Valentine over the Years

The whole world has just celebrated Valentines. Although this holiday has been removed from the list of official holidays, it is still widely celebrated today in all countries. When you walk down the street during the first few days of February you can already feel that love is all around. But the celebration of Valentine's Day does not end on February 14. The whole month is considered as the month of love.

Perhaps the celebration of Valentine's is known for its cards. Although hand made cards had been around for years, commercial Valentine cards did not appear until the early 1800s. These 1800 cards were simplistic in nature and hand-delivered. Most of these early cards were blank inside to give the sender a space to write their message. They were also not only done in pen and ink. They can also be handwritten with custom designs and colors. Today, Valentine cards are manufactured on a massive scale that range from sappy to stylish to funny cards. There is undeniably a Valentine card for everyone – your spouse, children, sweetheart, parents and even your friends. But in terms of the number of cards sent each year, Valentine's ranks only second to Christmas.

With the printing technology that is available today, card printing has become much easier and more affordable. Offset printing is one of these technologies that have created stylish and vibrant Valentine cards. This printing technique has been around for over one hundred years now. And because of the way the ink is absorbed by the paper and the plates used in this type of printing, many people think that this technique offers a richer, fuller and deeper finished product. In addition, the offset printing technology allows larger volumes of printing to be completed quickly and without any inconsistency in ink distribution. For this reason, most people opt for this process when they need to print a lot of cards.

Over the years, people have seen the change in Valentine cards from the heavy sappiness of earlier days to what can be described these days as a light touch. Today, valentine cards are usually accompanied by a more sophisticated gift of flowers, candies, chocolates and perfumes among others.

So even though Valentine's Day is over, the celebration of love and card sending need not be over. It's alright to let someone know that you love them or find them attractive. You can do this anytime of the year. Just make sure that you doing it the right way. A simple card could mean a lot of things so carefully choose your words and the manner you express your feelings.