While writing thank-you notes can be a painful and times-taking process, gift-givers need to be thanked and should be thanked properly and meaningfully. After all, they did go out of their way to give you a gift (no matter how hideous that knit sweater may be!) The art of writing thank you notes is not as difficult as it seems. Thank you notes do not have to be long but they should express sincere gratitude. The most important thing to remember when writing a thank you is that it must be personal and meaningful. Here you have the opportunity to express your heartfelt thanks to the person you have received a gift from. Here are some tips to remember:

1. Be timely with sending your notes. When thanking for dinner or a luncheon, the note should be sent the next day. For wedding and shower gifts, the notes should be sent after coming back from the honeymoon or within a month. Contrary to some beliefs, it is not appropriate to wait up to a year to send thank you notes for wedding gifts! Always send thank you notes to people who interviewed or met with you with regards to a job opportunity by the very next day. Write it immediately after getting home and get it in the mail that day if possible, and no later than the next day.
2. Hand-write all thank you notes. It is not appropriate to send thank you notes by email or to send generic thank you notes done by a computer program. Use appropriate stationary according to the occasion. For example, wedding thank you notes could be done on stationary to match your theme, your new names printed on the front of the card or even personal stationary with your new names and address professionally printed as the header of the paper if using paper rather than a card.
3. Start each thank you note with a personal note to the receiver. For example, let the person know how much you enjoyed getting together with them. "Dear Uncle Ted and Aunt Sally, It was wonderful to see you at our wedding, especially after so long. We truly appreciate the long trek you took to be with us on our special day."