Kindergarten Valentine's Day 1969

Do you remember swapping Valentines in school? Our teachers would make a list of everyone in the class and we would take that list home and begin our project. The first part of the project was selecting the box of Valentines. During my childhood, Valentines were always sold in boxes covered with red cellophane that had just enough clear cellophane so that you could peak inside at the Valentines. 

Part two involved choosing which Valentines in the box went to which classmate. Sometimes I randomly addressed Valentines, and sometimes the extra cute Valentines were addressed to special friends. I would spread them all out on the kitchen table and sign my name again and again, like a little celebrity with a pencil.

Part three involved each of us making some sort of craft at school that would hold our Valentines. My favorite Valentine craft year, was the year we made mailboxes out of half gallon cartons of milk. The room smelled of glue and construction paper while the scissors snipped away, making heart after heart. I was thrilled to make a construction paper flag on the side of mine (with a heart in place at the end of the flag, of course) because this made my milk carton mailbox look just like a real mailbox in my eyes. 

On Valentine's Day when the teacher declared that it was finally time for our Valentine party, we all went around the room, placing Valentines in each child's mailbox (or whatever craft the teacher decided on that year). 

It was a busy, joyous occasion, with children scurrying about, placing tiny Valentine after tiny Valentine in each little box. Of course, we each kept a close eye on the number of Valentines spilling out of our own boxes. 

That's why nobody noticed that one little boy was standing there looking at his box in disbelief, which eventually turned to tears. 

The teacher had forgotten to add his name to our list. Nobody had noticed, with that many names on the list, that his name had been missing. The teacher went around and addressed small groups of us at a time, explaining the situation and asking if anyone had brought extra Valentines so that we could place a Valentine in his box. Sadly, his mailbox wasn't overflowing like the rest of ours. 

To this day, I hate when people get left out of stuff. That scene in "Office Space" where Milton didn't get his piece of cake (after everyone else got a piece) makes me sad for Milton every time I watch it. 

No matter how much you may love your pink and red hearts mailbox, and no matter how stuffed it is with Valentines, it's just not fun anymore when someone else's mailbox is empty.

Thank you to MusicalProgress for posting this sweet 1969 home movie of a kindergarten class on YouTube.  MusicalProgress stated that in the description that this was the Crest Kincaid Kindergarten from the 1968 - 1969 school year.  That may have been Crest Elementary School in Colony, Kansas. I am not sure, but I looked up Crest-Kincaid to find out what state that was in.