Birthdays and holidays were always days I looked forward to with unabated anticipation and excitement. I counted down the days. I looked and circled pictures in toy catalogs which were left in convenient places for my mom. And the big day would come with all its fun and present-opening and I would be in heaven, until the next day when my mom started on me about the thank you notes.
Could I have just one day to play without having to worry about writing a boring letter? But nag, nag, nag, mom always won out and I wrote those notes to much chagrin. I learned the life lesson by the time I was grown, that we need to be thankful and appreciative and people really want to know that you received and liked the gift they chose. So a few years ago, I found myself wondering how I could get my toddler to start learning this lesson when he was too young to actually write the note- but not too young to color it.
I searched the internet for age-appropriate thank you notes that he could color himself. Finding something that was simple and just right for small hands was difficult. I decided that I would make his thank you notes myself and have him color them. What grandparent would not love that? So not only would he be learning a good habit, it would not be torture- it would hopefully be fun!
I began by creating balloon thank you notes and even though my son just scribbled on them, it was so much cuter and had a much more personalized feel than any notes I could have bought at a store. I realized that maybe I had a good idea here so I began to create other designs and moved on to birthday invitations. My goal was to keep the designs very simple for little ones to color and get more detailed for the older ones. I then did matching thank you notes and moved on to thank you notes in themes such as a butterfly, polka dots, princess crown, Paris Eiffel Tower, dump truck, fire engine and golf. These can also be personalized note cards that can be used for any note- not just a thank you.
The ideas and possibilities are endless. Hopefully, my toddlers enthusiasm for wanting to color his fire engine thank you notes (and he has never been a very motivated artist) is an indication of the lessons we can teach our children about being thankful, respectful and appreciative while having fun at the same time.
Kari Perman is the founder of My Very Own Cards, a company which creates birthday invitations, thank-you notes, greeting cards, and notecards for kids to color themselves.
Visit her store at http://www.myveryowncards.com
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