Valentine's Day 2012: Americans Spend More On Valentine's Day Than Halloween

Are Sweethearts more addictive than Candy Corn?

The numbers say yes. In the battle for most consumerist holiday, Valentine's Day beat Halloween by a landslide this year, with Americans expecting to spend $17.6 billion on candy, balloons, paper cards and other tokens of love that don't last forever. At Halloween, Americans spent $6.86 billion, according to National Retail Federation surveys.

Of course, Christmas comes first in terms of holiday spending. But after Saint Nick, Saint Valentine is the number two salesman.

Those who celebrate Valentine's Day certainly don't mind shelling out: $126.03 on average per person, according to the NRF Survey, up from $116.21 last year. Men are doing most of this, spending nearly double the amount of women. At Halloween, by comparison, Americans spend $72.31 per person on average.

Why not spend money? In addition to the classic gifts of roses, candy and jewelry, Americans now have a bevy of fast food options to choose from. White Castle, Pizza Hut and Waffle House are all hosting Valentine's day special dinners (our favorite is this Papa John's heart shaped pizza).

One trend for both holidays this year is pet spending: 14.7 percent of those surveyed at Halloween said they dress up their pets. Even more, 19.9 percent, said they would buy their pets gifts at Valentine's day. Let's just hope they don't pick chocolate.

Despite all those lonely people treating their dogs to candlelight dinners, Halloween remains the more popular holiday. Seventy percent of adults surveys celebrate Halloween, compared to only 60 percent on Valentine's Day.

For this we can only thank the army of surly singles who are refusing to buy anything pink, and in some cases even protesting the holiday with their own anti "couple-talism" celebrations.