Creaky old voice: When I was a little girl, we celebrated Valentine's Day at school by:
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| Guilderland Elementary School |
No, I don't have a lot of connection to my old hometown having moved away when I was twenty-two. I don't return very often. I also left High School a year early and lost touch with any one I went to school with. Until a few weeks ago, that is. I was surprised when, coincidentally, my old next door neighbor, who I probably hadn't seen since I was sixteen sent me an email on my blog. He was trying to track people down for a 35 year reunion. It's been great to reconnect online. I decided that the coincidence was too great not to ask people what they remember from our youthful classroom experiences together.
Now, really, I knew some of these kids from 1965 to 1976, then I was gone, Sayonnara, Outta here. This is the first time in 35 years I have wondered what I may have missed and how my life might have been richer if I had stayed in touch.
The first thing we all have memories of decorating boxes or envelopes that sat on the desk or hung over the edge.
Here's what some of us had to say:
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| http://vintageholidaycrafts.com |
Jim - I remember giving out cards and we had cake... i remember those heart shaped candies... with something written on it.... once i had a girl (don't remember who) give me one and i had the biggest crush on her cause she said ... secret friend HA
Jeanne - ... The valentines today make me laugh because most of them have a candy attached to them like a chocolate bar or small bag of candy. I remember ours in elementary school were either handmade or little tiny things that said "your nice" or "youuurrrr great" with a lion on it.
Rich- I know that there was usually one or two cute little girls that I wanted to receive a nice Valentine from and was happy when I did... but I'm not too sure I ever actually told them!
Kathy- Didn't we make our valentine holders out of construction paper? Like a big envelope? We had to decorate them with paper doilies, that we cut in to hearts, lol I remember decorating the card holder, with hearts and flowers, and we had to write our names on them and hang them on our desks. Then at some point the teacher had us all get up and deliver our valentines to each person's envelope taped to their desk. lolKathleen- The simple times in life.
Sylvia- Envelopes. I always took it to the next level & made these intricate snowflake designs out of the lace doilies in heart shapes!
June- I remember taping a homemade envelope onto the side of the desk. Also decorated, the top was open for ease of getting the cards into the envelope.
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| http://vintageholidaycrafts.com |
Olivia- is a friend I 'met' when we both volunteered to moderate a reader's forum for an author. We're about the same age but are from different parts of the country; yet our experiences sound similar:
...We always had a box, probably from the liquor store, covered in white or red paper and gaudily decorated with hearts and cupids, etc. You dropped your cards in there and then you waited and waited and waited for them to get distributed. Usually everybody put one in for everybody else in the class. I don't ever remember anyone NOT getting a whole bunch. One year when I was in second grade, probably, I took pains deciding who should get which one but then forgot to sign my name on them. When I went home and told my parents what I'd done, they said not to worry, everybody would think it was from a secret admirer and that made it more fun. Suuuure.
And from Sally -
I have a funny story about my daughter Arica and Valentines day. She was about 5 or 6 and we took her and her brother out of school for a weeks vacation to Disney World. We spent every waking second taking in the sights and experiencing all that Disney has to offer. One night, we put Cole (our son) and Arica in the day care at Disney so we could go to dinner with friends. All Arica had been wanting to do during that time was to make valentines day cards and was afraid she was missing out by being away from school. She was so excited when she saw that there was a table set up at the day care loaded with the little white and red doilies, colored paper, scissors, stickers, glue... When we finally went to pick her up late that night she was still up creating her valentines. Cole was fast asleep but they told us she had been at it ever since we had dropped her off! When she returned to school, with a pile of valentines in hand, she was asked to tell the teacher and the class a story about her Disney vacation. The teacher told me that all she talked about was how we had dropped her and Cole off at daycare and how she had made so many beautiful valentines. We sounded like "Parent's of the Year"!
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| Scan of a Valentine greeting card circa 1920. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
So, Be Mine, Sweet-heart!
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I use to love doing valentines day in school! We use to make the little boxes like empty kleenex boxes covered with paper and decorated that we would put the valentine cards to the class in and the class would go around and deliver their valentines to everyone. Such a fun day and to get out of doing school work ;)
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you have such good memories. Thanks for visiting.
DeleteI don't remember doing anything at all for S§t valentine at school but at teh same time in my country Carnival is more important so we do something for that and when it takes place around st valentine it could be too much^^;;
ReplyDeleteAs long as it's more for friendship it can be celebrate in school but i don't think it should be a priority
Thanks for sharing about Carnival. Sometimes our European friends do a Carnival party -- great fun!
DeleteWe still do the paper bags at work
ReplyDeleteThat's really fun. I hope you all like each other! Thank you for coming by.
DeleteWe each made mailboxes for our valentine's day cards.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the amazing giveaway!
elizabeth @ bookattict . com
Seems pretty universal - the mailbox or envelope. Thanks for coming by!
DeleteI remember doing a lot of fun things for Valentine's Day in grade school! It seemed like the appropriate thing to do was to get everyone in one's class a Valentine. It wasn't something just for a crush. In high school, it wasn't as much of a focus in the classroom, and it was directed more towards crushes. I think that's the way it should be. :)
ReplyDeleteThe pre-puberty versus post-puberty focus. Hormones change everything. Thanks for sharing! Steph
DeleteWe alwyas had fun on Valentine's Day. We gave cards to classmates.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you ad fun with the holiday. I was always angst ridden! Thanks Mary
DeleteWe always had parties at school with cards exchanged, everyone had to bring one for everyone else so no one was left out; and usually cupcakes, chips, drinks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the contest!
It's nice that no one was left out. I appreciate that you came by!
DeleteWe had a party every year and the parents came and brought goodies and played games with us. We also had to make decorated mailboxes for our Valentines :) Thanks for the chance to win!
ReplyDeleteI like that the parents came by for the holiday! That is so much nicer than having "a class mother." Thanks for commenting!
DeleteI LOVED Valentine's Day at school! It was mostly the making of what would be our "mailbox" that I enjoyed the most. My mother still has some of my early Valentine cards and I get a kick at the ones written in a parent's hand. Ah to be a kid again.
ReplyDeleteOh Jessica, I would love to see those cards! I bet they were cute. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteI remember being really excited to try and 'decode' the valentines that special boys sent me. Never mind the fact that they probably just slapped my name on a random valentine and didn't totally overanalyze it like most girls do. :)
ReplyDeleteI get what you mean! Thanks for coming by!
DeleteI went to elementary school in the late 1960's and this all sounds very familiar, especially the part about making a card for everyone in class and then dropping them all into a big bag. That must have been part of the elementary school teacher's handbook!
ReplyDeleteI was in school in the late 60s too. We were all so innocent then. Thanks for sharing the memories.
DeleteIn high school we had the option of filling out surveys and then it would match you with all the people in the school and celebrities who you would be most compatible with. That was always an interesting experience--finding out that guy you barely know is your #2 lol
ReplyDeleteThat is really different - your school must have had a very imaginative administration.Thanks for commenting - this would be fun at a club meeting for "older girls" like me.
DeleteThis is the group that did it. I guess it was a fundraiser, I didn`t really remember that part http://www.matchmake.com/canada/index.htm
DeleteI honestly don't remember if we had valentines parties at school. I know my 3rd grader simply trades valentines now, no party. She still likes it.
ReplyDeleteWe used to give those little valentine cards. But that was in grade school. After that it pretty much died out in school.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna S and Texas!
ReplyDelete