Thank You
Writing a thank you note is easy. Buying one isn’t. A card seems perfunctory. A text message seems…well …like a text message. So we end up clutching something shiny in the hallway of the house we’ve only just left trying remember how it’s supposed to fit through the letterbox. That’s how the half bottles of wine and odd boxes of chocolates come into the picture. And that’s problematic because, really, when something means a lot you want the gift to match.
Which is why we put together this list. For when the someone went above and beyond and you want your gift to match. For the friend who stayed at your house for a week and refused to cook or clean anything. For your work mate who gave you cover when you needed it. For your neighbour who collected your Amazon packages every day when you were on holiday. For the friend. Sorry. We tend to go straight for the sentimental when it comes to people who wow us with acts of kindness. But that doesn’t mean your thank you gift has to be an eyes-roll-to-back-of-head cliché. There are so many great gifts out there that aren’t based around tea towels embroidered with your sofa buddy’s initials.
Each and every one of these gifts says ‘I was thinking about you.’ Not ‘Thank you, I owe you.’ We’ve tried to pick stuff that feels personal without being overbearing. When you’re grateful to someone, that’s what you really want to say: that you were paying attention. So we focused on gifts that feel less like redemption and more like a treat. Little luxes that we suspect your giftee might not buy themselves but will happily accept from you.
And we considered size too. Not all thank yous are created equal, and our gifts don’t start at impressive either. If someone did you a massive favour then you deserve options to show how monumentally grateful you are. But if they just went that extra mile we think you should be able to say thanks without having to kill it. We tried to strike that balance without bulking up this list with things we wouldn’t want to send ourselves.
A thank you gift should be the physical manifestation of your words. When you get it right, the gift says what you’re trying to say with your note. We held every single one of these to that standard.