Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Kindly!

October 12, 2015 10:54 PM

I'm looking for relatively inexpensive, cute, thank you cards/stationary for a ton of thank yous for baby gifts and not having much luck finding them!

My husband and I just had an adorable baby! Yay! Our friends and family have been so generous with gifts for our son. Seriously. So generous. We have SO many thank you notes to send. In the past when I sent thank you notes, I just bought a box of cards from Target or whatever and sent them. I've never had to send so many! Those boxes are cards are like $9.99 a box for about ten of them. I need at least 60, maybe more. Probably more if the baby gifts keep coming and Christmas is soon, so, yeah. (SO! GENEROUS!) It's really not in my budget to spend $60 (at least) on cards.

My problem is that I can't seem to find a large amount of thank you cards at a decent price. Internet searches have borne no fruit! I did find a box of cards on Amazon (ONE BOX) but those cards are plain white and more suited to wedding thank yous, though I'll buy them if I can't find anything else. I can't seem to find more than a box of 6-10 cards for $10-12. There are no stationary stores near me. I feel like this is kind of a dumb question but I've been looking on and off since my baby shower back in August and...nothing. Am I missing a really obvious solution to this problem? What do normal people do when they have a ton of thank yous to send? Should just send a note? I've always sent and received cards.

BONUS: my baby is named after a constellation. Any cards with stars or an astronomical theme would be particularly appropriate.

Thank you!

posted by Aquifer to Shopping (14 answers total)

Have you thought about sending postcards? Postage is cheaper, and postcards are fun to receive in the mail.
Amazon has a big selection.
posted by valannc at 11:01 PM on October 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

I think just notes is totally fine! Or postcards, really.

That said, a search for "baby shower bulk thank yous" gets you this, which seems reasonable. I kind of like the owl/hedgehog ones- $16.95 for 48.
posted by charmedimsure at 11:09 PM on October 12, 2015

Go to vistaprint or moo or costco and make postcards with the baby's photo. Leave yourself a SMALL area on the back to write a quick note.

People want pictures of the Baby. Give the masses what they want!

(Congrats!)
posted by 26.2 at 11:19 PM on October 12, 2015 [20 favorites]

I have several packages of thank you cards from the dollar bins at Michael's. They say Thanks in simple, colourful designs on the front and are blank inside for your message. I think they were about 10 for $1 and there were several possibilities to choose from. This was a few years ago, though, so the selection may have changed...
posted by bibliotropic at 11:24 PM on October 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

seconding 26.2's suggestion. I love getting those photcards, plus my friends put the baby's details on them which is very handy for the future when remembering birthdays etc.
posted by kitten magic at 2:53 AM on October 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

I had the same issue when I had a kid. Target does have some cheaper options in larger quantities, but mostly in-store vs online. Here's a box of 30 for $7.99: http://m.target.com/p/fresh-slate-trellis-thank-you-cards-30-count/-/A-15406463
posted by judith at 6:14 AM on October 13, 2015

Yes, seconding judith, Target sells boxes of 50 thank you cards for about $12 to $20, but mostly online, like these or these. (I have occasionally seen some of these in stores, and I used them for wedding thank you cards. The quality was surprisingly good for the price, I thought.)

I find the site not super well organized, but a search for “thank you cards 50” will turn up a bunch.
posted by teditrix at 6:41 AM on October 13, 2015

Congrats!! I love the custom baby-photo idea (postcard or card version). But if you want something pre-printed, the Papyrus stores often have big boxes (50-60 cards and envelopes) of thank you notes in a variety of styles. Last I looked, they were about $20-25 for a large box.

p.s.: I think it's great that you are sending paper thank you notes. As more and more communication becomes electronic, handwritten notes seem especially special!
posted by stillmoving at 6:52 AM on October 13, 2015

Dollar stores and Dollar General sell baby thank you cards that will run around $1-2 for 10 of them. If you don't go the photo route, go super cheap. This card will go right into the trash for most people.
posted by bizzyb at 6:53 AM on October 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

About 8 years ago I got a box of 100 blank note cards and envelopes in assorted colors for ten bucks at target. They work for everything. Thank you notes, greeting cards, gift tags, etc.... you could use plain navy ones and write on them in silver pen and draw little stars in the corner :)
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 7:18 AM on October 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've never seen the point of buying cards that specifically say "Thank You" on them since you're presumably expressing that sentiment in the note, plus you can only use them for the one purpose.

I write all my thank you notes (and pretty much all other handwritten social correspondence) on foldover notes or correspondence cards from this place. Every five years or so I just order another 200. The main cost is in the setup, so if you order in bulk the cost goes down dramatically.

Mine just have my name on them (most versatile) but if you want an image on them, they'll work with you to do that. I think correspondence-style cards with the relevant constellation image at the top +/- the baby's name would look really nice. I've had good experiences with this shop, but I think most local print shops would be happy to work with you for a run of offset printed or thermographed cards, and a lot of them have in-house people who can do uncomplicated design work for you.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 8:34 AM on October 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

I bought a box of very colourful blank cards at my local dollar store recently. It was $3 for 40 cards and 40 envelopes. They're no text cards, so they don't say thank you, but they're fun, and don't read particularly cheap and you can add your own message. So definitely check dollars stores. And look in the crafts and stationary aisles as well as with the cards because the box I found wasn't with the cards.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:46 PM on October 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Google "Asian stationary store" in your area. If you happen to have one that fits under that title, or stocks Morning Glory, they have inexpensive stationary that is unbelievably cute and pretty.

Whoops - sorry I skipped over that part of your ask. Custom cards will work well for this occasion :)
posted by yueliang at 3:55 PM on October 13, 2015

Now that we have littles, we generally get photo cards made at Costco as our thank you's, Christmas cards, etc. They're about the cheapest.

Protip: Set up a program now, when you're doing this thank you project, with everyone's names and addresses so that they can print directly onto labels. Trust me. It will be a godsend in the next few years, as you're sending out birthday invitations, more thank you cards, more holiday cards. So easy to order photo cards, pop a label on them, and you're done.
posted by vignettist at 9:43 PM on October 13, 2015