I cannot stress enough the importance of childhood valentines. Every year my mom would suggest, “Just write your name on all the cards and drop them in the boxes at random.” But no… that was NOT part of the fun.
What if you accidentally gave your friend an ugly valentine? What if you gave the boy with cooties a flirtatious valentine? No… my puppy and kitten cards had to VERY CAREFULLY be chosen and labeled.
The cutest pictures went to my best friends, while the ugly ones went to the boys in our class. (They wouldn’t care about anything but the candy anyway.) You could also see how much your friends liked you by how cute your cards were. It was a big part of our social development. It showed us our placement in the hierarchy. (We were a small school of less than 100 students. Everyone was friends with everyone.)
Decorating our boxes and handing out Valentines was the best part of February from Kindergarten – fifth grade.
Redheaded Jill 
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