THE EVIDENCE
It lands better than you expect
Letter writers underestimated how happy and surprised their readers would be, across four experiments.
See the studiesWHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS
A few lines.
A lasting lift.
Your card will probably mean more than you think.
WRITE it today
Warmth over wording What letter writers got wrong
- Be specific
- Be warm
- Send it soon
- Warmth beats wording
People who write notes of thanks consistently underestimate how surprised and pleased the reader will be, and worry far too much about getting the words right. Here is what the evidence says about writing a card that lands, in plain English.
Plain English, with the sources linked.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Say one true thing, warmly.
Card writers fret about the words.
Readers mostly notice the gesture.
THE CRAFT
Specific beats eloquent
Name one thing they did or one shared moment, and say why it mattered. That is the whole trick.
Try the card helper
THE HISTORY
A Victorian habit that stuck
Cheap post from 1840 and the first printed Christmas card in 1843 turned greetings into a national habit.
Five card factsA QUICK CARD HELPER
What should
you write inside?
Pick the occasion. You will get one simple rule for the message, drawn from what the gratitude research found readers actually value.
These are writing prompts, not rules. A short honest line in your own words beats any formula.
WRITE ONE TODAY
Four habits
for cards that land.
Start with one specific thing
A moment, a favour, a phrase they said. Name it plainly, then say what it meant to you.
Give it ten minutes
Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center suggests about 10 minutes for a gratitude letter. A card needs no longer.
Do not polish it to death
Readers valued the warmth of the gesture far more than skilful wording. Spelling slips are forgiven.
Choose a card that can be recycled
Plain paper and card without glitter is easier to recycle. Check your council’s guidance for anything with foil or attachments.
TWO STUDIES WORTH KNOWING
Small effort,
real effect.
The note that feels awkward to write
is often the one that is welcomed most.
Warmth over wording
What letter writers got wrong
In four experiments, people wrote a letter of gratitude to someone who had affected their life. They underestimated how surprised and positive the recipients would feel, overestimated how awkward it would be, and worried too much about wording.
SAYING THANKS · 2018
1 month later
Five exercises compared
In a test of five positive psychology exercises, writing and delivering a gratitude letter gave the greatest boost to happiness one month later. By six months the effect had faded, so it is worth repeating.
THE GRATITUDE LETTER · 2005
Neither study is about cards as such, but both point the same way: a short, specific note of appreciation is cheap to write and tends to be valued more than the writer expects.
CARD FACTS
Five things worth
knowing.
A penny, anywhere in the country
Uniform Penny Postage began in Britain on 10 January 1840. A penny now sent a letter weighing up to half an ounce, just over 14g, anywhere in the country.
The post took off
According to The Postal Museum, by 1850, a decade after the Penny Black, people in Britain were sending 347 million letters a year.
The first Christmas card
In 1843 Henry Cole had a thousand copies of a card by the artist John Callcott Horsley printed. At a shilling each they were expensive, and the V&A calls the venture a commercial failure.
A museum full of greetings
The V&A holds over 30,000 greetings cards, more than half of them for Christmas. One of Cole’s original cards sold at auction in 2013 for £22,000.
Glitter cannot be recycled
West Sussex County Council advises that cards and paper covered in glitter cannot be recycled because of the particles, and should go in general waste.
QUICK QUESTIONS
Greeting cards, answered.
Short answers to the questions people ask most.
Does a handwritten thank-you card really make a difference?
Research suggests it means more than senders expect. In four experiments published in 2018, people who wrote letters of gratitude underestimated how surprised and positive the recipients would feel, and overestimated how awkward they would find it.
What should I write inside a greeting card?
Be specific. Name one thing the person did or one shared moment, and say why it mattered to you. The 2018 research found recipients valued the warmth of the message far more than how skilfully it was worded.
How long does it take to write a gratitude letter?
Not long. The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley suggests budgeting about 10 minutes to write one, and one of the 2018 researchers noted that such letters take only a couple of minutes to compose.
When was the first Christmas card sent?
The V&A credits its founding director, Henry Cole, with sending the first Christmas card in 1843. He had a thousand copies printed from a design by the artist John Callcott Horsley, and sold them for a shilling each.
Can I recycle greeting cards?
Plain paper cards usually can, but many councils, including West Sussex, say cards covered in glitter cannot be recycled and should go in general waste. Rules vary, so check your own council’s guidance.
Where the facts come from
Updated
- People underestimate the value of sending letters of appreciation (Kumar and Epley, 2018)University of Chicago
- Showing gratitude improves well-beingUniversity of Texas at Austin
- Gratitude Letter, with the 2005 Seligman et al. evidenceGreater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley
- The first Christmas cardVictoria and Albert Museum
- Gallery guide: Uniform Penny Postage and the Penny BlackThe Postal Museum
- Recycling greeting cards and wrappingWest Sussex County Council