Anti-Valentine's Day Cards

Sure, Valentine's Day might be a nice little occasion on which to let your special someone know how much you love, cherish, and appreciate them. Or from a different perspective, Valentine's Day might be a fake holiday concocted by the evil overlords of corporate marketing culture, as just another excuse to make us consume and spend money on so-called romantic gifts for our significant others and feel guilty if we don't succumb to this pressure.

In recent years, a growing faction of freethinkers and non-traditionalists are refusing to submit to the Valentine's Day cult of consumerism. Maybe some of them are single and resent the Valentine's Day implication that being part of a couple automatically equates to happiness. Maybe some of them are happily attached yet resent the Valentine's Day implication that their love must to be exhibited via a clichéd display of chocolates or roses or sappy greeting card sentiments on one random day of the year. Maybe some of them are simply sick and tired of the ubiquitous marketing presence in our lives.

If you fit into one of these categories or maybe even a category all your own, you might be interested in considering an Anti-Valentine's Day card this year. Whether for rebellion, amusement value, or to make a real statement, Anti-Valentine's Day cards offer an alternative way to express yourself if you don't necessarily wish to ignore Valentine's Day altogether, but would like to say something different than what is expected.

I am a big fan of etsy (www. etsy.com), a wonderful one-stop-shopping resource for all sorts of unique handmade delights. Anti-Valentine's Day cards are no exception to the many quirky goodies that one can discover while browsing the myriad wondrous wares of etsy's thousands of one-of-a-kind shops.

If you're single this Valentine's Day and wish to commiserate with others who are unattached, you might enjoy paying a visit to etsy shop Mew Paper Arts (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5060494) to purchase yourself a set of the Down With Love Valentine Cards, which come in three different fun designs-Love Bites featuring an illustration of a shark with hearts pouring out of its mouth, Love Blows featuring an illustration of a whale with hearts spouting out of it s blowhole, and Love Stinks, featuring an illustration of a skunk lifting its tail to spray some more misplaced hearts into the air. Despite their anti-love proclamations, these colorful greeting cards have a fun, friendly, good-natured tone rather than an overly bitter vibe. According to the shop proprietess, "instead of being so bitter about it, just send a funny card! I made these just especially for the cranky, broken-hearted, or forsaken!" For $13.50, you can acquire a set of twelve of the Down With Love Valentine Cards, three of each design.

The Mew Paper Arts shop also offers a few different designs of Pro-Love Valentine's Day cards, in case some of your friends are feeling more positively about this holiday than others. The Dearly Beloved Valentine card set is an especially adorable selection, featuring a sweet pink deer and chocolate text on shimmery champagne card stock. For $13.50, ten of these lovely petite note cards can be yours to share with two handfuls of special sweeties who don't despise February 14.

Back to the Valentine's Day player haters. What if you're feeling a little darker about Valentine's Day or have some slightly more macabre, morbid, or goth sensibilities to express and colorful, friendly little animals just don't quite get to the heart of the way you're feeling? You might want to check out an etsy shop with a different tone, the GingerDead Shopp (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6082144), to browse through a few Anti-Valentine's Day cards that might offer a better fit for your darker vision. Fans of the imagery of Tim Burton, Edward Gorey, Emily Strange or dark comic art might especially appreciate the wares in this unique little shop; the artwork on the shop products is derived from the shop owner's own web comic called GingerDead and Friends. She states that her artwork has been described as "spooky cute, goth, dark humor".

Several different Anti-Valentine's Day cards designs are available in the GingerDead Shoppe, costing $2.25 for an individual card or $9.50 for a set of five. The color palette of these cards is predominantly red, black, and gray. One of the cards features an odd looking character with "pokey bone hands tangled in a heart" and the message, "i love you more than frozen peas and stds". Another card stars the striking image of a hapless little boy "being tugged by his heart string attached to an anatomically illustrated large heart". Why not chheck out these dark quirky morsels for yourself and consider buying an art card for your indie, alternative, or goth friend or sweetheart?

Yet another etsy shop offering Anti-Valentine's Day card options is Verve Bath Press (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6194454§ion_id=5848375), where the simple card designs and the brief sentiments impart a dose of short, sour, snarky, sure to cleanse the palate of those who are tired of the sappy confections typically associated with Valentine's Day. These cards are designed on white cardstock with red paper inlays. A hand-punched word or phrase appears on the front of each card and an additional message appears upon the red paper inside. Each card is coupled with a white envelope that is stamped with a red kiss. Not only do these cards exhibit a delightful hand-designed DIY charm, but the shop owner is also willing to work with potential purchasers and suggests that folks contact her if they would like more than one or a set of her Anti-Valentine's Day cards. The cards are listed in the shop individually, at a cost of $3.50 apiece. One design simply has the word 'STOP' hand-punched into the front and the message inside reads, "the commercialization of love".

Another nifty detail about the Verve Bath Press shop is that it also offers poetry chapbooks for sale, so instead of relying on a clichéd romantic aphorism to sum up your feelings, you could buy an Anti-Valentine's Day card and a handmade poetry collection, in which the words are sure to be much more complexly expressive.

Of course, etsy.com is not the only e-tailer that offers a selection of Anti-Valentine's Day cards-and of course, cards on paper are not the only way to go. Some Valentine's Day haters may be bitter and resentful about this holiday's consumer focus and might not want to buy any cards at all. However, it still might be fun or cathartic to send an e-card that asserts your Anti-Valentine's Day feelings to a significant other with a wry sense of humor, your likeminded friends, or maybe a few of those ooey gooey friends who seem to have bought into all the romantic clichés and who you think could use a little reality check. The Be My Anti-Valentine website at http://www.meish.org/vd/ is a veritable treasure trove of snarky anti-sweetness (and some very valid points) for those who are disillusioned with Valentine's Day for any number of reasons.

Card sentiments here range from, "At least my cat loves me" to "Truly, madly, unimaginatively" to "Nothings says 'I love you' like saturated fat and slutty lingerie" and many more. Have fun browsing these amusing and intelligent wares and then choose one (or a few) to send to someone for absolutely free. Although it is free to send one of these Anti-Valentine's Day e-cards, the website does suggest that you consider making a donation to help with bandwidth costs. The website also includes a link that enables you to order print versions of these cards.

If one is truly disillusioned or downright fed up with the consumer focus of Valentine's Day and the clichéd marketing and commercialization of romantic love and would much rather celebrate the day in their own unique and special way, what better way to buck the system than by not purchasing any cards at all? Why not DIY and craft your very own Anti-Valentine's Day card instead? Why not engage in creation instead of consumption? There are very few limits to creating your own Valentine or Anti-Valentine's Day card except for the limits of your own imagination. Think about who this card is going to be for and what kind of materials, colors, and words would be especially meaningful to that individual. Take pleasure in the fact that one's own personalized expressions will almost always be much more significantly creative than catchphrases brainstormed by a marketing firm intended to appeal to the status quo. No matter how you feel about Valentine's Day, take a moment to think about what is special and important to you and how best to celebrate in your very own way.