Thank you cards for my daughters birthday

I am a real stickler, if that is the word for writing thank you notes.  Yes the first reaction from my children, is Mummy do we have to, but then we discuss the reasons behind my request and I also ensure that it is fun, starting with always designing gorgeous thank you cards for them, or encouraging them to design their own, often a very messy approach, but very exciting.

The thank you messages do have to be thought out, no thank you for my present on all of them, as this I believe is pointless. 

Who would not want a beautiful handwritten thank you card dropping on your doormat, to say thank you for taking the time to choose and give me a present.

Jeffrey Froh, an assistant professor of psychology and the director of the Laboratory for Gratitude in Youth at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, New York. Says “Grateful kids tend to be much more satisfied with their lives,” says Froh. “They do better in school and are less materialistic, less depressed, and less envious. Their relationships are much stronger and more supportive.” In one study, grateful kids even reported fewer physical symptoms, like headaches, stomachaches, and fevers.

Thank-you notes don’t have to be reserved for physical loot: Your kids can write them in appreciation of awesome outings or good friendship. “My five-year-old borrowed my phone to type a thank-you text to his mom for a special day that they had spent together,” says Froh.

Happy New Year

A happy new year to all from CocoCards, I hope this year will be very exciting for CocoCards even when we are surrounded by doom and gloom - maybe beautiful stationery can help us through it!

My exciting plans are to expand my selection of cards and designers, moving into civil ceremonies and weddings and I will be exhibiting at the biggest baby show in the UK at the end of February, they expect 29000 visitors over 3 days, daunting but a fantastic challenge.

I will be adding more birthday party invitations and thank you cards over the next few weeks, I hope you like them.

It is my oldest daughters birthday party this weekend so I am very busy buying jewels, face paints, balloons and making my own party bags with personalised tags and matching thank you cards.

On the subject of thank you cards, my children loved (well OK loved a bit!) writing their cards this year as they had their own personalised thank you cards which made them very special. I will be adding more designs to this section of my website as I think it is lovely for children to have their own stationery.

Speak soon

Helen

Thank you cards - why and how to make it easier

Thank you cards

We all know that they are a struggle to write, but I have added below hints on how to make it easier and why I think it is a tradition we should encourage.

Why write them?

Joan Grayson Cohen, a licensed clinical social worker, says thank-you notes teach important lessons. These include being gracious about receiving gifts and valuing the gesture of gift giving. Writing thank you notes also teaches children to think beyond themselves and to make the giver feel appreciated. Taking a little time to express thanks teaches the protocols of civility and consideration, which can be transferred to other situations later in life, such as writing a note after a job interview."

Joan Grayson Cohen offered the following tips about writing those notes that should make this act of appreciation more fun for everyone:

Choose a method appropriate to your child’s age. Younger children who can’t write might draw a picture. They can dictate their thanks and Mum or Dad can write down their words. What a wonderful opportunity this is to begin teaching your child to write his or her name!

Find alternatives to writing. A children who can write but for whom writing is difficult (or who is resisting) can design his or her own stationery; cut out a picture of the gift from a magazine or the box and tape it in the note; and/or draw or paint the gift in the thank you note.

Make the task manageable. Don’t be a perfectionist about grammar and spelling. The thank you is more meaningful when it looks like it comes from the child. Brief notes are fine. If a child receives many gifts, space out the notes by writing a few each day.

Share the thanks you've received. Give your child positive models by sharing appreciative notes you have received, showing how much the thanks means to someone else.

Plan ahead. Purchase thank you cards with your child before the holidays (there's still a little time). This will set up the expectation that notes will be written for gifts received – another way to minimize the conflict

 Written by Kate Shatzkin of the Baltimore Sun

Christmas fairs

About to do my first christmas fairs in a couple of weeks and I am going to show my christmas card collection, personalised christmas tags, thank you cards, kids jewellery (pictures to follow) - very exciting, my friend is a jewellery designer and we have made the most beautiful jewellery with scrabble tiles, pearls and silver name beads.