The Valentine's Day Box - Designing Scarlett

Oh my! Does anyone remember the Valentine’s Day Box?? I do! I had one! A few times!

I remember being in elementary school and going in on Valentine’s Day morning with my little ultra-reflective tinfoil box, completely decorated in red ribbon and taped on construction paper hearts Mom and I had cut out the night before. Mom was always so creative when it came to throwing things together last minute, or at least I thought she was, with the roll of aluminum foil from the kitchen drawer, shaped and folded to a Kleenex box seeming to fit the bill perfectly each and every Valentine’s Day!

I would fill out my cards for every classmate on my list, always being careful to not give a mushy one to the teacher or to the boy that I really didn’t like so much. But also maybe to the one that I liked a little too much.

I remember wearing my prettiest of dresses on those days as it was after all, a special occasion. I remember arriving in the classroom with my little brown paper bag carrying the highly coveted item.

Carefully pulling out my beautiful creation and so excited to show it, I would proudly sit it on the corner of my classroom desk. As the day progressed, there were little cards dropped into it periodically by classmates. It was a super exciting event!

And even more fun would come later when you walked home at the end of the cold day with the box inside the same brown paper bag again, in anticipation of emptying it on the kitchen table to count the many you had received and to read them all one by one!

The Valentine’s Day Box’s Moment of Truth

But the real moment of truth was to see what expression of adoration I would receive from the boy I had a crush on! Of course, there was the odd time that a mushy card came from a boy but it didn’t happen often! Instead I would end up with the monster truck adorned card reading “I hope your Valentine’s Day is a BLAST!” or the even more meaningful and no less gripping of the teddy bear holding a heart reading “Have a day full of Valentine fun!”…GONG! FAIL! Ugggh! “Why can’t boys express themselves?” was my thought then!

But every now and then, you would find one in the box of sentiments from that same boy, that would set your heart afire reading “Valentine, be mine!” and you could only hope that he meant it! And the remainder of the school year would find you trying to determine if he really did. Forever the romantic, even at that age, I was always hopeful that he would profess his undying love for me in the days to come, but he never did! Sending me down a snowbank at recess time would prove that.

So fast forward 20 plus years. I would find myself excitedly making that same beautiful icon of the Valentine’s Day box, just knowing that my son would see his mom as being as clever and creative as I thought mine was in her creativity back then. And he did let it happen – one year. No need to tell you how that went except that that was the ONLY year he took the aluminum wrapped box to school. And I was crushed!

Is The Valentine’s Day Box A Dying Art?

Now fast forward another 20 yrs, when I would excitedly reintroduce the tinfoil box to my daughter, because I’m not one to easily let go of traditions and I still had a fighting chance – so I thought. She for sure would get it, being a girl! And she did get it – sort of – for one year! But then asked if she could make her own. Wha????

Her creation was a painted, smaller Kleenex box with glued on white and red felt hearts, ribbons, sparkles and all things girly. She was my last child. But she wanted to make her own. And I wasn’t invited to participate. So while praising her creativity and skills, I sucked up my lack of involvement. And her own sole creations only continued from there.

The More Things Change…

At the end of the day, she would excitedly hop into the car with the Valentine’s Day box and tell me all about her day. And like me, at exactly her age, she would just as excitedly run into the house to empty her stash on the kitchen table.

And she, just like me, would stop at that one, with a glimmer in her eye when she recognized the name on the back. Turning it to read the front, bringing the moment she had eagerly been waiting for – “Hoping your Valentine’s Day is a Blast!” I didn’t need to wonder further. I already knew all that would follow at recess time.

Long Live The Valentine’s Day Box!

As much as it pains me to know that the creation of my much-loved aluminum foil Valentine’s Day boxes may likely never be a tradition that gets handed down given the fail to impress my own kids with the beauty of the box, I, nonetheless, will not give up!

I will hold out for grandchildren!