Present                                                                Date of
received                                  Sender’s         Where        thanks
date     Article      Sent by             Address          Bought       written
May 20   Silver Dish  Mr. and Mrs. White  1 Elinore Place  Tiffany’s    May 20
May 21   12 Plates    Mr. and Mrs. Green  2 North Street   Collamore’s  May 21

All gifts as they arrive should be put in a certain room, or part of a room, and never moved away until the description is carefully entered.  It will be found a great help to put down the addresses of donors as well as their names so that the bride may not have to waste an unnecessary moment of the overcrowded time which must be spent at her desk.

=THE BRIDE’S THANKS=

The bride who is happy in receiving a great number of presents spends every spare moment in writing her notes of thanks, which must always be written by her personally.  Telephoning won’t do at all, and neither will a verbal “Thank you so much,” as she meets people here and there.  She must write a separate letter for each present—­a by no means small undertaking!  A bride of this year whose presents, because of her family’s great prominence, ran far into the hundreds, never went to bed a single night before her wedding until a note of thanks was checked against every present received that day.  To those who offered to help her through her overwhelming task, she, who is supposed to be very spoiled, answered:  “If people are kind enough to go out and buy a present for me, I think the least I can do is to write at once and thank them.”  That her effort was appreciated was evident by everyone’s commenting on her prompt and charming notes.

Notes of thanks can be very short, but they should be written with as little delay as possible.  When a present is sent by a married couple, the bride writes to the wife and thanks both:  “Thank you for the lovely present you and Mr. Jones sent me.”

=ARRANGING THE PRESENTS=

Not so much in an effort to parade her possessions as to do justice to the kindness of the many people who have sent them, a bride should show her appreciation of their gifts by placing each one in the position of greatest advantage.  Naturally, all people’s tastes are not equally pleasing to the taste of the bride—­nor are all pocketbooks equally filled.  Very valuable presents are better put in close contrast with others of like quality—­or others entirely different in character.  Colors should be carefully grouped.  Two presents, both lovely in themselves, can be made completely destructive to each other if the colors are allowed to clash.