Every year when Valentine’s Day rolls around you have couples all over the country scrambling to get the perfect gift, to set up the perfect date, and to show their love in the perfect way. From the perfect Valentines day gift all the way to the perfect night cap, Valentine’s Day has become a cultural phenomenon. Though you probably think you know everything there is to know about the big V-Day the truth is that you have no idea. There is more to this holiday than just Cupid, flowers, cards and romance. Keep on reading to find out 9 mind blowing Valentine’s Day gifts that will blow your mind.
Men spend more and want less out of Valentine’s Day compared to women.
If you think that Valentine’s Day is all about treating the special lady in your life right, then you would be correct. Studies show that men overwhelmingly are more likely to outspend their female partners while asking for even less in return. The average man spends about $150 on Valentine’s Day compared to the average woman who will end up spending around $80. Putting things further into context, about a third of men polled would opt to not receive a gift on Valentine’s Day. About 20% of women polled would opt out of receiving a gift if they could. Just to add one final fun statistic to this Valentine’s Day episode: 15% of women in the United States will end up sending themselves flowers on V-Day. We’re not judging. Getting flowers as promotional items to show off around the office makes sense!
Greeting cards to send to your loved ones for Valentine’s Day
The Red Rose has multiple meanings for Valentine’s Day.
One of the most popular gifts you can get on Valentine’s Day is a red rose or even a whole bouquet of them. If you are like me then you probably have never thought too deeply as to why the red rose is the ideal flower. As it turns out, there are a ton of reasons why you should reach for a red rose the next time you need a V-Day gift (but don’t get it for Mothers day gifts, that sends a wrong message). The red rose was considered the most prized flower of Venus. Venus, in Roman mythology, was the goddess of love — so she has some pretty solid ground to stand on when it comes to backing the rose. The color red has also historically been associated with strong and evocative emotions — like love and passion. So combining the color red and the rose flower makes total sense, right? This doesn’t mean that the rose is the only flower you should be getting. Change things up and give your significant other a multitude of flowers, detailing the entire rainbow. Besides, a full and colorful bouquet can make for great executive gifts and corporate gifts, as well — it’s multi purposed! The same study from the UK’s Chilisauce said that 75% of flower purchases are made on Valentine’s Day. And of those 75% of purchases, the vast majority are typically made within a few days of the actual holiday — a true procrastinator’s delight!
The Red Rose has multiple meanings for Valentine’s Day
220,000 people get engaged on Valentine’s Day every year.
Marriage is supposed to be the largest sign of love that you can show to your significant other. So it shouldn’t surprise us to learn that Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular days in the entire year for loving couples to get engaged. In fact, statistics show that over 220,000 couples get engaged on Valentine’s Day every single year. That’s an insane amount! The next three days that ranked as popular engagement days were: Christmas Even, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve — in that order. So if you are thinking about having an elaborate marriage proposal in the future, consider making it happen on Valentine’s Day — you’ll be in good company if you do. However, if you don’t want a sophisticated proposal then don’t feel bad about keeping it simple. A study done by Chilisauce, which is an event planning site based out of the UK, showed that the overwhelming majority of women preferred a simple proposal over an elaborate set up.
people get engaged on Valentine’s Day every year
Valentine’s Day is historic for chocolate.
We’ve associated chocolate as closely to Valentine’s Day as we have flowers and romantic cards. The truth is that chocolate has a deep, intertwined history with the idea of love and how we cope with it. Dating back to the 1800’s it would not be uncommon to hear a doctor prescribe to their patient a serving of chocolate in order to ‘cope with lost love’. We are sure there are some chemical or more in depth reasons as to why chocolate was a love cure all, but we’re happy to respect the diagnoses any time — We’re eating this chocolate on doctor’s orders! While we’re discussing prescribed chocolate we should definitely point out this startling number: over 35 million boxes of chocolate, shaped as hearts, are sold on Valentine’s Day. That’s right, over 35 million boxes! That means a full 11% of the United States population is going to end up with a heart shaped chocolate box. That’s too many people! That’s too many heart shaped boxes, it’s madness!
Valentine’s Day is historic for chocolate
Valentine’s Day has VERY different meanings in different countries.
Before V-Day was completely commercialized in modern America the holiday was considered quite something different. Back in the Middle Ages there was nothing about love in the holiday, not in the true sense of the word anyway. Instead, young men and women would put their names into a bowl and then they would draw them out one at a time, completely random. Then they would wear the name pinned to their sleeves for an entire week. This act is the origin for the phrase, “wear your heart on your sleeve”. In Finland things are completely different when celebrating the holiday. Instead of being called Valentine’s Day the holiday is called ‘Ystavanpaiva’. Most people don’t speak Finnish so we’ll translate: Ystavanpaiva translates, roughly, to ‘Friend’s Day’. Instead of celebrating romantic love you instead spend time remembering your friends. This sounds like an excellent version of the holiday for those of us who are perpetually single when February comes around.
Valentine’s Day has VERY different meanings in different countries
Slovenia has a VERY different Saint Valentine.
There is an entire history behind the reason we call the holiday Valentine’s Day, and we’ll get into that later, but at its core is the Saint Valentine person. In Slovenia Saint Valentine, otherwise known as Zdravko, is not considered a card carrying member of the love slinging service. Instead, this Saint Valentine is a saint of spring good health, beekeepers and pilgrims. In Slovenia the mythos behind the character is that his arrival would bring roots to the plats and flowers and they would begin to rise and grow after he visited. In this way Saint Valentine was more a harbinger of the changing season rather than the twisting of love, but that is no longer the case in many places around the world.
Slovenia has a VERY different Saint Valentine
Valentine’s Day originated with religious undertones.
Valentine’s Day, as you have learned, has not always been about love and romance. Initially Valentine’s Day was established as a Christian day of honor for the early saint named Valentinus. The day would be spent filled with merry activities and delicious food and remembrance of what Saint Valentine gave up in order for the religion being that he died a martyr. However, Valentinus and his past is so murky that the Catholic Church stepped away from recognizing his name in the Roman Calendar, instead opting to allow local calendars to commemorate him. All that we know for sure is that he was buried in a cemetery near the Ponte Milvio on the Via Flaminia. In fact, researchers aren’t even sure if Valentinus was a single person as there are theories that he was actually two saints combined into one historical figure.
Valentine’s Day originated with religious undertones
Hallmark is serious about their Valentine’s Cards.
The first Valentine Day card produced by Hallmark was made way back in 1913. You know how some cynics will scoff and say that V-Day is a ‘Hallmark Holiday’? Well, now you know why. As of 2016 Hallmark has a complete staff focused on researching and analyzing how different cards have sold on past Valentine’s Day. This research staff also interviews customers, observes store activities, and talk to focus groups in order to come up with new card ideas. Every year the company will end up producing around 2,000 new cards to start sending out to their shelves.
Hallmark is serious about their Valentine’s Cards
The oldest recorded Valentine’s Day card dates back to 1415.
Charles, the Duke of Orleans, was imprisoned inside of the Tower of London in the year 1415. The Duke had been captured during the Battle of Agincourt and promptly locked away as a valuable prisoner. Rather than lamenting his captivity the Duke instead wrote a simple, loving poem to his wife. Everybody say it with us now: Awww.
The oldest recorded Valentine’s Day card dates back to 1415
