Do I need to send a thank-you card to my coworkers?

We all celebrate each other’s birthday here. It’s a small office, and we get together for cake, and then everyone groups together to get the birthday person a small present.

A couple of times, one of the recipients has then mailed a thank you card to the office! From their home! But not everyone does it. So now I am torn.

I write thank you cards for gifts all the time. I just sent out a handful for my birthday. But it seems downright weird to mail one to the office. I’ve never given them a thank you card before. I thank them profusely in person, both for the party and the gift. I thought about writing one and bringing it in but that seems even weirder.

What say you? Should I just get over my weirdness and write one and drop it in the mail? To add an extra dimension of weirdness, it is I who opens the mail. So I should:

Mail a letter to the office
Get the letter
Open it
Distribute it

…? I genuinely don’t know what to do.

My rule of thumb is people who get thanked in person don’t get a thank you card. I definitely think, if you’re the one who does the mail anyway, there’s no point in actually mailing it in. I might just get a thank you card, write a short note of appreciation and leave it in the breakroom or wherever cards are usually left for people to see.

IIRC Miss Manners herself said that if someone is thanked in person, then no thank-you card is needed or expected.

Leaving a group card (unmailed, just brought in) in the break room or posted to the fridge or something is OK, if you want to do so.

I follow Miss Manners’ rule all the time. I know that’s what she said - people whom you thank in person need not get a card. I think I will give it a miss - it will come off as weird to my coworkers, too.

This.

Do they just tack the card onto a staff bulletin board? If so, I’d write a note and put it up myself. It takes 30 seconds and makes people feel appreciated.

No, when they get a card they pass it around and then throw it away. I’m not 100% sure if they even read it.

No one sticks it up anywhere. We don’t even have a staff bulletin board. We have a fridge. I could put it on the fridge. But again, no one else does.

ETA: Our office is really too small to need a staff bulletin board. When we need to make an announcement, we either use e-mail or bellow down the hallway.

Sincerely thank everyone for their generosity and time and call it a day.

You can’t just send out an email to the group saying “Hey Everyone - Thanks again for helping to make my birthday so special. It’s great to work with such a nice group of people!” ?