According to history.com, for the past 4 centuries, Americans have been celebrating Valentine’s Day – and this year will be no exception. The Greeting Card Association estimates that 145 million cards will be sent to mark the holiday (not including for classroom celebrations), making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, after Christmas.
News to me, though not to my wife, it turns out that women purchase 80% of all greeting cards. In our household, the split is closer to 70-30. We exchange cards (so we’re 50-50 on that front), but she buys cards for everybody else, skewing the final tally. I also usually can’t resist buying her something even when we agree not to spend money. She’s worth it and I can handle the heat.
So yes we will celebrate. Even if it’s a holiday manufactured by the greeting card companies, it’s still become a time for us to honor all that we love about each other. And we are not alone. According to the latest VeraQuest survey, 2 in 3 Americans (and nearly 9 in 10 of those who have a significant other) plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day in some way; some romantic, some fun, and some just-plain-brief.
On average, Americans expect to spend 4 hours observing Hallmark’s favorite holiday, though about 1 in 3 will not celebrate at all either because they have no significant other – or because they just generally don’t care for the holiday.
- On either end of the spectrum, 3% of couples will spend less than 1 hour celebrating Valentine’s Day, while 12% will spend more than half their day (i.e., over 14 hours).
In addition, among those who have a significant other,
- 58% plan to stay home to celebrate (more on the married side than the single); and
- 60% will buy a special present from a store; 39% will create something home-made and 17% will get their significant other absolutely nothing.
The bottom line is that as much as I hear people complain about the holiday as a grotesque display of manufactured materialism and sugar, 83% of Americans actually admit they love (or at least like) Valentine’s Day, and only 4% say they hate it.
How do you feel? Does Cupid’s arrow warm your heart or leave you cold? Will you send a Hallmark card (or a 21st century e-greeting) this Valentine’s Day?
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