Look! Personalized Thank You Cards

There were a lot of different opinions expressed with regard to whether or not birthday presents for a one-year-old should be opened at the party. Well, having had a fairly large party- we were definitely in the no camp. But we still wanted guests to see the joy our daughter took in receiving their gift so we came up with these...

We really believe in writing thank you notes, but sometimes they feel too forced, almost like a template. "Thank you for (insert gift here). I really like it."

So, we decided to take a photo of our daughter opening or playing with each gift she received. Then we printed the photos on blank white cardstock and stamped the words "Thank you" above each picture. We had quite a few gifts to snap pictures of- but it was a fun project for a rainy day last week. Guests who didn't get to see their gift opened in person can at least see it being put to good use!

Comments (12)

This is a lovely idea. I'm going to see if I can pull this off at Christmas.

posted by lisamfb on October 7th 2009 at 11:05am
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Fantastic idea! Our parties have typically been family only so we do open gifts, but I love being able to show the child enjoying the gift after the party.

posted by thlitt on October 7th 2009 at 11:31am
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I love this! I have often thought of doing this but I have always been too lazy - seeing the template with Thank You stamp makes it seem more manageable somehow!

posted by robinm on October 7th 2009 at 11:39am
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How wonderful! I love this idea and may try to do it for my daughter's 3rd bday which is this weekend.

Quick question: I'm very technologically challenged, so do you think this would work using any printer. We have an HP Deskjet and I'm not sure the photos would come out. Suggestions or tips?

posted by Katie K on October 7th 2009 at 12:50pm
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I love this idea, and have done similar cards in the past. But I have to say, I have never liked getting cards that are written in the "baby's voice." I find it a bit cloying. I just write, "so-and-so loved the book you gave him, we read it every night, etc." and sign my own name.
(and Katie, it should work on any printer. You also could just get the pictures printed on photo paper, cut them out and glue them to cards.)

posted by Hollyrh on October 7th 2009 at 1:03pm
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I just knew someone would say that about the baby's voice. :) I can understand that. It's just more fun writing them like that to me.

Katie K- I'm pretty old-fashioned/tech challenged myself. I just printed them on my hp after sizing them down and pasting them into a Word document. I used the index card size for the page formatting and it worked on the card size I had. The pictures aren't perfectly sharp but good enough.

posted by julia on October 7th 2009 at 1:51pm
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I can't wait to try this! Thanks for the tips, Holly and Julia.

posted by Katie K on October 7th 2009 at 2:01pm
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I love this idea! The style of photo and card layout are perfect.

I've been doing something similar (although not to replace a thank-you card) by taking a photo of my son in an outfit or playing with a toy that someone gave him and then immediately e-mailing it to the giver. I use an iPhone, but I'm sure this would work with any camera phone. I also think it adds a personal touch to show people that their gift was appreciated and actually enjoyed too!

posted by CraftyRachel on October 7th 2009 at 2:27pm
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We did a variation of this for my son's first birthday 2 years ago and often do the same for gifts from people that live out of town. We took photos of him opening/wearing/playing with each gift, printed them on 4 x 6 photo paper, and sent them through the mail as postcards. Just write a quick note on the back, add the address and stamp, and you're done. Our family and friends really seem to appreciate seeing their gift "in action."

posted by WeNest on October 7th 2009 at 4:07pm
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Perfect compromise for not doing the unwrapping during the party. Terrific idea Julia!

posted by CMcB on October 7th 2009 at 7:33pm
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Great idea! I love it.

posted by trishatomato on October 7th 2009 at 11:55pm
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OH MY GOODNESS!!! I LOVE this idea. So creative - how do you come up with this stuff?

posted by Julia Lee on October 8th 2009 at 5:50pm
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