Personal occasions
Baby shower thank-you wording
Nobody writes these on time and nobody should feel bad about it. The cards are usually written somewhere between exhaustion and a newborn, which is why the only genuinely useful advice is that three sentences is a complete card and that late is normal.
Written by Autopen Australia · Updated
Written before the baby arrives
[FIRST NAME], thank you so much for the [GIFT] and for coming on [DATE]. It is all washed and folded and in a drawer, which makes the whole thing feel considerably more real.
[NAMES]
Written after, which is most of them
[FIRST NAME], thank you for the [GIFT]. [BABY NAME] arrived on [DATE] and has already been sick on it twice, which I am told is the highest compliment available.
[NAMES]
[FIRST NAME], late thank you for the [GIFT] - we are late with everything at the moment. It has been in constant use. Thank you for thinking of us.
[NAMES]
For somebody who hosted
[FIRST NAME], thank you for hosting. You did far more than you let on and it was exactly the right kind of day. We were too distracted to say so properly at the time.
[NAMES]
For money, vouchers or a group gift
[FIRST NAME], thank you for your gift. It went towards [THING], which we had been putting off buying and which turned out to be the single most useful object in the house.
[NAMES]
Thank you all for the [GIFT] from everyone at [WORKPLACE]. [BABY NAME] is unimpressed by most things so far but not by that.
[NAMES]
For a gift that arrived without a shower
Most baby gifts now come this way rather than from a party, and people assume the rules are different. They are not, and the card is shorter.
[FIRST NAME], the [GIFT] arrived and it was completely unexpected. Thank you. [BABY NAME] is too small for it yet, which gives us something to look forward to.
[NAMES]
[FIRST NAME], thank you for the [GIFT]. You did not have to and we were very touched that you did.
[NAMES]
Getting it right
- What to mention. The gift, named. Whether it has been used yet, which is the detail that makes the card sound like a person rather than a list. The baby’s name if they have arrived.
- What to leave out. Apologising at length for the delay, which takes up most of a small card. Promising photographs you will not send. Writing the same sentence ninety times, which is what makes the pile feel impossible.
- How long. 20 to 45 words.
- How personal. However you feel. A tired, honest card is better received than a composed one and takes a tenth of the effort.
- When not to send one. There is no deadline. Three months is normal, six is common, and nobody who gave a baby gift is keeping a ledger.
Personalising more than a handful
The fields that earn their place here: [FIRST NAME], [GIFT], [BABY NAME], [DATE], [NAMES].
These are written by hand by two exhausted people and should be. The only list worth keeping is the gift list, written down at the time rather than reconstructed afterwards, because reconstructing it is the part that actually stops the cards getting sent.
Before any run, read the piece with the longest value in your data, the shortest, and the empty one. If all three read as English the merge is sound. Personalising direct mail at scale covers the rest.
Sending these at volume
This is not a page with a production problem attached, and we would not take the job. It is here because the question is asked constantly and the honest answer is short.
Autopen Australia writes each piece individually with a real ballpoint.
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Writing more of these than you have evenings
Tell us roughly how many and what they say. We will come back with an exact price and a production window.