Making your cards
- Pick a design. Hearts puts a cluster of hearts above an italic heading, Botanical frames the words with two leafy sprigs, Bold type stacks them in large capitals, and Classic frame sets them in spaced capitals inside a frame with notched corners.
- Choose the words on the front, or type your own, such as With gratitude or Thank you, Coach.
- Choose a folded card or flat cards. The folded card is one sheet printed on one side, so it works on any home printer. Flat cards come 2 or 4 to a sheet and are cut out along the crop marks.
- Decide what goes inside, or on the back of flat cards: lines to write on, your typed message, or nothing. Add your name under From if you like, then pick the paper and a color and download the PDF.
A handwritten note feels the most personal, so the default is ruled lines. A typed message helps when the same thanks goes to many people, such as a team.
What to write in a thank-you card
Three or four sentences are enough. Name what you are thanking the person for, say what it meant to you or how you use it, and end with a warm line about the future. Details make a note feel personal. Some ideas to adapt:
- For a gift: "Thank you for the cozy blue blanket. It already lives on our sofa, and the kids fight over who gets it on movie night. It was so kind of you to think of us."
- For help: "Thank you for giving up your whole Saturday to help us move. We could never have carried the piano without you. Dinner is on us once the boxes are gone."
- For hospitality: "Thank you for having us for the weekend. The long walk by the lake and your famous pancakes were the highlight of our summer. We hope to return the favor soon."
- After a job interview: "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me on Tuesday about the office manager role. I enjoyed hearing about the new scheduling system, and our talk made me even more excited about joining your team."
For an interview note, keep it short and polite, spell the person's name and the job title correctly, and mention one thing you talked about so it is clear you listened.
When to send it
Send your thanks while the event is still fresh for both of you. As you open gifts, note who gave what, so you can write the cards in one sitting later. For a large event like a wedding, work through the list in small batches each evening.
After a job interview, timing matters more, because the decision may come quickly. A short email on the same day reaches the interviewer fastest, and a card in the mail can follow. A late thank-you is still better than none, so do not skip a card just because a few weeks have passed.
Printing on cardstock, folding and cutting
Print one sheet on plain paper first and check the spelling. The folded card is two layers thick, so plain paper or a light cardstock makes a sturdy card. For flat cards, use cardstock your printer takes (see its manual or the paper tray), pick a matching paper type in the print dialog, and feed thick sheets one at a time. Print at 100 % or actual size.
To fold the card, lay the sheet printed side up. Fold it in half from top to bottom so the upside-down half goes behind, with the print on the outside. Then fold it in half from left to right, with the front design on top. The small marks at the edges show where the folds go. On thicker paper, score each fold first: lay a ruler on the line and press along it with a dull point, such as an empty ballpoint pen, so the fold stays straight and does not crack.
For flat cards, the crop marks in the margins sit in line with every cut. Lay a ruler from one mark to the matching mark on the other side and cut with a craft knife on a cutting mat, or use a paper trimmer. If you prefer scissors, choose Dashed lines too and cut along the gray lines. Cards with a back print on two pages: print page 2 on the reverse of the same sheet, and try it on plain paper first so you know which way to turn the sheet.
More tools and templates
The QR code generator turns a link, a short text or a contact card into a QR code with your own colors and an optional frame with a caption such as Scan me, and saves it as a PNG or SVG file. Print a code that links to the photos from the party or the wedding on a small strip of paper and tuck it into each card.
The party invitation prints two or four invitations per sheet in four designs, with the date, the place, how to reply and an optional QR code, and cuts out the same way as the flat cards. The gift list tracks the gifts you give: who you buy for, a budget per person, what each gift cost, and tick boxes for bought, wrapped and given.
Frequently asked questions
Are the thank-you cards free?
Yes. Print as many as you need, after a birthday, a wedding, a move or a job interview. There is no signup and no watermark. One small line names our website: on the back of the folded card, and in the margin of the sheet for flat cards, where it is cut off.
Why is half of the folded card upside down?
The folded card is a quarter-fold card: one sheet, printed on one side, folded twice. Fold the sheet in half from top to bottom with the print outside, so the upside-down half goes behind. Then fold it in half from left to right with the front design on top. The upside-down part is now the inside, the right way up, and the small footer line ends up on the back.
How do I print the backs of flat cards?
With Lines to write on or Your message, the PDF has two pages: the fronts on page 1 and the backs on page 2, in the same places on the sheet. Print both pages two-sided, or print page 1, put the sheet back in the tray and print page 2 on the other side. Try it once on plain paper and hold the sheet up to the light. If the backs come out upside down, switch between flipping on the long and the short edge, or turn the sheet around in the tray.
How big are the cards?
The folded card is 4.25 x 5.5 in (108 x 140 mm) on US Letter and 105 x 148 mm (A6) on A4. Flat cards are 5 x 7 in (127 x 178 mm) with 2 per page, and 3.75 x 5 in (95 x 127 mm) on US Letter or 90 x 127 mm on A4 with 4 per page. Measure your envelopes before you print, and pick envelopes a little larger than the card.
Which paper should I use?
The folded card is two layers thick, so plain printer paper or a light cardstock already makes a sturdy card. Heavy cardstock gets bulky and can crack at the second fold. Flat cards are a single layer and look best on cardstock. Check the heaviest paper your printer takes in its manual or on the paper tray, and print at 100 % or actual size.
Why are some characters missing from my text?
The PDF uses the standard Helvetica and Times fonts, which cover English and most Western European letters, but no emoji and no other scripts such as Greek, Cyrillic or Chinese. Those characters are left out, a few rare accented letters lose the accent, and a note under the fields tells you when that happens. The preview shows the text exactly as it will print.