Notes are the write stuff
Local mom’s idea for thank-you cards works well for youngsters
‘Tis the season for thankyou notes.
But for many parents, enticing children to write notes to express their gratitude for gifts received can feel like a chore — an exercise in frustration on tiny cards with little space to write or draw.
Rather than delaying or discarding the idea of writing them, a mother of two, Ashley Campbell, came up with an idea. She took the blue-lined writing paper, ubiquitous in elementary school classrooms, and topped that off with a large blank space. She had them printed professionally and then pulled out the crayons and markers so card writing could be transformed into a fun art project, not holiday homework.
“I made cards because there was nothing on the market to accommodate the needs of elementary school kids,” Campbell said. “They have larger handwriting. And I was noticing with my kids they were running out of space and writing frustration would occur.”
After mailing out her children’s cards, the calls started coming.
“People were asking me, ‘where did you find these,’” Campbell said. “Other parents were feeling the exact same way. That’s how the business started.”
The business, established in 2017, is Coral & Blue Paper Company. Formed in Saratoga Springs, it’s named for the colors used to line the children’s writing paper. And it’s not just thank-you cards that Coral & Blue creates. Campbell has expanded the line to include topics like thinking of you, holiday, birthday, get well soon, and I’m sorry. There is also a line made specifically to thank a veteran for their service and one that sends “Greetings from Saratoga Springs.”
“I wanted to create cards where a whole range of emotions can be expressed through letter writing,” Campbell said. “They don’t have to be long and they don’t have to be perfect. If there are misspelled words, that’s OK. It’s the thought that counts.”
And though it is thank-you card season, with the day after Christmas designated as “National Thank-you Note Day,” Campbell believes that adults and children should practice gratitude on a regular basis. That’s why in her house, her family observes “thank-you note Thursdays” where they each write a thank-you note to someone who was recently helpful — a neighbor who brought in the trash can, for example.
“There is always someone to thank,” Campbell said. “Kids today need to know the value of gratitude and appreciating what they have.”
Campbell has thought a lot about that and the design of her Coral & Blue cards. Some are meant for boys, others girls. And as the child on the front of the card, sitting at a writing desk, is in colorful silhouette, race is a nonissue.
“It’s simple, classic and timeless,” Campbell said. “There is no skin color, no visible features and there is a curl in the ponytail of the girl. Anyone can use them.”
The cards, in a variety of colors, have done a lot more than inspire children to write cards. They have spawned card-writing workshops that Campbell leads. In them, she asks them what they are thankful for — their school, their bus driver who gives out candy, the stuffed animal from dad. The children then write as many cards as they like, with her children, now ages 12 and 14, teaching the young ones how to address envelopes and where to place the stamp.
Recently, she did a workshop at Palette Café where children wrote cards to health care workers dealing with the pandemic.
“We went an extra hour,” Campbell said. “They wanted to write multiple cards. We addressed them and put stamps on them and then we walked to the post office and dropped it in the mailbox. That’s exciting to them.”
And it’s not just Saratoga Springs where these cards are circulating. Recently, Campbell connected with a teacher in Burundi.
She said she was so impressed by his devotion to his students that she donated boxes of cards to him — with the “thank you very much” translated into Kirundi, the language spoken by millions in the African country.
Children from St. Pius Elementary Catholic School in Loudonville also recently wrote out Coral & Blue cards, sending out “thank you for your service” cards to those serving in Antarctica.
Campbell hopes the cards will inspire young card writers everywhere, because, she said it’s important to get away from the electronic devices, put pen to paper and instill a sense of gratitude in children.
“It’s really, really important because they end up being happier,” Campbell said. “Studies show if you express gratitude, your serotonin levels go up. For the next day or two, you will have an uptick in happiness.”