I think I missed that memo

Since yesterday's slush storm cancelled school, Valentine's day was celebrated today (after a 90 minute delay). Last week C's teacher sent home a list of all the kids in her class so we could write out Valentine's cards.

Being a good mom, we bought Tinkerbell cards - those little perforated ones that fold over and get shut with the sticker...wrote out everyone's name, and C printed her name on most of the cards.

I was feeling pretty good about this - C went to school this morning with a birthday card for her teacher and all her Valentine's. I figured they'd have made something to put all the Valentine's in, and maybe the teacher (or another parent) would bring some cupcakes or something. Was I wrong!

Apparently, it's now acceptable to hand out as much candy on Valentine's as on Halloween! She came home with a bag of candy (and no chocolate, which is just wrong for so many reasons!) that some kids passed out, along with their cards.

When did this start? What's wrong with just handing out cards? Why must every holiday turn into some sort of candy fest?