by Connie Higgison

Created on: January 24, 2009

Dear Publishers Clearing House,

Thank you for the five million dollars! It is just what I always wanted. I will use it to pay all of my bills and buy lots of jelly beans. Best regards, Connie.

When writing a thank you note or card, you can say a lot without having to work too hard at it. The above example has 5 components that will work for most situations requiring thanks. All that changes are the words that are used.

1) Who do you want to thank? State the name of the recipient of the thank you message. The salutation "Dear" works nicely in front of the name, especially if it's a friend or relative, but their name only is acceptable as well.

2) What are you thanking the recipient of the note for? State the specific item or action that you are thanking them for.

3) State what the specific item or action meant to you. If you like the item or appreciate what they did for you, let them know. If you really don't like the item or action, but are required by courtesy to thank them anyhow, you can choose to skip this step. If you are creative with words, you may find it fun to do this step anyhow.

4) What you will use the item for? If it is an action that you are thanking them for, you can either skip this step or go into more detail on how their action affected you personally.

5) Who is sending the thanks? If this note is to a loved one, you can place the word Love, (your name) at the end. Other end greeting that are appropriate for casual acquaintances would be Best Regards, Regards, Sincerely, Your Friend, and the list goes on.

These basic steps are quite effective even for gifts that you don't like but are required to send a thank you card for. Remember that gift that you got from Aunt Edna for your wedding but you don't use it because you have no need for a cheese press? Below is an example of a thank you that you could send that would make Aunt Edna feel good because she feels that her gift is appreciated and can be done in four sentences or less.

Dear Aunt Edna,

Thank you for the cheese press that you gave us for our wedding present! It is quite a remarkable gift and gives us great pleasure. It has come in handy on many occasions.

Love, Connie

So remember the basic 5 steps listed above and you will be able to easily create thank you notes for any occasion.

P.S. Aunt Edna doesn't need to know that the reason her gift gives you pleasure is because it's so strange it makes you laugh.

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