to be annoyed at mil regarding 'thank you' cards

[Amber76]

I had a baby 7 weeks ago; we've received lots of gifts which are appreciated. When someone gives me a present I like to thank them in person. I don't like thank you cards - I think they are pointless if you've already thanked the person.

Over the years I've given loads of baby presents to family, friends, etc. and I have never received a thank you card - this is absolutely fine with me.

My mil 'to be' to be has given us a number of bags of clothes from a charity shop - I accept these and always thank her. I have said thank you to her extended family who have passes on presents. In the most recent bag of jumble she included a packet of thank you cards, stamps and a list of people she wants us to send cards to - she told my partner that I am to send these out asap.

I'll send them because I want an easy life but is this not a bit rude of her? AIBU??

YANBU but it is a generational thing. Husband should do them.
I had something similar - MIL did say very strongly - don't forget to thank
such-and-such. She never sent cards and stamps though.
That would have really pissed me off but it might be she thought she was being helpful and you could just sign seal give to DH to post.
Still control freakery mind.
As it was, one morning I just did 30 odd footprints in one go - poor DD - and sent them out to all her friends. She was really proud and grateful. It wasn't
such a huge deal for me in hindsight and it made her really happy.

I'd say to mil 'thanks for the cards, I have already thanked everyone personally which is the way I like to do things, but dh hasn't spoken to them all so I'll pass on the cards to him in case he wants to do thank yous in your family style'

Catsu I agree... I don't do thank you cards unless the person lives far far away and doesn't have a phone, or its a formality of a formal event... I sent thank you cards to everyone who attended our wedding - I didn't want to speak to everyone, but a thank you card - whether they bought us a gift or not - was, I felt, appropriate.

I think your MIL sounds uber organised and probably traditional in her view on thank you cards, and because of that, seeing as she'll have asked people if they've received 'a thank you' and have got a negative reply (because some people don't understand thank you unless its in print) she's tried to remedy it... badly, for sure.

I don't see it as something to fall out over. People are strange, that's a given, so I think Catsu's suggestion is the most diplomatic.

If that doesn't work, enquiring whether she taught her son to write or not would be a tempting alternative.

My mother did this to me - lots of her friends sent DD presents when she was born. It was very generous of them but I was really struggling to look after a newborn and trying to get BF going. I didn't really give a shit that Mrs X had given DD a set of PJs that were already too small for her. To make it worse my DH and her don't get on so it was another thing for him to moan about. YANBU

CrystalQueen sums it up I think - she didn't care about the presents she received, didn't appreciate them and so didn't say thank you. I expect that those friends of your mother got the message and won't be sending you further gifts for your children.