Thursday, February 14, 2008

Candy Day

My sister-in-law, in an attempt to get Valentine’s Day cards for her son to take to Kindergarten, was looking for the old-fashioned kind of cards. You know, like we used to give . . . that come with envelopes.

She said she looked everywhere, with no luck.

So, last weekend as I was browsing the candy aisle at Wal-Mart (oh how I hate to shop there now that SuperTarget is so close to my house. Yay for the new SuperTarget!) I noticed a package of Valentine cards that included candy and envelopes.

Naturally, I called my sister-in-law to let her in on my discovery.

“Well, that would take care of everything wouldn’t it?” she commented.

Right.

Somewhere in my pregnancy haze I’d forgotten that you can no longer simply give the card, as was the common practice when I was a kid. No. You must also give candy.

Hence the need for cards with envelopes. Which they seldom make anymore.

Crap. I had the cards covered. I stocked up on several choices after Valentines Day last year in hopes that my kids could just pick from my stash that were a mere 10 cents a box. (My husband loves that I stock up and turn our basement into a warehouse…or not.)

I had not thought of the candy aspect.

By the time we’d gotten to that point in the conversation I’d moved on to the clearance aisle, you know, to check for things I might need to stock up on. So, I wheeled the cart around and went back to the candy aisle for some suckers to tape to the stupid Valentines that don’t come with envelopes.

Of course when my daughter was filling out her Valentines for school I realized that I didn’t buy enough candy to put on the Valentines for my son to take to preschool.

It’s a good thing that I end up going to Target at least 3 times a week. (My husband loves that too.)

But really, why isn’t it enough anymore to just give the card? I remember being thrilled to get all those little cards. Well, until I got them home. Then what do you do with them?

Wow. This holiday really bites.

Happy Valentine’s Day from the cranky pregnant lady.

3 comments:

Angi said...

I always do only cards. I figure that they get enough candy, or maybe I am just a slacker. This year I did not even make/take treats for the classes, AND I am not even going ot the parties *gasp*

And it feels good.

Well, until this afternoon when I make myself think I should have gone....

Lulu said...

What gets me are the Valentine Classroom Kits complete with cards, envelopes, candy, and tatoos. Does anybody doubt that Valentine's Day has morphed into a cash cow.

I found you guys courtesy of the bloggy giveaways and have enjoyed lurking about ever since. Please come by my blog and pick up a little something I've left for the three of you!

Anonymous said...

*snort*

When I taught, I had a love/hate thing with this holiday. On the one hand -- I usually got some GOOD chocolate from my students, and I got to have cute little parties with academic stuff tied in to the Valentine-y hoopla. On the other hand, it made for total sugar-high chaos, and I always felt bad for the kids who didn't want to - or couldn't afford to - do the same over-the-top exchanges that some of their classmates did.

I'm all for a card-only rule at school! :-)

And I'll tell you one more thing - I'm really not looking forward to Smooch's first Valentine's Day at school!