Valentine's Day Cards - Minus the Love

Is it just me, or is it tougher this year to find just a "friendship" type of Valentine's Day card?? I'm friends with a former co-worker and I send her a Valentine's Day card each year. But this year I had to go to three places to find one that didn't say "I love you" or some sort of passionate declaration. The ones that didn't say "love" were usually addressed to "grandma" or "teacher" or someone of that category. Can we just enjoy Valentine's Day with just a little less love??

Last year I was trying to find a Valentine's day card for a friend with liver cancer and had the same problem. Then all of the Saint Patrick's Day cards were about drinking and that didn't seem appropriate either :(

Sounds like you're stuck with children's cards - "I Choo-Choo Choooooose You!"

Ah yes - the classics.
"Roses are red, violets are violet. Here is my number, why don't you dial it?"
Though, these days, there's nothing with a dial.

Here it is a year later and I'm already beginning my search for a non-commital "friendship" card - minus the love - or sexual innuendo!

Because I am so chock full of love (and other stuff) I send out valentines every year to all sorts of people. Even though I'm always hoping to get lucky none of these valentines are ever romantic in nature. How do I manage to send interesting valentines which don't mention "making whoopee" or have coupons in them for a free kiss? I make my own.

"Oh that's easy for you to do, Woofmutt, you're an almost talented artsy-fartsy type who can occasionally turn out something that isn't complete crap! What about the rest of us who can barely tell a pencil from a dose of penicillin?"

Thanks! I'm also witty. And I'm also lazy. If I'm gonna crank out a few dozen valentines for almost complete strangers and people who really don't give a crap I'm not gonna spend hours and hours and hours on them when mere hours will do. So here are my completely obvious tips for fairly fast and probably cool valentines...

THINK RED & PINK
You may not know this but red and pink are the definite colors of Valentine's Day. Even a plain pink envelope looks like a valentine around the 14th. Draw a heart on a piece of pink paper, write Happy Valentine's Day somewhere and shove it in a red envelope. If you want to be really fancy use fancier paper or stick a piece of colored tissue weight paper in it.

BE ICONIC
Hearts, hearts, hearts. Anybody can draw a heart, plus this Internet thingy is pretty dang good for hunting down interesting images to print. You don't need to be a surgeon to cut a heart out of paper. Pink or red paper is ideal (see above) but you could also take a card that has a nice shot of purple mountains majesty and cut it into a heart shape. Cupids are also Valentine's Day icons. (Definitely harder to draw, but see below.) Chocolates, roses, and even lace are all iconic Valentine's Day imagery and are much cooler than a red kangaroo saying "Here's HOPPING you'll be my valentine!"

STICK WITH STICKERS
You can find all sorts of cool Valentine's Day stickers in the card shops or card aisles or dollar stores. I like the hearts and cupids because they're so iconic (see above). Get some Valentine's Day stickers, stick them all over a picture of anything and you have suddenly created a valentine. (Well ain't you talented!)

QUOTE SOMETHING ABOUT LOVE
There are probably over a hundred different quotes about love. I'd guess even Shakespeare might have said something about love. So track down one or two or more that fit the level of the sort of love you're expressing and write them down on a pink piece of paper and shove it into a red envelope. Or, if you're computer savvy, make a page of different love quotes in different fonts and if you've picked some really interesting ones you'll have a pretty cool valentine.

BEND AN EXISTING VALENTINE TO YOUR WILL
If you find an image you like on a card, say a heart that's exploding into flowers which are turning into birds (Gag!), but the card says To an Awesome Second Wife... you can always cut what you like off the card and stick it on a blank card. The end product will be far cooler than any off-the-shelf valentine. (Unless you're really messy, then it will just be endearing.)

E-CARD TIPS
Don't send e-cards.

BE ICONIC!
:lol:

there is much wisdom in the woof...

I ended up going "back in time" for my card this year. Found a blank Valentine's post card from 1913.

On 2011-02-07 02:21, Fres-tiki wrote:
Can we just enjoy Valentine's Day with just a little less love??

Sure! After all, it's been done before...

Bear

Now that's a Valentines day card I can handle.

Jeff(btd)

Unless you're referring to the martyred Christian saint persecuted by Roman Emperor Claudius II, we have Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for the lustful twisting of St. Valentine's Day as a time for choosing mates.

Friendship, per se, has never had anything to do with it. By the late 1300s, it has only referred to effort of attracting mates. From the 200s to the 1300s it was Roman. From the 1300s to the present it has been romantic.

Even so, I still give my daughter a Valentine every year.

The SVD massacre was more of a Roman greeting; not at all romantic.

How about this one?

On 2012-01-22 00:36, woofmutt wrote:

BE ICONIC
Cupids are also Valentine's Day icons. (Definitely harder to draw, but see below.) Chocolates, roses, and even lace are all iconic Valentine's Day imagery and are much cooler than a red kangaroo saying "Here's HOPPING you'll be my valentine!"

Do you not think a hand drawn heart and chocolate on a card might prove to be problematic for the less artistic types. Although some people are in to that type of thing

"Do you not think a hand drawn heart and chocolate on a card might prove to be problematic for the less artistic types(?)"

I think some people might feel they're incapable of drawing anything which is why I pointed out "...this Internet thingy is pretty dang good for hunting down interesting images to print..." and I also suggested one might just cut a heart shape out of various types of paper or "Get some Valentine's Day stickers, stick them all over a picture of anything and you have suddenly created a valentine."

Now that you have no excuses you are free to go make some valentines.

[This message was edited by woofmutt when he realized he had capitalized the word "valentines." The word isn't capitalized when referring to the cards given in observance of Saint Valentine's Day.]

[ Edited by: woofmutt 2012-02-10 09:56 ]

Owing to the day, this thread deserves a bump.

My wife wanted me to say that considering her feelings toward how most people celebrate St. Valentine's Day, the pic I posted last year would be her all time favorite Valentine card.

Have I ever mentioned before just how awesome my wife is? She also just informed me she'd love to have a poster print of it.

God, I love her!

Bear