Valentine’s Day Spending 2023
Each year, Valentine’s Day, on Feb. 14, is becoming more and more advertised to be a holiday for people to spend their money on chocolates, flowers, and fancy dinners at restaurants.
Many companies, like Hallmark, emphasize that the holiday is only celebrated correctly by purchasing their cards, stuffed animals, chocolate boxes, and flower bouquets. The Valentine’s Day industry gathers enormous profits each year, because of its devotion to marketing and commercialization.
The grand total for the amount of spending on Valentine’s Day done by Americans is estimated to be $25.9 billion, which is recorded by the National Retail Federation.
Although, even the people who don’t have traditional Valentine’s Day plans still participate in the festivities and consume the retailed items for the holidays.
Grace Doer, a second-year majoring in civil engineering, doesn’t have any romantic plans but explains, “I do buy the chocolates, so probably a little bit of that [money spent on Valentine’s Day items].”
Only 52% of American consumers participate in Valentine’s Day, but with high prices, last-minute desperate shopping, and the desire to impress a significant other, 52% of consumers are all the industry needs to thrive and make huge profits.
The estimated spending per person on Feb. 14 is $198.80 to ensure they have a romantic day. For many people, nearly $200 is a hefty price to drop for a day’s celebrations, but after gifts, candy, food, and cards that price isn’t too hard to believe.
Abby Dominick candidly shared her and her boyfriend’s plans for Valentine’s Day spending, “my boyfriend and I, actually, talked about a limit for that [money spent], we did that similar for Christmas, so we decided to do a $100 limit,” Dominick said.
Contrary to what Hallmark wants everyone to think, buying extravagant presents, chocolates, flowers, or making coveted restaurant reservations are not the only ways to make this Valentine’s Day special or show a loved one that they’re cared for.
Instead, making special plans to pick flowers, make chocolates or dinner at home, hand writing a letter, or experiencing a cost-free memory will save spending, but might even create better memories.
Going into the future: Making memories with loved ones is always better and has more value than buying the most expensive chocolates or dinner entree.
Natalie Simone is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email nvs5790@psu.edu.
