That was the standard operation at Pilot Mountain School. The teachers selected Christmas and Valentine's Day for their parties, and then squeezed in an end of year picnic. With only two parties, they really went all out in a grand sort of way. Valentine's was the relaxing one, not the hurry up it's time for Christmas break stressing one.
The room mothers arrived on cue with the cupcakes and juice. Nothing more. That was enough. The children exchanged cards for the party entertainment.
Some classes had a centralized box of Valentines, one huge cardboard box covered in white construction paper and decorated with red crepe paper streamers. The week of the party, the children brought carefully addressed envelopes and slid them one at a time in the slot at the top. They traveled from class to class to deliver a few Valentines in every box.
Other classes had individual folders, white construction paper folded in half, red and pink hearts glued for decoration with the child's name across the front. In red, of course.
The "postman" opened the box and started delivering the Valentines. That was the slow, spend a lot of time, enjoy each Valentine as it arrived method. Woe to the person who forgot to put names on the envelopes.
The much quicker method was the individual folder, invented no doubt by a teacher who wanted to get it over with. Everyone opens Valentines at the same time.
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| Image courtesy VintageHolidayCrafts.com |
No Dora the Explorer cards. No T-Rex cards. No princess or pirate cards, either. Maybe a Superman card or two. Mostly pictures on the cards were smiling children telling the reader how much they cared in silly "Be Mine" ways. Life was simple then.
Gretchen
Yes, life was simple and so memorable. Thanks for rekindling the memories of childhood for me. I loved giving out valentines to my friends back then and to the ones I had a 'puppy love' crush to (even though they didn't know it). Thanks again for another great memory! ~Vanessa
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