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Valentine’s Day: more than money |
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Tuesday, 13 February 2007 |
$16.9 billion.
That is how much the National Retail Federation projects for Valentine’s Day spending. According to the NRF’s poll of about 7,700 consumers, the average amount spent on Valentine’s Day this year will add up to $119.67. About 70 percent of that is spent on spouses or significant others.
To break it down by the numbers, 180 million valentines are sent each year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Hallmark, which reported $4.2 billion in consolidated net revenues in 2005, controls more than 50 percent of the greeting card industry, according to its Web site.
According to the NRF, $13.5 billion is the total value of shipments for chocolate and cocoa products.
According to the National Confectioner’s Association, enough candy
hearts are produced for almost eleven months, though the peak selling
season is only six weeks.
 Active Image | Ashley Holland | The Appalachian
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The combined wholesale value of cut flowers is $422 million in 36 states with $100,000 or more in sales.
According to the Society of American Florists, Valentine’s Day comes in
at 21 percent of dollar volume for fresh flowers and plants. It is
third to Christmas and Mother’s Day.
In 2005, 28,527 jewelry stores sold $2.4 billion worth of merchandise, and that was just in February.
So why all these fun facts?
There are 16.9 billion reasons why Valentine’s Day has become a
“Hallmark holiday.” But before you submit to Cupid’s arrow of “let’s
spend a bunch of money,” here is a bit of history – and legend –
surrounding Feb. 14.
St. Valentine, at least one of the martyred St. Valentines recognized
by the Catholic Church, is said to have defied Roman Emperor Claudius
II. He had the audacity to marry young couples in secret after the
emperor had decreed a ban on marriage for young men destined, in his
eyes, to become soldiers.
St. Valentine himself may have even sent the first ever valentine card
before his death around 270 A.D. According to History.com, one legend
states he sent a letter to his beloved from his jail cell signed, “From
your Valentine.”
There are other legends about pagan fertility festivals, but no matter
how the celebration started, it didn’t get popular until around the
seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, people in
Great Britain were exchanging gifts and handwritten notes, and by the
end, they could send ready-made cards.
Handmade valentines probably started in American in the early 1700s. In
the 1840s, Esther A. Howland sold the first mass-produced valentines in
America.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy gifts, and granted, $120 isn’t that
much when you’re giving to friends and family as well as your
significant other.
All I’m saying is the flowers, the gift, the dinner, etc. is definitely not as important as the feeling that goes into it.
Love should always be the most important part of your Valentine’s Day and how you celebrate it should always come second.
Guys, there shouldn’t be the decision, “Should I get the solitaire diamond pendant or the diamond earrings?”
Honestly, I don’t think it matters, and if she loves you, neither will she.
And ladies, according to the Census Bureau, there are 120 single men in their 20s for every 100 single women of the same age.
They’re out there – now you just have to find the right one.
Good luck!
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