Back in the '90s, giving out Valentine’s Day cards wasn’t such a big deal — mostly because it was mandatory. If you were going to give a card to one person, you had to give them out to the entire class so nobody would feel left out. Today, it would seem mortifying to give out heart-shaped cardboard cards to the entire office, including (gasp) your boss. You would be worried about how people would interpret the gesture, and whether they would read into the message on the card. In most offices, the most people will do is put out a bowl of holiday-themed candy on their desk for others to enjoy, but what’s really so wrong with doilies and a bit of glitter glue?

Relationship status had nothing to do with receiving Valentine's cards in the '90s, and most of us walked home on Feb. 14 with backpacks overflowing with at least 30 cards (or more!). They came in a variety of themes, including Ren & Stimpy, Ninja Turtles, Lisa Frank, Doug, Barbie, The Land Before Time, Animaniacs, and Space Jam, and deciding which to keep and which to toss after the attached candy was consumed boiled down to which card had your favorite cartoon on it. These days, every one is a bit more stingy with Valentine's Day cards (thanks, a lot puberty). It seems we're lucky to get even one solitary Valentine's Day card, and most of the time it's probably from our mom. If anyone gives us a Valentine it's pretty special — even if it doesn't have any cartoons characters on the front.

In the simpler days of the ‘90s, Valentine’s Day wasn’t so much about declarations of love as it was about who could amass the biggest stash of heart-shaped candies. With each card attached to a piece of themed candy, Valentine’s Day almost matched the sugar rush of Halloween. If you didn’t have amazing self-restraint, all those Conversation Hearts and chocolate drops could lead to a pretty rough bus ride home. A few years older and not necessarily wiser, we're more likely to get an upset stomach on the Uber ride home from too much chocolate lava cake and bubbly.

While I’m sure there are probably one or two people out there with ironic plans to make old school mix tapes, most of us probably aren't really willing to put in the time and effort required to recreate this nostalgic piece of outdated tech. The closest we get today is sharing a Spotify playlist, but that isn't really a proper equivalent. In the ‘90s, mix tapes were the height of romance, a way to show your crush how you really felt about them through the magic of song. Hours' or even days' worth of effort went into creating one, from recording and curating the songs to designing the label and cover art. Now that was true love.

If it was still considered the norm to hang with a group of friends at the Cheesecake Factory and awkwardly make eyes at your crush across the table, Valentine's Day probably wouldn't have quite such an odious reputation today. Unfortunately, many see it as a day where undue pressure is put on new relationships, and romantic one-on-one time is pretty much enforced. Maybe it would be more fun to have a group party, even if we don't have to rely on our parents to drive us to the mall anymore.

In the '90s, our sartorial choices were brighter and bolder for the most part. We could wear a T-shirt with giant hearts on it and pink Doc Martins and feel like we were the coolest person in school. As adults, we've lost that unselfconscious air, and tend to stay away from donning special themed outfits — particularly when we have to go into work. But in my personal opinion, a little festive dress would liven up most work places, so if your office dress code allows it, why not embrace a holiday-inspired outfit this year?

In the playing-it-cool dominated realm of Iiternet dating, many deem it “cheesy” to ask someone out on Valentine’s Day and therefore avoid it at all costs; in middle school, though, we had no such hang-ups. A holiday entirely devoted to love and romance seemed like the perfect time to reveal how we truly felt about our fellow classmates! Whether you chose to call up our crush's landline and leave a super uncomfortable voicemail confessing your love, or went the more subtle rout of getting your friends to ask their friends if they maybe liked you, a few pink hearts were certainly not going to deter you from making a move.

Before the internet became a go to place for all sex and romance questions, we had to learn about things the old fashioned way: Watching people kiss on TV and acting out the motions with a pillow or a poster of Justin Timberlake with frosted tips (I don't judge). We had to be ready for the magic moment when our crush went in for a first kiss, and there was no better time to practice than Valentine's Day.

These days we spend way too much time stressing over the wording of a simple text to even consider putting pen to paper on Valentine's Day. The old "Do you Like Me? Check Yes or No" is a bit too blunt for modern romance, though it would probably produce better results than today's classic: "Sup?"

Well, maybe we still do that a bit...