Valentine Over-Abundance

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My kindergartner had her Valentine’s party last Thursday and she was so excited to pass out her Hannah Montana valentine cards to all her friends. We had searched high and low and finally found them at Walmart and she was beaming with pride as she wrote out all of her friends’ names from the class list.

When I arrived to help out at the party, heart-shaped cookies and decorating frosting in hand, I saw the kids struggling to keep their decorated Valentine bags upright so all the “stuff” wouldn’t fall out. These were simple brown paper bags they decorated at school, each student adding their own creative touch. The kids retrieved their backpacks and loaded up their loot before it spilled all over the floor.

Considering there are only 18 kids in the class, I was amazed to see how much candy my daughter had actually accumulated from her classmates! She had at least four large goodie bags full of candy and favors, equal to the bags they get at birthday parties. Plus the valentine cards that have lollipops attached; one valentine even had a stick of gum attached to it.

While I’m grateful that there are so many generous parents in her class, I’m starting to feel like the cheap mom. Never once since my oldest started preschool eight years ago did it dawn on me to buy loads of candy and make up goodie bags for every seasonal holiday for every classmate. I just don’t have the money or the patience to tie up 18 goodie bags for kids that my daughter never mentions.

I was chuckling with the teacher as we both watched the other class moms putting loot into each bag. They had their own conveyor belt system going and it seemed to be working just fine except they weren’t there to help with the party, they were merely distributing goodie bags.

I’m going to continue being the cheap mom because that’s what I am most comfortable with. I don’t need the extra aggravation of putting together these bags, making sure every one has an equal number of goodies in it, or stressing about having missed somebody. I want my daughters to have the reputations of being good friends and good students rather than producing the best goodie bag.