Two Minutes Du Jour

Handwritten Thank-You Notes: A Tradition That Brings Joy to Both Sides

It’s lovely to receive a handwritten thank-you note. There’s a certain joy in seeing a card in your mailbox, often unexpected and always welcome.

You might recognize the handwriting right away. Perhaps there’s an interesting postage stamp, and tucked inside the envelope is a card with a picture or design reflective of the sender.

When you open the card and read the note, you’re often reminded of the occasion—a thoughtful gift, a shared meal, or a kind favor. As you read, you’re not only reliving the moment but receiving an extra boost, a sense of how you made the other person feel and why it mattered.

Thank-yous—whether given verbally after coffee, sent via text with a cute emoji, or handwritten and delivered by mail—are expressions of gratitude. But here’s the best part: they bring just as much joy to the sender as to the receiver.

I grew up writing thank-you notes, a practice ingrained by my mother and her Southern etiquette, who called them ‘bread-and-butter notes.’ This was a tradition from her time, and I’m grateful she passed it on to me.

Naturally, my kids grew up writing thank-you notes too. As adults, they’ve mastered the art of crafting thoughtful, detailed notes that are heartfelt yet simple—never boring, always sincere.

Teaching my students at Metro State about thank-you notes was one of my favorite assignments. In my writing class, I challenged them to write three different notes: a thank-you to a guest speaker, a thank-you for a gift, and a belated thank-you, because it’s never too late to say thank you. I offered them a simple three-part structure: 1) Acknowledge the gesture, 2) Share your plans (or what you’ll do with the kindness), and 3) Express what the relationship means to you. I even gave them packs of thank-you notes to take home, hoping they’d carry the tradition forward.

Don’t look at writing a thank-you notes as a task but rather as a reflection. It gives you a moment to pause, think about the gesture, and relive the kindness. It extends the good feelings, bringing the experience full circle.

For me, “thank you” are two of the best words—two words that bring joy to both the giver and the receiver. There’s not much better than that.

Thank you for reading:)

Two Links Du Jour:

What’s a Bread-and-Butter Note? – Elizabeth, Cottrell, author of Heartspoken: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire

If you’re interested in rekindling the lost art of thank-you notes, check out this article: The Lost Art of Writing Thank-You Notes – The Inside Press