to think an email is as good as written thank you note on ye olde paper?

[DrNick]

in this Day and age

handwriting is increasingly irrelevant - WHY is a letter " nicer"?

Mine still do thank you notes with a suitable comment identifying the gift. E.g thank you fr the pyjamas, they are lovely and cosy.
Dcs are now 23,20 and 12 and they do it as second nature. I also always get a handwritten card from the nieces and nephews.

My kids send email thank you's. They are all 17 and older so it is up to them what they do. I am just happy they do them.

Paper notes are nicer but they are more expensive and wasteful.

Times have changed.

Not into written notes at all (seem so pretentious to me), a simple thank you face to face or phone call if fine IMO

I think all thanks should be tailored to the person receiving those thanks.

If thanks have been given in person, it's not necessary at all to follow up with a car/letter/text/email.

One family member I know very well, we exchange thanks via text. that works for us, and others I exchange emails with.

It's extremely rare that I write thank you notes, as very few of the people who would send gifts are not connected via technology in some way.

Again, it's all about tailoring a response. And same for things like sympathy cards. It's all well trying to write a nice thoughtful letter, but as in the case of Mia4 and her friend, you have to judge whether it would be well received.

I personally prefer to receive thanks by email or phone call. Cards/letters, however well intentioned, are read and put straight into the recycling, as I think of them as an unnecessary use of paper.

DrNick - it is hard to explain why a letter is considered 'nicer' if it is something totally outside your experience. .

I do not use 'social media' so a thank you on Facebook would never be seen, I feel that a text or email is just a 'lazy' way of sending a thank you - it hardly takes any time or effort which is why (to me) a 'hand written' thank you is 'nicer'.

Obviously if you are much more into texting/social media etc then it is perfectly acceptable to send a thank you that way. As others have said, I think the most important thing is to 'tailor' your thank you to the recipient. Obviously, any thank you is better than none.

i HAVE written on paper before in my life. IKR - amazing.

Email is good for small thank you's. Thanks for taking X to the cinema yesterday, he had a great time.

Presents & dinner parties - I always send an actual thank you note. I love getting them, I love sending them.

The idea of thanking someone via FB is just repellent to me.

Gosh crowler, I have hosted a number of dinner parties ( or I prefer to think of them as friends coming round for dinner), don't think I have ever received a thank you note, although I do get thank you texts. I'd be a little freaked if I got a written thank you note as I'd worry that the sender would expect me to reciprocate.

To me the sentiment is the most important thing - I'm delighted if someone bothers to thank me be it via email, text, note or facebook. To be totally honest, provided someone has enjoyed the event and thanks me on leaving, I'm not bothered if I get anything else from them. As for being repelled by someone's mode of saying thank you - well I think that says more about the recipient of the thanks than anyone else.

If I go to a dinner party of someone I don't know well, then yes I send a thank you note - this seems standard to me.

If I've gone to a good friend's for dinner, no I do not (this seems different from a dinner party to me).

Thanking people via FB is just not acceptable to me; I don't care how others thank me - I care how thank others.

I'm not on FB anyway.