Sixth level of hell? (at least)

It all started so innocently - a list of class members was sent home, "for Valentine's Day cards". So on Tuesday, which was a snow day (although there was no snow, so maybe it was a "its February and we need a break day"), I took the boys to the mall to find Valentines Day cards. I expected to be able to sail into Hallmark and find a box full. We didn't, but we found doilies and heart stickers, and I knew we had craft paper, so ok, we'll make the cards.
My mistake, and I hope other parents in the US are reading this, so they can learn the easy way -
I thought it would be nice for my son to write in Every.Single. Card. To blah, from blah, Happy Valentine's Day.
Initially it was 11 cards for the class mates, then there was a new class member, then we remembered the teacher, the teachers assistant, the babysitter, and a friend from church whose mum warned us had a card, and finally, the bus driver (who apparently gives out candy...) which is, count it - about 17 - then he also does one for me - 18...
So it turns into a marathon session, over and over again, of encouraging small tired boy who couldn't care less, to write in Every. Single. Card. He wanted to do the cards, he just (by about the 5th card) didn't want to write in Every. Single. Card...
Eventually, we gave him a chocolate coin after every session, and talked hard about doing our best out of respect for our class mates, and how much fun the class party will be, and answered difficult questions about just what Valentine's Day is, and the cracker question - what the apostrophe was, and did we really need it (which just made me stressed, because it was a grammatical necessity, but do you want to try and explain that to a five year old who is also concentrating on writing neatly in 18 cards?!)
The take home from all that - Get a stamp of "Happy Valentines Day", or write it yourself. Leave the child the easy bit of To blah, From blah. Do not, under any circumstances, get enthusiastic and expect that he can write 18 cards in 4 nights.