Commercialization? Every holiday's trend..

I overheard a radio discussion on the thought of Valentine's day being another commercialized holiday and that the need for a specific day to validate the love we have for others isn't and shouldn't be necessary.

After listening to a few of the comments, I found myself agreeing with the thought. And in turn, I've always been happy to receive flowers, candy, jewelry, etc, on any given day! :)

On to my point - Having 4 children is no small feat. I love them all dearly but I'm one that struggles with limits.. gifts, toys, clothes.. you name it! A trend this year is a Valentine's cards that opens and has a song playing or a personally recorded message, how cute! I found myself shopping for cards for the kids and couldn't pass these cards by. (yes, I stood in the aisle and opened every single one, some twice!) I struggled selecting a card for each of the kids, then I struggled with the thought that if I get these cool cards for each of the kids, I'd have to hear the song blurb for a while because they wouldn't want to let go of them, then I struggled with the price, and decided to get one of the cool cards for my spoiled rotten daughter.. she is the only one that can read, so.. I then had to find cards for the boys, then Ben, then grandparents, friends, cousins, uncles, aunts.. Oh wait!!! That's going to cost hundreds of dollars and who actually keeps valentines, unless they're handmade??? Ah-ha! So, the kids will be making valentines for a few people.

Another con in the whole commercialization dilemma is that 4 kids require 4 sets of valentines for school. Okay, that's not so bad, right? Well, 4 kids in activities outside school means additional parties, gifts, etc. I get that we should all love each other, but honestly.. maybe we could just promote being more tolerant or something instead of the perpetual need to spend money on random, meaningless holidays for kids who really only want the candy and could care less about the sentimentality behind the holiday.