I’ve been writing tons of letters and lots of thank you notes lately. I’m not an expert on etiquette, but I am a huge advocate of dropping letters in the mail. It’s so easy to shoot someone an email; taking time to write a letter in your own handwriting will mean so much more to the recipient.
Tools of the trade:
Stationery (not stationary… that means not moving, but I digress)
I have accumulated a good deal of personalized stationery. I like to have different sizes, colors, monograms, and styles so that I can pick an option based on the situation. My go-to stationery is Boatman Geller. You just cannot beat the quality. But, there are plenty of fun up-and-coming companies that offer personalization too. Using the last of a style is bittersweet for me; I am so sad to see it go, but I just love picking out new ones!
My collection at school
Pen
Pick a sturdy pen that you feel comfortable with. Currently, I am love love loving the Sharpie pen. Just ask California Funk, Fordham Prepster, or the UPS Store guy how excited I was to find them last year! Whatever pen you choose, practice on a scrap sheet of paper. There is nothing worse than realizing (too late) that a pen bleeds or is an ugly color.
Stamps
I find that if I have stamps handy and ready to go, I’ll be more likely to send a note. And it’s much more timely. Forever stamps are so great because they work even if the price of a stamp increases. California Funk and I determined that stamps are more expensive than we thought. Oh, and apparently you can buy stamps at some ATMs… I just learned this recently!
Addresses
What’s the fun of writing a letter with no where to send it??? Nowadays people don’t really carry address books around. I’ve found myself having to the email the person with a little “pre-thank you,” and then ask for an address at the end of the message. It takes away a little bit of the surprise, but the person has something to look forward to!
A few other tips:
- I typically type what I want to say first, and then write it out on a scrap sheet of paper to perfect the spacing and alignment.
- Make sure the card you send is appropriate. I wouldn’t want to send the Dean of my school a letter on stationery of my dad’s alma mater.
- Always place the card in the envelope in a way so that the recipient can just pull the card out and begin reading. It drives me nuts when people put a card upside down or with the front facing the wrong direction.
xoxo
PS Don’t forget about my Kiel James Patrick GIVEAWAY!
Such a great post! I love sharpie pens! My ones at school seem to disappear because friends borrow them and they never come back.
Love this post. =) I usually jump to Lilly or Vera cards for Thank you's, but I'll have to check out Boatman Geller. Keep up the good works! <3
Sharpie pens are wonderful.
I think stationery is great as well. Letter writing and thank-you notes can make such a difference!
I love stationery, pens, pencils, etc. And Boatman Geller is the best, aren't they? xoxo
Perhaps this post should have said, "The Lost Art of Letter Writing"!!! There is very little interest in letter writing or Thank You notes anymore. Most communication today is handled with a quick few words, which is then deleted immediately. Lots of memories have come from old letters, so hopefully your post will put some letter writing back in your mailboxes.
Betsy
What pretty paper!
Here's my tip – whenever I get a new stack of stationary I head to thepost office and pre-stamp all the envelopes with forever stamps.
1. You'll never run out of stamps when you need to mail a note
2. you've pre-stamped and hopefully saved a few pennies if the stamps go up.
thank you for this post! I am a FIRM believer in letter writing! It is a lost art and it is so sad that everyone resorts to email! I am a paper hog and believe you can NEVER have enough stationary! I change out my correspondence notes like I change moods!! Keep up the good work!!
What a wonderful post! I also love stationary, having beautiful paper really does inspire one to write more thank you and correspondence notes. I'm not sure if there are any HomeGoods stores by you, but I was able to pick up several packages of Crane fold over notes for more than half off their retail price this week! Crane paper is by far my favorite – what's not to love about thick cotton paper with a beautiful watermark?
Let's all get together…put some thoughts together some "nice" thoughts over the weekend and send someone a letter. Who knows you might receive one back!!!
Betsy
Try writing on plain white computer paper with a Bic (TM) pen. If you don't have one, a fun, crafty alternative is to cut out letters from magazines to create your message. It's an exciting alternative and, as a plus, it's totally untraceable!
xoxo
I love letter writting – I keep in touch with quite a few people that way including some fellow bloggies. You are always welcome to share the snail mail with me 🙂
I am a stationery hoarder-I hate using it but keeping buying it. So I always save 1 card from each set. I also set up my blog snail mail project so I could send cards to people who appreciate cute stationery 😉
I have been a fan of stationaries when I was in high school. It seems a trend way back then. And I just simply miss the time when I write letters to friends just to say thank you.
AshCanStudio.com
I adore picking outing a postcard and then sending it to somebody. I guess that's the reason I and all my colleagues at essay writing service – WriteMyEssayFast joined postcrossing community.