Last May my lovely daughter decided she needed a change of scenery and a warmer climate. Little did I know she would also need some inspiration in the form of some personalized thank you cards!

It all started when she decided to move to California, where, to her delight, the scenery was gorgeous and the weather fabulous. She settled right in as if she had been there forever and soon landed a nice job in a property management office. “But you don’t know anything about property management,” said I. “So what? My boss says he can teach me the business,” said she. And he did. In no time she was promoted to office manager.

Her boss, wonderful guy that he is, surprised my daughter with a luncheon to celebrate her promotion. All the employees were invited to the nice little Italian Bistro down the street. They had a wonderful afternoon of wining and dining and celebrating. My daughter was so thankful to her boss, her co-workers and the little Italian Bistro and she wanted to let them know how grateful she was for all that they had done for her.

So she called me up to see if I had any ideas. Of course I had an idea! I always have an idea and it usually includes a personalized thank you card from The Gallery Collection where I just happen to work, and where they just happen to have the most spectacular thank you cards on the planet.

She had to agree, The Gallery Collection’s thank you cards are fabulous. So she picked out a really lovely design and had her name imprinted in beautiful gold foil on them. She sent them to her boss, her co-workers and to that little Italian Bistro. Needless to say, they all loved the cards (and the homemade chocolate-chip cookies she included with each card!)

She may be 3,000 miles away now, but lucky for her, Mom and The Gallery Collection’s thank you cards are just a phone call away!

Throughout the years I have found it very rewarding, and still is, to send and receive words of appreciation and/or gratitude in thank you cards. I have often been asked when it is appropriate to send thank you cards and would like to share the following suggestions with you.

A thank you card is an expression of appreciation for a thoughtful act, gift or gesture and should be sent as quickly as possible, generally within a week of receipt of a gift or gesture. In the case of a gift, always make a specific reference to the gift received, such as, “Thank you so much for the blue sweater. How did you know blue was my favorite color?”

A thank you card is appropriate in the following situations:

• After being hosted as a house guest
• After receiving gifts/visits during a hospital stay
• Gifts that were received by mail
• Wedding gifts
• Baby shower gifts
• After receiving sympathy letters, flowers or mass cards
• Notes or gifts of congratulations
• Having been given a party in your honor
• Having accomplished a commendable task
• Having received a job referral
• Volunteered services
• That special teacher
• A helpful co-worker

Select thank you cards that reflect your personality and keep a supply on hand. It is important to personalize your thank you cards with a hand written message.

If you receive a gift you dislike you should still show appreciation for the thought that went into selecting it for you. You might say, “Thank you for the gift. I will always think of you whenever I use/wear it.”

I’m hoping this has been helpful to those of you who care enough to send thank you cards.

Environmentally friendly thank you cards are the wave of the future and I am proud to work for a company that cares enough to produce them. We use paper that is certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council); it is a bit more expensive but worth the price to protect the earth for future generations. Becoming FSC-certified (SW-COC-002530) is no walk in the park…it is quite labor intensive and time consuming. One must be committed to the cause! The FSC standards are strict, and so a greeting cards company cannot just use FSC certified paper and claim to be certified. Applications must be filed, vendors must be qualified, employees must be trained, and then there is the yearly audit…just to mention a few parts of the process. When you turn over one of our environmentally friendly thank you cards you will see the seals of approval that we work so hard to earn. Not only do we have the best quality, best looking greeting cards…we are also helping to preserve the planet.

It is so nice to be thanked! I don’t do things to receive the gratitude, but boy is it rewarding when you know that your kindness was appreciated. With that being said, I remember to send thank you cards whenever I’ve been blessed with someone’s generosity. Last week I had my car serviced and my mechanic cleaned the inside of my car, so I sent him a thank you card. In retrospect, maybe I should have been embarrassed that he felt compelled to clean the inside of my card, but he got a card anyway. I sent a thank you card to the HR person that interviewed me for this job (nice move on my part). I got the job, and I love it!

Sending thank you cards to customers is also a great way to maintain them as regulars. This past Christmas, I received several cards thanking me for my loyalty…and you know those vendors will continue to get my business next year. I will be sure to think of them first. Sending a real card – a quality card – is much better than getting an email. I get so many emails from vendors vying for my business that they are common place and I tend to ignore them, but when I receive a personalized greeting card in the mail, I tend to remember the vendor. Now top that off by sending eco-friendly thank you cards, and you just thanked yourself as well!

Rachael Ray tells us that the best way to thank someone is with food. I don’t think my friend in Virginia would care for a box of meatballs, so I send him thank you cards instead.

President Obama wants us all to do our part, and I am solidly behind him as well as company I work for. One may think that it takes a large contribution like that of the FSC to make a difference but every little bit counts. And I am proud of our contributions and proud to work for a company that is environmentally responsible despite the cost and hard work it takes to make us that way.

When you’re having a party, no matter if it’s a birthday, special event or even just a barbecue, there’s the usual checklist of what you’ll need so your celebration is a great success. For example, you have your food menu, beverages, music, a guest list, and anything else you may need to set up your fun-filled day. What a lot of people do forget is something you’ll need once the party is over and all your guests have left. What is it you ask? Thank you cards!

Your friends and family took the time to give you a gift and made sure your party was special. You should thank them by writing thank you cards to show you appreciated them being there…even if no presents were involved! For the office, business thank you cards are a great way to show your vendors, clients, and employees how grateful you are for their business or for their outstanding work. Business thank you cards are also an indirect way of reminding your recipients that you worked with them and “please don’t forget about us in the future.” The moral of this story is let people know that them being there is important to you, and be sure to use those thank you cards inside and outside of work!

It’s never too late to send a thank you card. I know you may be thinking this is just some sales-y pitch to buy thank you cards. It’s not, period. Here’s my quick feel-good thank you cards are important and make everyone thankful story…

Recently I was travelling. As I passed through Newark Airport’s gate area I came upon the Airport Wireless store and decided to browse. It seems like there is always something that I need. Sure enough I realized I had recently lost my stereo-hands-free cell phone mp3 player earbuds. These are very important to me as I am immensely more productive on the phone with them than without them. I purchased a very nice pair of Shure earbuds and said thank you to the store employee who helped me pick them out. I in turn acknowledged his “Thank You for your business” and I rushed off to catch my flight.

A few hours later when I reached my destination I headed over to the rental car counter. I set my things down, filled out the paperwork and exchanged another set of thank yous with the Avis employee. “Thanks very much,” I said “Yes sir, thank you for renting from Avis today” he said. “Which way to my car?” “Right out those doors and to the right, sir.” “Thank you, have a nice day.” “You’re welcome sir and Thank You again.” The exchange was as business-like and as pleasant as can be. This cordial, professional, friendly and just plain polite business exchange is something refreshing about travelling to the Midwest of the United States.

So, a couple of hours of driving later, thankfully I finally arrive at my hotel. I checked-in with a whole new round of “Thank you,” “Thank you sir,” “Thanks and have a nice day.” Settling into my room something seems to be missing, but I just can’t place what it is. Then I realize. Ugggh! It’s too easy to not miss something that you’ve barely owned. My new expensive earbuds, where are they!? I retrace my steps. When was I last sure that I had them? I quickly realize that they are now a two hour drive behind me last seen on the lower counter portion of the Avis rental car check-in desk. I curse a few times and pretty much write them off mentally. And then I realize…Wait a minute! I am in the land of the nicest “thank you, no, thank YOU” people I have ever come across outside of New York. I figure what the heck and I make a call to Avis and get through to the Avis counter at the airport that I flew through. A very nice fellow in maintenance says he’ll have to go take a look and he’ll call me back. I figure I am never getting a call back…but then as he is hanging up the phone he says “Thank you for renting from Avis!” Maybe there is a prayer. Maybe the “thank you, no, thank YOU” culture of just plain nice people will save me.

Well, you guessed it. Saved I was and very very thankful. And of course, thanked again by the loyal and friendly Avis employee. He UPSd a box to my hotel room. I couldn’t be more thankful. Or could I?

So, here I sit in my home office working remotely today, “cleaning up” things. This great Avis employee who UPSd me my earbuds that I frankly had no right to expect I would ever see again did the right thing by his company. He sent the item UPS collect. I didn’t even know you could do that! Anyhow, I need to pay the bill. $12.34 I couldn’t be more happy and thankful to pay. But, it’s not all about money is it? The bill reminds me that I had to rush through the airport and the car return to catch my flight. I never had the opportunity to track down the employee and thank him and the other employees.

It’s just another one of those stories in our busy lives. Too much to do, too little time –
too often too little time to even say “Thank you.” But alas, that is what greeting cards, note cards and letters have always been for. Greeting cards help us to pause for just a moment, to reflect, and to say something. It takes a little bit of effort and a little bit of thoughtfulness, but the rewards are dividends paid to both parties. The little bit of effort is what conveys the thought. The old expression “It is the thought that counts,” which used to be used for gift giving, really isn’t true any more. It is, in fact, the effort that counts. It is the effort, however small, that expresses the thoughtfulness. It is too easy in today’s society to click a button and send your closest 500 friends an email form letter. The “ease” dilutes and diminishes the thoughtfulness conveyed.

So, with this much longer than I thought blog post now finally coming to a conclusion I shall:

1. Thankfully pay my UPS collect bill.
2. Write a thank you card to the Avis employee at the airport.
3. Write some more thank you cards today for others whom I am probably long overdue to send thank you cards.

P.S. – I suppose I could make an argument that the longer the length of time between the event someone is being thanked for and the arrival of the thank you cards actually is a measure of how truly thankful someone is. i.e. They remember it long after the event.  Hmmm. I have wanted to write my sixth grade teacher a thank you card before she passes to a better place. I better get on that! I can’t imagine how old she is now! I’m no spring chicken myself.

The stars are not aligned today, because it was another one of those mornings. You know the kind I mean. My husband spilled the milk on the table and it dripped onto the floor. Do you think it would miss me? Nooo! Of course not. Then he says he’s in a hurry and asks if I can clean it up. Before I can answer, he says “I’ll send you a thank you card.” He thinks he’s very funny when he plays on my love of greeting cards. The family always teases me and for the most part I am amused, but not today.

Of all mornings, I’m running late, I have a wet spot on my blouse and I have a meeting concerning business thank you cards for the upcoming year (how ironic) first thing. There’s nothing worse than showing up to work disheveled, tired and annoyed. Anyway, I rushed to my desk and a colleague stops me to ask a favor. Can I please make some copies before the meeting because he had to finish a report? So much for sitting down first and enjoying a sip of tea.

From there it just gets worse. The copier needed the toner changed and can you guess what happened next? I somehow got ink smudges on my pants, the paper ran out, and it’s meeting time. Of course I am the last one there and everyone looks at me puffing, sweating, smudged and stained. That’s the kind of morning I had. I was so glad when it was lunch time.

When I came back from lunch there was an envelope on my desk. Inside was a thank you card from my colleague of the morning. He said he appreciated my helping him out. The art of sending thank you cards is not dead and there are still courteous people who express appreciation. The business thank you card was even more coveted than one coming from family or friends.

It just goes to show that, no matter how your day starts, a greeting card will brighten it up and put a smile on your face. Now you see why I have a profound love for greeting cards.

On the King Day of Service this past Monday, January 19, some of the 100,000 thank you cards that The Gallery Collection donated to Operation Gratitude made their way to Washington D.C.’s Calvin Coolidge High School, where students, military families, and local service groups were helping with various activities for the troops. The thank you cards were being used to write letters to service members deployed overseas.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama made a special appearance at Coolidge High School during a service tour they were taking of Washington. While make their rounds to meet all the volunteers, then-President-Elect Obama stopped at one of the tables, picked up one of the thank you cards and exclaimed, “These are nice cards!” He then told one of the volunteers he was speaking to that he would only keep one of the cards, and handed it off to Michelle. The whole conversation was caught on video, and we have it for you to check out. He comments on our cards at one minute and 20 seconds into the video:

At another point during his visit to the high school, Mr. Obama said a few encouraging words about the volunteering and honoring the King Day of Service: “If we’re waiting for somebody else to do something, it never gets done,” he said. “We’re going to have to take responsibility, all of us. This is not just a one-day affair.”

How great it is to have such a significant man make a nice comment about the products we sell. Of course everyone who works at The Gallery Collection already knows how nice our cards are, but it never hurts to have the President of the United States of America reaffirm that for everyone to hear!

This past Monday, January 19, was a very special day for The Gallery Collection. Not only was it the day before Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, but it was also the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. And in honoring Dr. King as well as our troops currently stationed overseas, we donated 100,000 thank you cards to be included in Operation Gratitude care packages. Operation Gratitude teamed up with Target and Serve DC to set up a care package assembly line at the RFK Memorial Stadium in Washington DC. In paying tribute to Dr. King and acting in the spirit of the National Day of Service, thousands of volunteers came to the stadium to help assemble the packages and personalize thank you cards to individual soldiers. Here is some footage from the stadium:

You’ll notice in the video that some special guests made an appearance, including Michelle Obama and Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. At the end of the day, over 75,000 care packages were assembled, thanks to the thousands of people who volunteered their time to help. We all worked together to make this past Monday a day ON instead of a day off.

I am the first to admit that it is not always easy finding the perfect greeting cards for the occasions you want to recognize. I find it particular difficult to find the perfect thank you cards. Sometimes saying “thank you” just isn’t enough so you need the perfect card and sentiment to show how much you truly appreciate someone’s kind words, a gesture, or a person’s thoughtfulness.

I am now in the habit of keeping an assortment of thank you cards on hand so I have the appropriate thank you card available when I need it. For the most part I am a very fortunate person who is surrounded by kind and generous people. I’ve gone through quite a few thank you cards over the course of just a few months. Speaking of which, I should check my supply at home! I think I might be running low and may need to order more.

I love that The Gallery Collection thank you assortment boxes have such a nice variety of thank you cards to choose from.  I can always find a card that suits both the gesture and the person I am thanking. When it comes to thank you cards, it is not a “one card fits all” kind of world. Since we change our selection of cards every year, I don’t have to worry about sending the same card to the same person year after year. I always have a unique thank you card available and this simple gesture is always appreciated by the recipients.  For the most part people don’t do kind deeds for the gesture to be reciprocated but I know they certainly feel appreciated when their thoughtfulness is acknowledged.

A greeting card can be used in many different ways – just take a look at all the different types of corporate greeting cards available on this website! The first use that comes to mind is an expression of goodwill towards the recipient, be it for a holiday, a birthday, or to congratulate or thank. That goodwill, however, can be “paid forward” with just a simple act.

Many customers order their corporate greeting cards with a special imprint. Some thank patrons or clients at Christmas time with mention of their end-of-year donation to a favorite charity inside of their greeting cards. Others celebrate the birthdays of their employees by donating to an organization in the employee’s name.

Using a greeting card to pay it forward doesn’t always have to include such a grand gesture. Small acts of kindness are just as meaningful. Think of a colleague who may be having a rough time, and send her a thinking of you card. Perhaps a client is having her first child. Send a congratulations card. Did colleagues in the office pilot a recycling program for the company? Why not send thank you cards? You can even choose a greeting card made with windpower in light of the situation.

In my greeting card Googling (yes, I do Google greeting cards – it comes with the job description), I discovered what, to me, may be the most interesting use of greeting cards in the “pay it forward” aspect. Amnesty International annually asks members to send greeting cards with messages of support to prisoners and human rights defenders worldwide. This small act of goodwill lets those receiving the greeting cards know someone remembers them, and the message to write in the greeting card is as simple as “We’re thinking of you.” I was disappointed to discover that the 2007 Holiday Card Action program had ended in January, but it’s a great cause to remember during the 2008 holiday season.