Manic Monday: Candy ... It's THAT Big

When I was in school, Valentine's Day was a day of passing out Valentines. We had a small party to look at them all, while eating a cupcake (1) and maybe a small cup of Kool-Aid. We had homemade Valentines included with some store-bought ones and it was a special treat if someone's had candy included.

I remember one year, sitting with my sisters at the table, cutting hearts out of construction paper and trying to come up with something clever to write on them...nothing too gushy for the boys, nothing too boring for the girls. We had a bag or two of conversation hearts between us all to tape onto the hearts. (That made me laugh just typing it...the image that it brought back was too fun.)

Now that my children are in school, it's truly a whole new holiday. I think almost every parent sends some kind of dessert in for the party...cupcakes with pink frosting, red frosting, white frosting with pink hearts, various cookies, mostly the cutout kind, a juice box, a sunny delight, thankfully, at Allie's party a parent also sends in a fruit tray and another sends a veggie tray. I have to be honest and say that the fruits and veggies get eaten, while the extra cookies and cupcakes get thrown in the garbage.

The mom that was helping to coordinate the party called me Thursday afternoon to say that even though I had signed up to help, most of the things were taken care of. She had made a treat bag (a lunch sack sized bag filled with coloring books, stencils, tattoos, pencils, and candy of course). The fruit and veggie tray had been taken care of, as well as cupcakes and juice. She mentioned that no one has signed up for cookies, so if I wanted, I could bring those. I tried to be polite on the phone, but actually laughed out loud when I hung up. There was really NO way that I was going to waste time or money on cookies when they had so much, and when I was almost positive that they would get them anyway.

Allie confirmed that they had two cookies, two cupcakes, juice box, vegetables, fruit, and candy.

Something new since we moved here, is the insane amount of importance this area places on Valentine's Day. I'm relatively certain that the grocery store here in town will be open today, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they closed up a little early.

It's that big.

Last year, we moved here just before Valentine's Day, so the complete craziness of it took us by surprise. My children insisted that everyone in school got balloons, bouquets, stuffed animals, gifts from friends, gifts from boyfriends and girlfriends, gifts from crushes, and single roses. Uh...what? Serious craziness.

It's That Big.

After seeing how much money and energy went into the gifts, flowers, balloons, and homecoming corsages, yes, even for middle-schoolers, I should not have been as shocked at the balloon turnout for Valentine's Day. I think that our little town is single-handedly keeping the latex company in business.

It's THAT Big.

Alex was such a sweetheart and sent his sisters flowers. They sold them through the middle school, and would deliver them to any of the schools in the city. Allie and Aimee were thrilled with theirs. Allie said she was the only one who got a flower in her class. BUT, she was also the only one who didn't get balloons. THE ONLY ONE! Driving to pick up the middle-schoolers was an out of this world experience. The whole front of the school looked like a pink explosion. Every child outside of that school had a balloon bouquet, and many had flowers as well. There were more over-sized stuffed animals than I thought could exist outside NYC's ToysRUs. I'm really not exaggerating.

It's THAT BIG.

I was a little relieved to see that, as I drove to the back of the school to pick up Alex, where the Athletics building is located, there were no balloons back there. I commented to Alex about what a difference it was to compare the front of the school to the back, and how at least people didn't go so overboard that they showered the 8th grade boys with balloons. I was wrong. They all HAD balloons; they had already sucked all the helium out of them.

I really wish I had taken a picture of the front of the school on my way past, because by the time I wrapped around to get Aimee (flow of traffic and all) it had dispersed to a more acceptable size. Once again I was told that my children were the ONLY ones who didn't get balloons and flowers. In most instances, it's obvious when children exaggerate the "ONLY", but in this case, I don't think they were stating anything but fact. (oh, look, picture proof that they aren't the ONLY ones...unless this girl sucked all the helium out too.)

IT'S THAT BIG.

Unfortunately, our children will continue to be the only ones without bouquets because I think it is INSANITY and refuse to join in.

That's just not what Valentine's Day is about. Just my opinion. Is it this crazy everywhere?