The remaining holiday sale items were still on the shelves when Valentine’s Day cards and gifts made their way into the stores. Creeping their way in were spring and Easter decorations. This is all too fast for me, who still is putting away the last of my favorite Christmas holiday things.
When I was a child, Valentine’s Day was always fun, and back then we made our own Valentine’s. I would assemble red and pink construction paper with paper doilies, using glue — usually the stick-to-you white paste in a jar glue. Thank goodness now for glue sticks; they certainly make things easier.
The creativity continued by decorating a shoe box to hold all the Valentines we would receive. We did not have to give a Valentine to everyone in the class, which sometimes meant hurt feelings. At some point, someone decided you had to give one to everyone, like them or not.
When I was teaching, I tried the shoebox route as a Valentine receptacle that would double as an art project. As fate would have it, not everyone had a shoebox which led me to Plan B. I went to the bakery and purchased white bakery bags for the children to decorate — good idea Mrs. Kosey.
The fun of children exchanging Valentines has certainly changed. No longer are the cards homemade and you can choose from ones decorated with every theme you can imagine from cartoons to animals to super heroes.
One thing I’ve noticed is that there never seems to be enough cards one a package for an entire class, which means you must purchase at least one more box. You can even purchase something to collect the cards in, so no more hand-decorated shoe boxes or bags — no more fun.
Valentine’s Day candy has also changed. The one and only kid candy used to be the little sugar hearts with messages printed on them, and for adults there were always heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and chocolate roses. Those are still available, but now there is almost as big a candy selection as Halloween.
Valentine’s Day isn’t until Feb. 14, so there is plenty of time to pick out a card and maybe some candy for your favorite person or persons. Hearts to you, my faithful readers. Yes, an old-fashioned pun intended.
