that in an email. I can’t think yet of what classic correspondence will look like in twenty years’ time—I just hope there’ll BE some.

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