Earlier today I'm out and about with my kids and I see the hubbub of activities around. There are a lot of people out shopping, lots of Valentine's Day activities and stuff in the stores. people passing me with big balloons in their vehicles, some cars dressed up in ribbons and have hearts are sprayed on words..even I'm dressed in red (a red shirt), how do we get suckered into these types of things?
There was a time when our holidays used to be sacred, when I say sacred I mean we celebrated it because we were doing it in memory of something, or someone, it was for a specific reason and most times, there were motable and moving events tied to these celebrations. In our society today, these holidays have become fodder for the retail empire!
Look at Christmas, look at Memorial day, Veterans day, and yes, Valentine's day is part of the retail machinations!
Buy your chocolates, balloons, jewellery, cards, everything, just because of this special day. You do it or you're not really celebrating! You feel left out, weird, your kids look at you as if something is wrong? (mine don't but I'm just saying)!
We reallly don't make a fuss about Valentine's day. Never did really. If my hubby wants to, he'll get me a card, I will if I feel like it. I'll do something for the kids class because they do something with their class for every holiday. Now that Adam is in high school, it's just for Amanda. This year Amanda's teacher sent a note that no one is obligated to do anything but if they so choose, it will have to be done for the entire class, which is fine and I wouldn't expect anything less, but for her to send that note, possibly some parent messed up at some point (some other holiday?), and she wanted the kids to make their own cards instead of store bought. I thought that was a fantastic idea, so I went out and bought her the cardstock for this to happen. And some glitter glue, she sat and used her creativity to make these cards and we were both proud of her efforts! I also attached lollipops left over from Holloween, (yes, another one of those celebrations...even I get suckered in...sigh) and walla...she was set!
While it's great for our children to find their creative sides, it isn't fun when these sales are pushed at you, and the pressure is on for the guy or girl to do something to show how much they do love their other half! I guess it's OK if you don't mind, because after all, we are so used to it now, these retail sales have become the norm. But good grief, sometimes it's a bit over done!
I know we can look on it from the point of view of the retailer, that's the way they recoup some of their sales losses and meet some of their goals. Especially in this economy, every bit goes a long way!