Anonymous wrote:Preschool mom here... My DD actually got a heart shaped box of chocolates. I was stunned. Unfortunately, it had to go in the trash because of nuts. A shame.

What? How mean! You couldn't think of anything better to do with a nice box of chocolates? Like make someone's day brighter?
Giving them to your housekeeper, cleaning lady, babysitter, colleague,postal or UPS person, teacher....etc. etc. etc.?
Really? All you could think of is to throw a perfectly nice box of chocolates into the trash?

The AAP classroom got a box full of valentines which included 3 stuffed animals, full sized candy bars, this amazing origami swan, a candle in a box, etc. The regular classroom got store bought cards from about half the class.

Hope that the over-the-top Moms are not permitted to be Room Moms. Teachers, please take notice.

I bought my K-er a box of $3 Valentines from the Target dollar spot. But there were exactly 16 in the box and she needed 16 and messed a couple up. LUCKILY, the McDonald's Happy Meal we happened to pick up one night had Pete the Cat Valentines in it so we just raided those to make up the difference. School said no candy or treats and I fist pumped because I didn't have to buy something else.

I am no Arlington Pinterest mom, in case it wasn't clear.

Preschool mom here... My DD actually got a heart shaped box of chocolates. I was stunned. Unfortunately, it had to go in the trash because of nuts. A shame.

Arlington preschool mom here. This year I bought some blank white cards at Michaels and few colored ink pads. DD stamped hearts in all of them and signed them. Trust me when I say they were not fancy in the least (especially since I told the nanny not to sweat it and let our 4 yr old daughter do them herself). Nanny helped tape lollipops on the back. Kids only care about the candy and it was a fun craft project for her to do while her younger brother was napping.

Most of the valentines she received either had some kind of candy or sticker on them. She got a few gift bags as well. DD was very excited to receive all of it, although they pretty much remain unopened in the paper bag she brought them home in.

Last year we got store bought valentines that peel off into stickers and I signed her name.

Anonymous wrote:picture of a hand holding real candy. hard to explain but impressive.

http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2015/02/diy-photobooth-valentines-you-still.html?m=1

I think that if you're into the crafts it's a pretty easy one to do but if you're not into crafts ( got that autocorrected to crap ) then store bought is definitely the way to go

Anonymous wrote:We are in APS 1st grade and while every card had a treat (stickers, tattoos, eraser, candy), most of the cards were the small Target-like Valentine's. Ours, too. NBD.

Ours were Walgreen's ... and my 3nd and 4th grade boys addressed them--classmate's name and their name with a taped piece of candy. I am proud they did that bit themselves. I noticed the 4th grade girls were much more elaborate than the 4th grade boys. I loved reading their hand-written notes... totally lost on my son, but not mom!! Very sweet.

We're at an elementary school with high avg family income - my third grader had maybe 2/3 store bought cards, almost 1/3 of the homemade construction paper heart variety, and 1 really fancy pinterest project. I figured that (a) that kid likes to make things like that and (b) the parents were already stocked with supplies and looking for some kind of activity during the week of snow closures

FWIW, the issue at our school is that the teachers "prefer" no candy. Several people ignored that, but all the characters my son wanted came with candy and he's too much of a rule-follower (to an extreme) to be ok with not doing something "preferred". So we had to find a character he liked with no candy. Not really hard, just something else to add to the process...

Uh no, I'm not into crafts. I've even purchased them at *gasp* the dollar store. We are in Vienna and my children came home with mixed bags of fancy and simple.

Anonymous wrote:Arlington

Eh, we're in Arlington and most of the valentines my kids bring home (and the ones we send in) are the simple drugstore cards. Occasionally there are some kid-made cutout hearts and one kid's mom is a professional artist so those are always beautiful (but not elaborate).