It’s February! You all know what that means, right? (No, I am not meaning the Super Bowl. Though in honor of that lovely American past time, be sure to check out some of my favorite Super Bowl commercials here.) No, February means something even bigger and better than a football game. I would say I am addressing the coolness of Leap Year, but I’m not meaning that either. Instead I am talking about Valentine’s Day!

I love Valentine’s Day. It is one of my favorite made up holidays. I know what you must be thinking, “You’re a girl. Of course you love this holiday.” But I don’t like it for the reasons you may be thinking. I’ve never been one for sappy romantic gestures on V-Day on account that those kinds of things have never really happened for me. Don’t feel sorry for me though, because I have a ton of retro cool Valentine’s memorabilia that holds a more special place in my heart than all the flowers and chocolates in the world! Since the holiday is a few weeks away I thought I’d share a series of posts about some of my favorite memories of the holiday of love, and wearing a lot of reds and pinks.

Growing up my parents really believed in making things special for every holiday both big and small. I grew up really sick with a genetic disorder so they really wanted to make sure that every moment counted. So on Valentine’s Day my mom and I would make Valentines for family members and it was always just the best. One year, in 1985, my mom gave me a set of actual already-made Valentine cards in a stationary set and I loved them so much that they never really got sent out to anyone. I thought I’d share some of the remaining cards with you all right now because they just look divine!

These were made by Panosh Group, Inc. and were entitled Sweet Scents! (They smelled like bubblegum. Total score!) The set included cards with little heart characters and a gumball machine as well as some stickers. The first images above contain cute messages. I love the grid design on the background and the illustrations on the cards are just cute and bubbly.

Other cards utilized the same image but with different messages, like, “Valentine, you knock me out!” The card to the left contains stickers scattered all around. I was young when I got this set so the scattered stickers on some of the cards don’t really make a great deal of scents. (Get it, scents? As in Sweet Scents? I slay myself!)

Here are some more cards with similar images and even more messages. These cards make me crave bubblegum so badly! On a side note, did anyone ever try blowing a large bubble with gum that would magically make them float? I always tried to do that. I also tried to dig a hole to China with a childhood friend once too. I really fell for just about anything as a kid.

There are even more fun festive Valentine cards with the familiar images we have seen before. The card to the left is funny, “Valentine, you’re always on my mind!”  Quite literally! The heart character is crawling up on the gumball machine, which begs the question, is the heart character falling for the gumball machine or the machine’s gum only? Such a gum digger!

“Valentine, I’m falling for you.” Poor heart character. Tripping over delicious candy… I love the candy choices during this time of year. Candy hearts with fun messages have always been delicious and while I have always enjoyed chocolate, it is not my most favorite Valentine candy. I like the sugary stuff, ya know, Sweet Tarts and the like.

One final card is left as well as an image of a card flipped over. The image on this card doesn’t really match the message, but that is fine. The artwork is really cute and reminiscent of the kinds of stationary products that were available in the 80’s. The flipped side of the Sweet Scents cards was festive for the holiday too. The hearts decorated on the card with the heart character stamp add a nice touch. I don’t know if stationary products were all the rage in other decades, but I do recall a lot of similar items being in abundance in stores in the 80’s.

This final image is of the stickers that came with this set. There are two different heart shaped characters, the girl heart was not featured on the cards that I owned, but I have been trying my best to locate other images of these cards to see if there is anything I am missing. The bubble look of the hearts coupled with the hot pinks and bold reds always make me smile. I loved these stickers and have been beyond thrilled to continue to have them all these years later.

It is these images that make me excited for Valentine’s Day. Great deals of things have been said about Valentine’s Day and some of those words may be true. It can be a holiday rife with expectations for couples that can be silly and unnecessary. However, there are some really fun reasons to hold onto and enjoy the holiday filled with hearts and a lot of red and pink. I look forward to sharing more of my retro memories about this rather non-holiday holiday. I hope you are all doing well, and be sure to share your own memories of Valentine’s Day!