This post has been sponsored by American Greetings. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
How do you feel about Valentine’s Day? As kids, it was the best. Lots of candy and excuses to show your friends you love them. I mean, how fun was it to make a mailbox out of a shoe box in grade school? I feel like we all need to get back to the kid version of Valentine’s Day.
I love Valentine’s Day, mostly because I place absolutely NO expectations around it. I don’t expect my husband to do some crazy Instagram-worthy display of affection (side note: anyone else get totally worn out with those posts?) or plan some elaborate dinner date. I’m pretty sure one of our most memorable Valentine’s Day dates involved a heart-shaped Chicago deep-dish pizza (selfishly, I’d love it if someone would remind him of that and nudge him in that direction this year).
Instead of placing expectation on others—which we should all stop doing so much, but that’s neither here nor there—I use it as an opportunity to show a little love to my favorite ladies. It’s kind of like Mother’s Day… I’d rather use it as an excuse to send my gals a card and get together than do some over-the-top date. We’ve done a Favorite Things party in the past (makes mental note to plan one this year), but I always make it a point to send cards to the important ladies in my life.
My love of snail mail is no secret, so I’m happy to team back up with American Greetings to show how me and Reese are prepping for the official holiday of pink hearts. For me, the love of cards came from my mom—so I am happy to pass that love down to my girls. I think a simple greeting card with a genuine message means SO much more than a gift. I hold on to cards and have boxes full of ones from my favorite people. I look through cards and feel so connected to the recipient. It may be a little nostalgic, but I look through the ones from my grandparents every once in a while when I miss them (okay, didn’t mean for this to get so personal).
This year will be Reese’s first in a real classroom, so we hit up Target (and loaded this coupon onto my Cartwheel) to grab some fun cards for her classmates as well as some for her favorite ladies: her grandmas (she has four) and her teachers. We went to our favorite spot—Target, of course—to grab everything we needed for an afternoon of crafting. I’m not particularly crafty, so we kept it simple with lots of stickers (these American Greetings pizza + donut ones are my favorite, and I may have grabbed a sheet for myself) and some heart-shaped little happys (what we call small presents) to include—think bath bombs and candy from the Dollar Spot. It’s a really easy and inexpensive way to show someone you care about them.
Reese let me pick out one of her sets of American Greetings cards, but I’m sure you all can guess which ones she picked out (grab yours with this Cartwheel deal). That girl loves pink and puppies. If you’re not as puppy obsessed, they have a bunch of other really cute sets of cards plus tons and tons of individual options. I can’t let Reese go that route, though, or we’ll be in that aisle for a year!
Clearly I’m not into New Year’s resolutions, but I am going to make more of an effort to send cards just because. I have a friend from high school who is so good about this and every time I get a card in the mail, I feel so special. I want to make sure to spread that feeling more and remind people I care about them.
I’m thinking I’ll start making it part of my Target run routine. Or at least I’ll try to remember, although I rarely leave the store with what I came for… I know I’m not alone on that one. I love the idea of swinging by and grabbing one of American Greetings’ fun or sweet or silly cards whenever I’m there and sending it to a friend or family member just to let them know I’m thinking about them. It’s certainly more special than a text.
I helped her write notes inside all of them, and she went to town with the stickers. She loved it so much that she wanted to go back and buy more sets of cards for all kinds of random people. Next time we’re at Target, I’ll probably head over to the card aisle and let her pick out another set to decorate… mostly because it kept her occupied (i.e. not making a mess) for a couple hours but more importantly because it really is so important to show others we care about them.
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