Responses from etiquette question
Remember this recent blog post on October 11th?
Never know what will come up next….Etiquette Question….
Your Question?/My Answer
Q: On the subject of children’s birthday parties. “ When it comes time to open the presents, there are always so many gifts that my elementary aged child just tears into them and we don’t know who gave him what. Is it ok to give a general thank you after all gifts are opened to all the kids and call it a day and go to play?
A: Some of the children at the party could have spent a lot of time figuring out exactly what your child might want and what to buy him/her. It really might cause hurt feelings if your child does not acknowledge the birthday gift. A better solution is to open the gifts one at a time and thank each child for the gift. It takes a little more time, but your child learns a lot by saying thank you and the gift-giver knows that his gift giving (and maybe package wrapping) efforts were appreciated.
A thank you note from your child is always appreciated.
There were several comments worth sharing about the subject of children’s birthday parties and thank you notes. Here they are…
Their answers:
Hilarie….
Dear Helen,
RE: Etiquette Question?
I am a certified etiquette consultant, a graduate of The Protocol School of Washington (DC), and I agree with your answer! Children can learn acknowledging and showing appreciation at an early age if given the opportunity. It might be nice for the parents to have a conversation prior to the party about how the process will work and how one behaves with all of the excitement of birthdays.
Best regards,
Hilarie H. Blaney, OKC
Carey Sue….
Helen,
You are spot-on with your answer!!!! I love it!!!
When we talk about thank-you notes in class, that is similar to the example I share with the kiddos….how long did it take to figure out what they were going to buy for your gift, they have to go out and purchase it, then wrap it. That takes quite a bit of time. How long does it take you to write a thank-you note??? Not near as much time, energy and effort as the person who gave you the gift! :-)
Carey Sue
Etiquette Expert and director for the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Chapters of The National League of Junior Cotillions and The International League of Corporate Cotillions.
Alan…from twitter
aherz @hfwallace Nice post http://tinyurl.com/ygwh4ek – You didn’t scold in the blog response as harshly as you did when asked in person.
Alan Herzberger, Digital Managing Editor
Etiquette Question?
Click here for Parties Extra! photo gallery
Teapot with flowers…girl’s birthday centerpiece from my files…
Never know what will come up next….Etiquette Question….
Here’s a new one: Your Question?/My Answer
Q: On the subject of children’s birthday parties. “ When it comes time to open the presents, there are always so many gifts that my elementary aged child just tears into them and we don’t know who gave him what. Is it ok to give a general thank you after all gifts are opened to all the kids and call it a day and go to play?
A: Some of the children at the party could have spent a lot of time figuring out exactly what your child might want and what to buy him/her. It really might cause hurt feelings if your child does not acknowledge the birthday gift. A better solution is to open the gifts one at a time and thank each child for the gift. It takes a little more time, but your child learns a lot by saying thank you and the gift-giver knows that his gift giving (and maybe package wrapping) efforts were appreciated.
A thank you note from your child is always appreciated.
Your thoughts?
With Thanks…..
There are excellent bosses, teachers, encouragers in the world.
If you are lucky in the work force, you will encounter one of them in your lifetime. Or maybe a couple of them…..or if you are really lucky, there will be many, many sincere people who say the right thing at the right time and make you feel better that day.
Just so you know where I am going with this….I love Alan Herzberger. He is the digital managing editor of NewsOk. He is an encourager. He makes you feel like you can do whatever you think you can do…..and usually you can. He has ideas. They are great ideas and people listen when he talks.
Here is what he said about me on his very popular blog:
An afternoon break with Helen Ford
Wallace, the trendsetter
Helen is a trendsetter here at OPUBCO Communications Group. And that’s no exaggeration. After getting to know her about five years ago, I gave her the “trendsetter” title much to her amusement.
I wasn’t amused. It’s the truth.
- It started with the blog.
- Then came the podcasts; she was the first to regularly bring in Oklahoma City’s heavy hitters to our podcast studios.
- Then came the niche publications; she was quick to participate and share her ideas for the OKC N Style magazine that we’ve produce over the past few years.
- Then came the videos. You can set your watch by her Parties Extra! video series. Every week, she delivers. Here’s the one from last week:
. - She’s made a career of being a hard worker and the ultimate ambassador for The Oklahoman (and now NewsOK.com and wimgo.com). And just to prove her trendsetter status, she was unafraid to shoot her own video and post to her blog I have a hunch we’ll see more of these posts in the future.And I have a hunch they will get better and better.”
-
After I read this, I cried. It made me feel like a new person. I was ready to re-tackle the world…..I wanted to write, edit, produce and do all those things he said I could do.
And for the record, he is one of the people who thought I would write a novel when I said I was going to. Here is what I said about him ( and others) in the credits of the novel that I just finished.
“Thanks to Alan Herzberger, Ford Sanger, Barbara Beeler, Lela Sullivan, Linda James, Lillie-Beth Brinkman, Bill Wallace, Bennett Brinkman, Lee-Ann Graham, Carole Kelley, Susan Sigmon for believing that a book was forthcoming.”
See, he is an encourager.
One other encourager that I know was my first boss… Joan Gilmore. At that time she was Women’s Editor of The Daily Oklahoman. I had just finished college.
I wrote feature stories for her. They were long ones at the time. Her editing style for my stories was that she did not change one word. They went into the newspaper just as I wrote them. In her eyes, they were perfect.
I became a better writer with that encouragement. If she thought that I could write, then I had better write.
And I was a public relations graduate.
My writing and my current production capabilities became much, much better with encouragement.
-
And that is… thanks to Alan Herzberger!!
Cecil’s 100th birthday from Parties Extra! on Vimeo.
