Between schools my two kids have attended and ones I have worked at, six out of the six elementary schools have all had Valentine's celebrations. Some schools do put out requests to have healthier treats, but all had celebrations for Valentine's Day.

Halloween is a rare one. More schools have not celebrated than celebrated in our experience, and I think it's for two reasons: first, a lot of families in our area do not celebrate for religious/cultural reasons; and second, it leaves out kids who don't have a big costume to wear to school or a parent who can come to the school parade. Two of the six schools on our list have had Halloween parties/parades, and all the rest have done fall themed parties instead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow this makes me sad how many schools don’t celebrate. Our ES goes all out. Every class has a valentines party organized by the room parents for an hour at the end of the day. They exchange valentines earlier in the day and then the party is food (yes candy and sugar) and games and crafts. The fifth graders have a huge grade wide party in the cafeteria with a DJ and games and drinks and food and prizes. We do the same for Halloween with a school wide parade all the parents attend. A few of the room moms coordinated it all. Childhood is short. Let them have these moments.

where are you getting this data that "many schools don't celebrate"? We've had kids in 3 different ES (due to immersion and local school/CES) and they all had some form of card exchange/treats/candy etc. for Valentine's day. Usually a party at the end of the day. The only "rule" is always that kids who bring cards make sure they have them for every student, so the room parents usually circulate a list of kids' names.

+1. My kid had a Valentine’s Day party in ES. Some people sound like they just want to complain without having any evidence of their complaint being widespread.

Anonymous wrote:Wow this makes me sad how many schools don’t celebrate. Our ES goes all out. Every class has a valentines party organized by the room parents for an hour at the end of the day. They exchange valentines earlier in the day and then the party is food (yes candy and sugar) and games and crafts. The fifth graders have a huge grade wide party in the cafeteria with a DJ and games and drinks and food and prizes. We do the same for Halloween with a school wide parade all the parents attend. A few of the room moms coordinated it all. Childhood is short. Let them have these moments.

where are you getting this data that "many schools don't celebrate"? We've had kids in 3 different ES (due to immersion and local school/CES) and they all had some form of card exchange/treats/candy etc. for Valentine's day. Usually a party at the end of the day. The only "rule" is always that kids who bring cards make sure they have them for every student, so the room parents usually circulate a list of kids' names.

I teach in a different district but I wish we could go back to simple card exchanges. Ours is now kids bringing in full-on goodie bags and cupcakes, candy, cookies, etc. It’s waaaaay too much but the parents complain if they we try to scale back and admin says to let them bring in what they want.

Anonymous wrote:Ours does not and it really annoys me. No classroom parties. No snacks or candy allowed. Just a card exchange and some will still decorate boxes or bags for cards collection. Kind of a bummer. Are we the only one?

That’s all we did in ES. What’s the issue?

Wow this makes me sad how many schools don’t celebrate. Our ES goes all out. Every class has a valentines party organized by the room parents for an hour at the end of the day. They exchange valentines earlier in the day and then the party is food (yes candy and sugar) and games and crafts. The fifth graders have a huge grade wide party in the cafeteria with a DJ and games and drinks and food and prizes. We do the same for Halloween with a school wide parade all the parents attend. A few of the room moms coordinated it all. Childhood is short. Let them have these moments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rosemary Hills celebrates Valentine’s Day but not Halloween.

You can thank the former CCES principal for that one. She insisted that the cluster couldn't celebrate Halloween. The RHES principal was new and agreed to it, and now there's no going back.

There are a significant number of families that have major religious objections to Halloween, so I think it's appropriate not to force those kids into it. Our school has an alternative celebration for those kids in the gym while the other kids are having Halloween parties, which feels like a good balance to me.

Lakewood celebrates Valentine's Day and Halloween. The parties last about an hour at the end of the day. The kids came home so happy. Our principal seems to love holidays/themes.

Anonymous wrote:Rosemary Hills celebrates Valentine’s Day but not Halloween.

You can thank the former CCES principal for that one. She insisted that the cluster couldn't celebrate Halloween. The RHES principal was new and agreed to it, and now there's no going back.

Anonymous wrote:Do you still buy cheesy valentine's day cards for your kid to give each classmate?

Yup.

Anonymous wrote:Outdated party? Has it evolved to something else?

Like what? The Friday before President's Day Party? Not at my kid's school. It's a Valentine's Day party.

Outdated party? Has it evolved to something else?

ours does. room parents were asked to organize a party for one hour (no snacks allowed).

It was a shift to an overly politically correct culture.

Majority of families want their kids to "celebrate" Valentine's day or kindness day or whatever term is "proper" these days. The few that rather not have their kid participate can ask kid's teacher (or if you have an approachable counselor or school administration team) for an alternative space or activity for their kid during any classroom celebration. There will be a few students from each class who choose to opt out. Some on this board mentioned their school uses the media center (school library) during fall festival for students who don't participate.

Ours for the first time actually used the term Valentine’s Day. I don’t understand why using American holiday names are on a black list.