Thanking letter of recommendation writers during COVID

[HopefulFuture666]

Hi all! I applied to graduate schools programs last fall (and luckily will be starting a program this fall). I have held off on giving an update to 2 of my 3 LOR writers (for way too long!) because I wanted to send them a handwritten note along with a small gift, but I'm not sure if they're back in their offices or working remotely from home. I don't want to mail handprinted letters if they won't be seen for months, but I don't feel like thanking them via email is good enough because of all of the time they put into their letters!

I know it's a little late to be sending something. I did send them long emails shortly after they sent out their letters thanking them for writing the letters. 

Thanks in advance ?

[SoundofSilence]

Hello there,

Congrats on the new program! 

I was in your shoes some time ago (wanting to thank a letter writer with a small gift instead of just an email). First of all, it is not too late at all! Given that you already thanked them after they sent in their letters, I would just send a short message mentioning just this - that you want to send along a small personal gift and you'd like to know where to mail it - they will give you an address that they prefer (whether office or home). That's what I did - asked the person where to send it, they gave me an address and they contacted me to say they really enjoyed the gift.

It seems like you are overthinking this, but there's no reason to - they will most probably appreciate your gesture/gift and it might be a good way to resume contact and stay in touch long term if that's what you want.

Best of luck!