Valentines Day Greetings

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

I love the old Valentines. The colors are so beautiful, and the drawings dear and the messages heartfelt.

I keep a bulletin board of old Valentines up all year long beside my desk. They are so perky and cheerful and full of inspiration to me. They are mostly from the 1930's and 1940's. 

 There are a few older ones, that are full of grace and charm and are extraordinary. This card has 3 fold-outs and a base to stand up on.There are roses, forget-me-knots and lilly of the valley. It is almost 4-D. I love this Valentine.

My mother-in-law has kept her school days Valentines all these years. She says she and her younger sister used to play with them on rainy or sick days. She still gets them out and remembers...

In my school days of the 1950's and 1960's, the Valentines had lost so much. So much meaning, so much color, so much size. We were required to bring one for everyone in our class, and so Valentines were sold in boxes cheaply for people to afford. That explains a lot.

 In the days of my 3 daughters growing up, Valentines were even smaller and almost meaningless. The girls gave Valentines with Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, My Little Pony or Precious Moments on them (just what boys want), and the boys had G I Joe, Star Wars or Super Heroes Valentines (just what girls want). Here are a few photos of a pack from Precious Moments I got at our Christian bookstore for $1.99 back in the early 80's. They are cute but inane, and don't say anything worth saying. They are just little square cards you fold in half and put someone's name on. But somehow the girls still had fun doing it and addressing them. Now days it is my granddaughters giving Valentines with Shopkins on them for $5 a pack. 

This is another example of the quality of vintage things that are worth having, and the diminishing quality and higher prices of today.