When did Valentine's Day turn into Halloween?

[zakatak]

Oye! When I was in school (late late 70's ) we exchanged valentines. Period. Now, my kids are coming home with CANDY BAGS attached to the valentines! Uh Oh! I must have been the CHEAP Mom... no candy! My dd even had a card attached to a new Pez Candy thingie... must have cost at least $1.00. Spending $25.00 on the whole class???

Is this normal practice now? Should I start saving my money for this? We bought the Valentine's cards and she filled each one out. I brought in Juice for the party (exactly what I signed up for). She came home with a BAG of candy of which she didn't even LOOK at the cards! OYE! And that was just pre-school!

My 1st grader had the same thing, although, less candy. He brought home most of his treats from the party, so that made me more comfortable. Now I will have candy in the house until Easter! OYE!

So... exactly WHEN did Valentine's Day turn into Halloween (bags of candy)???

Thanks for the vent,
Karen

 

[Robinrs]

My son brought home a bag FULL of candy... and every year I have to end up throwing it away since he doesn't LIKE candy...

I got away with murder this year, my job has glass jars of candy that is ALWAYS around. The girl who buys it from Sams gave me a handful of tootsie roll pops which I taped to the valentines Michael gave away.

This year they also had little tags with their yearbook picture on them to give away. My son REFUSED to give his to anybody but got a couple of the cutest little girl pictures! He told me I could have them... men!

 

[POLLY ANN]

I hear ya, zakatak!

I bought the bulk valentine cards that my kids could sign their names to, and that's it.

I'm sure my dd5 will come home from kindegarten with a bunch of valentines with all sorts of suckers and chocolates attached. At least my ds4 did from preschool!

All I can say is: COMMERCIALISM!

 

[cgcw]

When DS8 was in kindergarten, I was one of the room mom's. Come holiday time, we would send out a note saying we'd be doing treat bags for the kids if anyone had any donations. At Christmas time, I had so much stuff that it wouldn't even fit into a normal size lunch bag. Each kid ended up getting a giant bag full of stuff -- almost the size of a grocery bag.

Fortunately, this has toned down a bit. I agree, the simple valentines are enough. I must look like the cheapie in our school because that's all we send for Valentine's day.

 

[Bunchkin]

My DD came home from preschool today with a large bag filled with Valentines and candy/cookies too. But she was more interested in the Valentines and which one came from which classmate. The candy/cookies still sit in the bag on the dinning room floor.

I have no problem with giving candy along with the Valentines. It's lots of fun for the kids and the cost for a bag of Valentine candy (we bought SweetTart hearts) is minimal. My DD enjoyed writing everyone's names on thier Valentine and then attaching them to a piece of candy.

And she brought home WAY more candy on Halloween!!

 

[Beanie]

I went to Andrew's party this afternoon and he had a bag of candy to take home! Not to mention all the cookies, cupcakes, fudge, lollipops and pretzels he had on a plate to take with him as well! Most of the Valentines he received were attached to some sort of Candy!

Andrew got way more candy at Halloween though!

 

[CamColt]

I agree! DS's class mother assigns each parent something for a specific party(ie, I have paper goods for the end of the year party). Only 3 are supposed to have goodies. They do this specifically so the kids dont get tons of food for each party. Well, today he came home with Hershey Hugs(my favorite...not good!), Kisses, cupcakes, fudge, cookies(3 different kinds) conversations hearts, and miscellaneous chocolate hearts. Then theres the lollipops...at least 15!!!!
I guess Im a cheap mom too since we just did valentines.

 

[Mermaid02]

Another Mom not happy to see oodles of candy come home today. My son has a ton of cavities I have to have filled- last thing we need is a boat load of sugar!

 

[disneychrista]

Originally posted by POLLY ANN
All I can say is: COMMERCIALISM!

Funny, isn't that what Valentines day has been from the start? It is, by the way, a "Hallmark Holiday." Just like Mother's day and Father's day and all those other "day's" invented for the sole purpose of selling greeting cards.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

My daughter came home with a bunch of stuff too. Part of it is what the school sells. Each year the 5th grade has fundraisers for class trips. One of the things they do is sell lollipops for Valentine's Day. You can send them for $1 each. We sent two to our older dd (with one being for her and one for the younger one who is not yet in school.) She also sent two to friends of hers. She got the two we sent plus three others from classmates.

What I did this year was Blockbuster Video sold books of 10 Valentines, each with a coupon for a free children's movie rental. The book sold for $1.99 which went to the Children's Miracle Network. We gave those out. My dd told me that the kids in her class really liked the Valentines and I was happy that I didn't give candy and that I made a donation to a charity.

 

[zakatak]

That's was a great idea, Beth!

I'll keep that in mind for next year...

Karen

 

[Fire14]

What I did for nephews class was lil vday treat bags. I got everything from oriental trading company. I got cute erasers, Slinkys, Pencils. THERE was NO CANDY!!!

 

[nicurn]

we did the blockbuster movie gift cards as well. (we definently had the coolest cards in the class. ) kate came home with a bunch of lollypops, just a little chocolate and the party stuff they did as activities. maggie

 

[KimRaye]

Halloween!! That's exactly what I asked! DD brought home from PRESCHOOL, TOTAL 11 KIDS, 3 bags of assorted candy, chocolate, suckers and valentines. One valentine & sucker even taped to a coloring book! DD brought valentines and heart-shaped suckers, that's it!

 

[JohnTBap]

Originally posted by disneychrista
Funny, isn't that what Valentines day has been from the start? It is, by the way, a "Hallmark Holiday." Just like Mother's day and Father's day and all those other "day's" invented for the sole purpose of selling greeting cards.

Hallmark did not create the Feast Day of St. Valentine. The Roman Catholic Church did.

 

[Buckalew]

Hunter took a 'Rocketpower' valentine card for each child plus bananas for the party. Some people go overboard. I'm not one of them. We get enough candy and junk at school. What a waste.

 

[disneychrista]

Originally posted by JohnTBap
Hallmark did not create the Feast Day of St. Valentine. The Roman Catholic Church did.

But who turned it into what it is today? I am sure the Church didn't encourage children to pass out card to their classmates and load up on sugar. (I could be wrong but...)

 

[JohnTBap]

I beg your pardon. You stated

invented for the sole purpose of selling greeting cards.

It was not.

 

[Bunchkin]

I'm thinking at this point that there may be some parents who let thier children consume most if not all of the treats they bring home. Regarless of the fact that what they bring home may or may not be an over abundance of treats, isn't it still up to the parents to limit what they eat and either dispose of the rest or give to others. Especially if there are those who are going to blame these treats for the child getting cavities??

In our home our DD never eats a treat or snack without asking first. NEVER.
We set limits in our home for our DD on treats and snacks made with sugar and pop. It works for us because this is how it's always been.

So even if our children do bring too many treats home from school, it still up to us PARENTS to limit what they eat.

 

[disneychrista]

Originally posted by JohnTBap
I beg your pardon. You stated....

you are correct that is what I stated, maybe I should reword it to say, Valentines Day, as we know it today was created for the purpose of selling greating cards.....