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Well, after a month long break from our WASP Wednesday posts Muffy and I are back in action!
This coming Saturday, January 23, is National Handwriting Day. National Handwriting Day is a day to reintroduce one's self handwritten correspondence. While an email thank you or hello may suffice for many in today's day and age, the WASP is all about hand written correspondence. Not only is it more traditional, but taking the time to hand write someone a note "demonstrates an uncommon level of social grace and consideration."
"The purpose of National Handwriting Day is to alert the public to the importance of handwriting. According to WIMA, National Handwriting Day is a chance for all of us to re-explore the purity and power of handwriting." The day is celebrate on January 23 yearly. This date was chosen as it is John Hancock's birthday.
Below is an excerpt from the Crane website (a staple at any WASP's desk!) Etiquette dictates that a thank you note should be written to the giver of every gift you receive. Handwritten notes are a simple, elegant and thoughtful way to express your appreciation for gifts of any size.
The steps to writing a proper thank you note are as follows:
Greet the giver.
Express your thanks.
Say something nice about the gift or its intended use.
Mention the past, allude to the future.
Repeat your thanks.
While thank you notes tend to be the most common form of a hand written notes, they are not the only reason to write someone! Consider writing more congratulatory notes to friends when they accept a new position or try something new or simply write a letter on your best stationary to say hello!
The steps to writing a proper thank you note are as follows:Greet the giver.
Express your thanks.
Say something nice about the gift or its intended use.
Mention the past, allude to the future.
Repeat your thanks.
While thank you notes tend to be the most common form of a hand written notes, they are not the only reason to write someone! Consider writing more congratulatory notes to friends when they accept a new position or try something new or simply write a letter on your best stationary to say hello!
Even though the art of a hand written note is dying in the eyes of many, the WASP has diligently been keeping the tradition alive!
20 comments:
SO true!
I use cute stationary to make up for my interesting handwriting. My favorite stationary was a graduation present and features Ms. in front of my full name and is done in pretty script.
Isn't it funny we have now reduced hand written notes to just thank you's? I sometimes write friends and family letters too just to remind myself I can do it! I love writing notes, because I love stationary!!
One of my new year's resolutions is to write a letter everyday. I love stationery and Dempsey and Carroll (a favorite of Caroline Kennedy) is having their annual engraved stationery sale until the end of January. It was hard choosing the font/color, but I made a choice and am happy with it. Didn't know that there was a 'National Handwriting Day' but I'll mark it on my calendar from now on. Thanks for the info.
I love handwritten notes! One of my biggest pet peeves is receiving no thank you or one of those fill-in-the blank cards.
I adore handwritten notes and try send a couple every week. Too bad my handwriting is on the level of a 3rd grade boy!
Great post! I just love getting a handwritten note in the mail.
I always write thank you notes and so appreciate to receive them too. It makes it much easier to write if you have darling stationary to go along with it!
My daughter sent thank you notes for her Christmas presents on gold bordered Crane notes. I was so proud!
Stationery and handwritten notes seem to be a lost art form.
I was required from a young age to send a note for every gift and not allowed to spend/cash monetary gifts till this was done.
Someone I am, at 28, told too be too antiquated that a simple "thank you" in person in suffiencient. I couldn't disagree more and the fact that men get away with not sending them is horrible.
I love giving/receiving handwritten notes. There's something so simple yet so fun about receiving mail - a thrill that hasn't worn off since I was a kid! There's a great book about this that I came across a few years ago - "The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication."
writing more letters is one of my New Year's resolutions... thanks for sharing the great post!
You just articulated what I have long believed! I just bought a whole stack of new Crane thank-you notes last month, and am thinking of getting the cute engraved ones from Papyrus.
Received a lovely handwritten thank you from a friend after we had her family over for supper Saturday night. It made my day! (And confirmed how much I like her!)
Great post and great comments.
You can readily understand my bias, but I firmly believe we're at the beginning of a paper revolution. Not long ago, the adopters of new technologies were the cool ones, the ones who stood out in a crowd. E-mail, cell phone, IM, texting, i this and i that. But the tables are turning. Those who also put pen to paper are now the savvy, courteous and respectful ones; the ones standing out from the faceless crowd.
You are remembered, while the 21st-century Luddites are stuck staring at a little glowing screen, using only their opposable thumbs.
Keep writing!
Peter Hopkins
http://craneinsider.blogspot.com
LOVE stationary and writing notes! :) I agree, people don't do it enough these days!
Coincidentally, I just wrote a bunch of handwritten thank you's at work this morning!
Nothing replaces holding a hand-written letter or note in one's hand with the knowledge that it can be read and reread ad infinitum. Nothing like those memories. I still have all he letters that my father wrote to me. Great post! xoxo
It is quickly becoming a lost art. I cherish anything that holds my parents' hand writing now that they are both gone. I make sure I write notes to my boys. I hope they keep them! I really feel a hand written note has the energy of the person writing it, almost a piece of them. You just can't get that with an email. Great post, Hopsy. :) xoxo
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