The most unexpectedly helpful baby shower gift that won't cost you a cent.

Baby showers are often full of undeniably helpful gifts, like nappies, blankets, onesies that are ridiculously cute, and thoughtful books.

But Slate’s Laura Turner this week suggested an additional present we’d never thought of – and it won’t cost you a cent.

“At my baby shower,” Turner recounts, “one of the guests piped up just before I started opening presents.”

“‘Can we give you the gift of no thank-you notes?’ she asked. A hush fell over the room.

“Then the whispers – what an idea! What a great idea!”

Turner was sure to look every person in the eye and sincerely thank them as she opened their gift.

Do we need to officially get rid of thank you notes? Post continues below. 

“The sentiment of gratitude remained,” Turner writes. “The hours of cramped writing and endless guilt over acceptable time frames did not.”

Thank you notes have long been considered women’s work, an enormous amount of labour that lingers well after an event like a baby shower, engagement party, wedding, birthday party or funeral.

They are, of course, enormously thoughtful, but are they truly worth the money, the effort, the stress and the time it takes someone to send them out?

In a world where we are more connected than ever before, surely a text message or a phone call would suffice.

All over the world, there are women in a state of perpetual stress, with unsent thank you notes hanging over their head. After a baby shower in particular, women are goddamn busy. 

There is so much to organise and consider, and a soon-to-be-mum can really do without the social pressure of sending out 25 carefully crafted and thoughtful notes.

Perhaps ditching thank you cards will make us, as was the case with Turner, more thankful in the moment. Perhaps they will alleviate women of the guilt they feel after a myriad of social events. And maybe we’ll find the world continues to spin without them.

So, along with the baby essentials, let’s give other women the gift of no thank you cards. Even without the sentiment, we all know it means a lot to a host when we attend an event.

On behalf of every organiser of a baby shower, engagement, wedding, birthday party and funeral, past, present and future: Thank you.