I find primary school valentine's day parties to be fascinating cultural events. Under the guise of this mysterious thing called "romantic love," school-age children give each other some fundamentally weird-ass greeting cards. The best ones come from your secret crush, which you always read into wayyyy too much. But the second best valentines (or "valentimes" as I call them) are the ones with prizes inside: candy or puzzles or stickers. And these are the best primary-school-valentimes you ever got.

My fourth series of Valentimes

My third series of valentimes. I refer to them as "valentimes" as a nod to the way they are exchanged among schoolage children - using the imagery and language of romantic love even though they are sent platonically. The best valentimes from childhood have puzzles or prizes inside. This year's valentimes contained word search puzzles, comics, temporary tattoos, and heart stickers. All pieces (apart from the stickers) are my own original designs.

In what may become an annual tradition, I have begun sending valentines in the manner that most people send Christmas cards. I refer to them as "valentimes" as a nod to the way they are exchanged among schoolage children - using the imagery and language of romantic love even though they are sent platonically. The best valentimes from childhood have puzzles or prizes inside. This year's valentimes contained custom coloring pages as well as heart stickers and temporary tattoos.

For Valentine's Day 2021, I sent out "Valentimes" to friends and family. There were eight designs in all. Each was also sent with stickers, heart tattoos, and custom-made word-search puzzles.