Part 3 Following Thank-You Letter Etiquette
1. Match the length of the letter to the size of the gift. This is a very general rule that works pretty well in practice. A very thoughtful, expensive gift deserves a thoughtful, rather lengthy letter. A tiny gesture may be thanked with a casual, small gesture in return. Think about how much time, effort and money was put into the gift and match your letter's tone and length appropriately.[3]
• For example, if someone bought you a $100 wedding present, in addition to flying to your wedding and taking time off work to attend, they deserve a full-blown thank you letter on nice paper or a big thank you card.
• On the other hand, if you were the recipient of a $5 Secret Santa stocking stuffer, a short, quick note will do.
2. Start halfway down the card if you want. Are you having trouble coming up with enough to fill a whole thank you card? If you bought the type of card that comes folded in half, you don't have to fill up the entire blank space. Instead, you can start on the right half or bottom half of the card and write a letter that fills just half the card. It looks more proper than trailing off and leaving a lot of black space, or super-sizing your handwriting to fill it all up.
• Of course, take the above rule regarding the length of the letter into account. If the recipient deserves a two-page letter, you'd better match the length to the size of the gift and fill up the entire card.
3. Send it promptly. Try to send out your thank you letter within a few days (or weeks, at the latest) of receiving your gift. That way the person who gave it to you will know you received it and that you're very grateful. Waiting too long is rude, especially if the gift was sent in the mail. The person who sent it might wonder whether it ever arrived.
• That said, it's never too late to send a thank you note. Even if you send it months later, out of the blue, it's better than never sending one at all. If you wait this long, though, make it a good, long letter!