Amidst all the baby showers, decorating the nursery, attending childbirth classes and everything else a mother does to prepare for her new baby, squeezing in the time to write thank you cards can be a little daunting. It’s not that we don’t feel thankful. On the contrary, we are incredibly grateful for all the support we receive from our friends and family. Babies are expensive! Still, taking the time to address envelopes, stamp and mail thank you cards is hard. Fortunately there are ways to streamline the process!
One method takes a little planning and cooperation with whomever is planning the baby shower. When sending out the invitations, print out a second batch of address labels and set them aside to use during the shower. Then, while you are opening the gifts, have the person recording the gift list pull the appropriate label from the sheet and adhere it to the back of the card that came with the gift. She can then write a description of each gift on the back of the card, below the address label. That way, when you are writing your thank you cards, all you will need is your stack of cards from the shower. You will have the name and address of each person, as well as what they brought to the shower, all in one place. If a group of people went in on the gift together, all the appropriate address labels should be stuck to the back of the card so you can send each person an individual card. The reason for putting all the information on the back of the cards is so you can save the cards in a keepsake box or scrapbook. You’ll always remember the sweet words they wrote in their card, as well as what they gave your new baby!
Another way to speed up the process is to address your envelopes ahead of time. A great time to do this is when you are addressing the shower invitations. Or, if you want to save even more time, have your guests self-address envelopes at the beginning of the shower. Set out the envelopes at each place setting and give instructions when everyone is seated. I have been to several showers where this was done and no one minded a bit. It really does save quite a bit of time as well.