'Generic' Thank You Cards - Bad Manners?

Use a sharpie on the back to personalize it. The sharpie will 'stick' to the glossy finish and won't try to poke through. Some kind of personal note is warranted.

I am pretty old-school when it comes to this, but a generic printed card that says, "Thank you for the present" is NOT a thank-you note. By all means, include the photo, but the photo should be secondary to an actual, hand-written card by the child. It doesn't have to be long and drawn out. At that age, a simple, "Dear Susie, Thank you for the legos. I love them! Love, Bella" works fine. But you MUST include a hand written note. You must. Please do not fall into the "most people don't write thank you notes" trap. ALL polite people do. Really.

I think any manner of "Thank You!" these days is thoughtful and better than none (which seems to be the unfortunate norm).

I think a quick "Thank you for the ________, it is awesome!" on the back in ballpoint pen would be just fine.

We did this for my son's 3rd birthday party. We had a great picture of all of the kids with the animals (zoo party with animal show), so we did a photo card that said "Thank you so much for celebrating with me!" and then wrote on the back of each with a Sharpie... "DS loves the dinosaur books!" Each one said the exact same thing. It took 10 extra minutes to add the note on the back and the kids had a cool picture to keep!

I like the idea of sending everyone a picture, especially because your kiddo is so young. I think an individual note of some kind is very important. My son got a thank you note that was just a picture a couple of years ago and I thought it was very rude because the child did not sign it at all. It was obviously sent by Mom and a 10 or 11 year old should be involved in thank yous.

M

I think the fact that your sending thank you cards for a child's birthday is great. It has become less and less common lately and I think that's sad.

We've done photo thank yous before and I agree you are less obligated to write a lot if you send a really special card. I vote for your child writing something on the back of the picture. In my opinion it isn't necessary to write what each person gave how about just "Thank you for helping me celebrate" or "I had so mun fun with you at my party, thank you!".

I remember the days of writing out a million thank yous for a little one or baby, it is usually us Mom's for the first several years but you're almost to the point when it will be your child's job. It's a sweet day when you can just remind your kid to write out her thank you cards instead of doing it your self!

For a kids party, I think a group shot photo card is a nice idea.
Technically, thank you cards, for adults, should be handwritten and NOT the kind you can buy that say "thank you" on the front.

Sounds like a nice thank you, and writing something simple with a black sharpie will make it that much more thoughtful. I'm glad most people here agree with that. I bought my niece a special gift for her bday and the thank you I got was a generic card that had the words printed, "Thank you for the __________________. from _______________. My SIL filled in the blanks with two words, the name of the gift and her daughter's name. I was a little hurt. I mean, she could have at least crossed out from to write love.

Yes, I would figure out a way to hand write something, even if I have to buy little post-it notes to attach.

I'm not a fan of pre-printed thank you cards.

Yes I think that is a nice thing to do.

ETA I saw someone got a generic thank you from their SIL. I would NEVER do a generic thank you to a family member!! I always write a very nice note.

A generic thank you with a cute picture to kids in the class is absolutely a ok.

My 8 year old son recently got a thank you card like that. It said "Thanks for coming to my party" I thought it was really cute and my son really liked it. It's on our fridge.

I agree with Catherine C.

To write a note, use a Sharpie (laundry marker). They come in colors now.

Could you include a little slip of paper with a very short personal note?... I find these cards to be in the middle of the road - better than no thank you and I typically like the picture but not as thoughtful as a personal note. Plenty of people don't do any thank you note though so like I said, I always think at least they sent something. I've also started to tailor things a bit to the friend. Some people we know do thank you notes, some dont. So for people who don't, this card is totally fine. If you have some friends who are really polite and do nice thank you's every time, include a personal note on another piece of paper...

YOu can write on it with a sharpie. If the picture is the "favor", attach a small thank you with it when you mail out.

AFTER READING YOUR SO WHAT HAPPENED:

A form letter response (i.e. fill in the blanks)....is not so nice.

You can put a non-glossy sticker on the card on which you could write a small personal note.

I think it's a cute idea. Considering most people don't even send thank you cards for birthdays, you are ahead of the game.

Can you write on it with a Sharpie?

I agree withTracy77. When its OBVIOUS that an Aunt, neighbor or some other guest went way out of their way for an especially thoughtful gift--there needs to be a reflection of that in the thank you card. So, to make every gift giver feel appreciated--write on the back of the picture a reference to the gift.

Cute idea about the pic though.

The picture is great. The parents will really enjoy that. If I were you, I'd send a separate card in the envelope that says thanks for the gift. OR write thank you on the back of the picture, but make sure that you turn the thank you towards the envelope opening so that they see that you wrote them and don't just see the picture.

Dawn

I have done this before and simply said, "Thank you for celebrating XX Birthday!"
I don't think it is lazy or rude not to specify the gift if they were there to watch your child open it. :)

Just write something on the back of the photo, specifying the gift that that child gave.

I don't think you have to mention each specific present. The group photo is a great idea! (I might steal it.) And "Thank you for helping me celebrate" is enough, IMO. Many people don't do thank you cards at all.

Frankly, at this point, I am just thrilled to death when I get ANY thank you card. The last few birthday parties and baby showers that I have attended and bought gifts for did not send any thank you notes.

I like the idea as it is a great way to remember the party and will mean more to the children at the party. You could always put on the photo card a generic "Thank You" then write a note or have your child sign their name in a Sharpie. A Thank You note is still a Thank You note. Everyone has their own standard of a Thank You Note but should be open and accepting to the effort put forward by someone to say Thank You.