I’m curious - what do you have against the “flower industry” ?
Now, there’s something you don’t see every day - giving a 9 year old a dozen roses. Interesting.
I have a card, I will shortly be delivering to my niece. Her beau is out of country so I thought it was a nice gesture. She’s also coming over for the VD dinner my hubby’s making for me.
When my Mother In Law lived with us, of course we bought her flowers, candies and a card. She was a widow and bedridden so any opportunity to bring a smile to her face was taken.
(And Faithfool, our caregivers always brought her a card, which she adored - good on you!)
giving a kid flowers is a sweet thing! They’re so excited and appreciative, at least for a short time. (They remember things like that ! I got an orchid wrist corsage for some occasion when I was about 7 or 8 and have never forgotten it!) Unlike some adults who get flowers and then complain that the giver “showed no imagination”, bought the flowers with a credit card from FTD, bought boring old roses…it goes on and on.:rolleyes: I’ve given ‘special’ cards to people other than my SO, antique-y, pretty, or even home-made (and some of them have taken a week to make). No candy or flowers, though. My friend knocks herself out the day before V-Day, buying whatever cheap candy and cheaper cards (sentimental generic things) for her mother and daughters. Like it matters! A cheap, dumb gotta-get-them-something-gesture, a waste of time and money IMO. Yet it apparently is something she feels she must do.
I sent my buddy’s wife a Valentine postcard - but we swap cards all the time. She has an odd sense of humor and I found a postcard book called “Grandma’s Dead: Breaking bad news with baby animals.” It had cards in it that would make her laugh, so I send her a card once a month or so.
But in general I don’t.
Silly cards for nieces and nephew, ages 3 to 7. It’s fun to get mail as a kid.
I send e-valentines to my faraway friends, usually with pictures of my dogs on them. I used to send valentines to my goddaughter and her siblings, but they’re all grown up now. Sniff.
My dad has always given/sent us girls (there are three of us) gifts and cards on Valentines day. He does it because no matter what, he wants us to know that there is a man in our life who loves us more then anything.
I always think of Valentine’s Day for romantic love not love in general.
But I do know people who will give a card for Arbor Day so, who knows 
Yep, that’s me too - Valentine’s Day is for lovers. Lest my above comment about the roses be taken wrong, I don’t think there’s anything wrong or foolish about expressing other kinds of love on Valentine’s Day. It just wouldn’t occur to me to do the flowers thing.
I give Valentine’s Day presents to my girls (my boys have declared themselves to be too old for V-Day gifts from Mom) but nothing that could be considered romantic or mushy. This year they got giant heart-shaped cushions (one pink, one red) that they can use to sit on in their bedrooms, lots of chocolate (the boys and the rest of the rest of the family have chocolate and candy too, but not as a gift) pink, decorated dry erase boards for their rooms (Ed Hardy, I think- marketed as Valentine’s gifts, but “cool” looking) and pink and red t-shirts that they would have gotten anyway.
I use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to get girly pink stuff for my daughters. Last year they got a bunch of heart shaped pillows, before that they got pink teddy bears…things like that, and things that I would probably buy them anyway.
ETA: Valentine’s Day is decidedly non-romantic for my husband and me as well. This year I got a new 3.5 quart dutch oven (but it’s red!) and a pink Kitchen-Aide kitchen shears set (scissors, poultry shears, etc.). DH got a video game, but we also went out to dinner alone yesterday so I guess that counts. 
Why is it stupid to wish someone you love would make some small effort to take part in something that’s obviously important to you? I thought that was kind of the standard expectation of a romantic partner, that they would be GGG (good, giving, and game) in life, not just in bed.
I mean, sure, Valentine’s Day is a made-up commercialized holiday mostly dedicated to selling crap. So is Christmas, but nobody thinks you have to be a believer to want to celebrate that. Instead people treat it as a good excuse to step out of the daily routine for a little bit and do something nice for and with their loved ones. There’s no reason for us not to look at today the same way.
I just received a dozen roses from my dad, as is the annual tradition. The card read ‘Love from your first Valentine’.
Now, don’t all you other dads feel guilty?
^^ They should only feel guilty if they normally do that but forgot.
I would think my dad had fallen out of his tree, were he to send me a dozen roses.
My family never did anything for Valentine’s until my first year in college, then my parents sent me a card.
I always mail each of my three sons a card, even if they’re living with me. It’s a tradition now- if I stopped doing it it would just be weird.
I got my son a card and chocolates. I ate the chocolates during the week… they were calling my name. He showed up with a card and chocolates and I felt so bad I let him eat all the good ones!
I don’t, but my wife and her family are greeting card addicts. We get/send cards from/to her parents, sister & brother-in-law, grandmother, and aunt & uncle every Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, of course Christmas and Birthdays, and at other random non-holiday times throughout the year. I think my wife would be quite happy to opt out of the tradition, but that’d never fly with the rest of them. The cards usually find the recycling bin rather quickly at our house.
I find the whole thing rather silly, but my frosted side concedes it’s kind of a nice way to keep in touch.
My ex-girlfriend and I made the transistion to best friends, so I make a point of sending her a card or some kind of goofy valentines present. This year her granddaughter is staying with her, so I sent some flowers with a stuffed anima to the both of them. (They’ll have to fight it out to see who ends up with the teddy bear!)