It’s nearly Valentine’s Day and that means that hundreds of thousands of people (okay, mostly men) will be frantically trying to come up with Valentine’s Day gifts that make their partners happy.

Remember how simple Valentine’s Day was when you were a kid? You’d hand your mother a homemade card and set off to school with a bag of cartoon- themed grocery store valentines (one for every person in your class, because that was the rule). In class, you’d exchange cards with your classmates while you ate the heart-shaped cookies that the room mother baked. If you were really lucky, some of the cards would be attached to candy.

For teens, Valentine’s Day was a little trickier.

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While unattached teens might desperately hope that they would receive a card, candy or flowers from someone they liked (or anyone at all, for that matter); teens who were in a relationship would either have to scrape together the money for a gift or break up just in order to avoid the whole issue.

When I scrounge around in the back of my dresser drawers, I can find at least two items that, as a teen, I received from boyfriends on Valentine’s Day. One is a necklace – a delicate gold chain from which dangles a small Lucite cube, and within the cube, the word “love” is spelled out in gold writing.

The second is a white gold ring with the word “love” spelled out across the top. Inside of the letter “o” there is a teeny diamond chip that was once visible to my naked eye. Now that my eyes are older, I would need to don my reading glasses to see the little jewel.

Strangely, my most memorable Valentine’s Day gift came not from a boyfriend or lover, but from my parents. As my sister and I got older and outgrew the standard stuffed animals or boxes of conversation hearts, my mother started buying us each an article of clothing for Valentine’s Day. In the morning, we’d come down to breakfast to find a prettily-wrapped gift at each of our places.

One year when I was probably about 14 years old, I received a new shirt. I remember opening the box and thinking that the shirt wasn’t something I would have chosen. The bodice was a red and white striped stretchy fabric and the puffy short-sleeves were made from a contrasting pattern, a red on white floral design. It had a dangerously low v-neck, and it buttoned down the front with big red buttons. Very seventies, but not like me at all.

But when I tried the shirt on, it made me feel beautiful. My figure had recently undergone some changes, turning my adolescent pudginess into teenage curves, and my waist was a fraction of the size it is now. The shirt clung to my body and showed off my figure in a very grown-up way. It was my favorite shirt for the next few months, and especially fashionable when paired with my red clip-on earrings (I wasn’t allowed to get my ears pierced).

It was, by far, my favorite Valentine’s gift ever. But it wasn’t the shirt itself that was memorable; it was the special way it made me feel. Maybe that’s really the key to giving Valentine’s Day gifts – and a good thing to keep in mind, as you frantically search for a way to make your Valentine happy.

Contributed By Laura Weaver