Valentine's Day: How Much Will You Spend On February 14?

When I was a kid, Valentine's Day meant picking out hip Scooby Doo/Jem/Power Rangers Valentine's day cards for your class (or, if you had cool parents, some D.I.Y. sparkles and construction paper). As an adult, it can mean candlelit dinners and flowers delivered to the office -- or ordering Chinese takeout while watching Revolutionary Road. However you feel about it, Valentine's Day is big business. A 2011 survey by the market research firm BIGresearch sponsored by the National Retail Federation projected that Americans would spend a total of $3.4 billion dollars on Valentine's Day dinner last year, with the average Joe (or Jane) planning on dropping $116.21 on a romantic meal.

Coupon Cabin created this Valentine's Day infographic showing that dinner wasn't the only thing Americans were planning on paying for last year to celebrate the occasion. National Retail Federation survey estimates indicated that we would spend 3.5 billion on jewelry, 1.1. billion on greeting cards and 1.7 billion on flowers. Mint.com tracked actual Valentine's 2011 spending and found that, individually, their users spent an average of around $73 dollars on flowers and anywhere from $220 to just over $500 on jewelry. (They also found that love is really expensive in Phoenix.)

Source: Mint.com Personal Finances

That's not to say that Americans think money can buy love. As the Coupon Cabin infographic shows, we spend money on a day dedicated to love even if we don't necessarily believe in the concept (or, at least, marriage -- according to the 2010 PEW Study the infographic cites, 4 in 10 Americans believe marriage is becoming obsolete).

With the big day less than a week away, we are curious to know how you're planning to spend (and how much you're planning to spend) on February 14. Have you been saving up in order to lavish wine, roses and chocolate on your partner? Will you be buying yourself a little something, or will you be avoiding Hallmark stores like the plague? Let us know your Valentine's Day plans by tweeting @HuffPost Women with hashtag #VDayPlans

 

Follow Jessica Pearce Rotondi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lanewyorkaise

Comments

[900]

03:15 AM on 02/13/2012

1 bag of doggie bones filled with chicken - 14.99
4 new red doggie sweaters with little hearts on them - 40.00
Seeing how cute they look in the their new sweaters and chewing bones - Priceless.

Valentines day is for the Dogs!!!!!

[Hermione1973]

05:53 PM on 02/12/2012

I don't like the idea that there's some obligation to show one's significant other how much you love him or her just because it's Valentine's Day. My husband has done some wonderful things for me for Valentine's Day, and vice versa. But it means more to me if he gives me a small gift out of the blue or when he sneaks up behind me when I'm washing dishes to give me a spontaneous kiss and hug. But our corporate overlords apparently feel we must spend money to show our love.

[Kenneth Alton]

11:26 AM on 02/09/2012

"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness --
And Wilderness is Paradise enow."

(Some things money can't buy, though one should spring for a descent vintage. There's nothing romantic about drinking plonk, LOL)

[BookAddictKatie]

07:00 PM on 02/08/2012

Jem and the Holograms! Only one of the greatest (worst) shows of all time!

[Rad666]

06:43 PM on 02/08/2012

$0.00

[Lovenhugs]

06:37 PM on 02/08/2012

Zero. But I love the day after........all the yummy chocolate is drastically discounted to sell. It's just me so I'm the only one I have to please and cheap chocolate pleases me. LOL

[allen92909]

04:59 PM on 02/08/2012

Spent about $3.48 cents for Valentines day on a card for my husband. He thinks it's a holiday invented by greeting card companies to get money out of people, so I thought it was fitting to get him a greeting card...lol. We might go out to dinner, but we certainly won't do anything fancy.

[CC Simon]

04:07 PM on 02/08/2012

It feels good to be appreciated and loved. A single rose or favorite flower, a cute heart drawn on the bathroom mirror (use an eyeliner pencil or lipstick), a small bag of chocolate (love Dove) or another favorite confection, a hand-written note with a heart or a lipstick kiss, or anything small but meaningful is very nice.

None of this has to cost a fortune, and the thought is priceless.

[woodnwire]

04:01 PM on 02/08/2012

and i thought wondering if i eat tonight, was important. so my answer is zero.

[Caketress]

03:38 PM on 02/08/2012

I can guarantee you I will spend $0 on Valentine's Day.

[Stephanie Gustafson]

03:36 PM on 02/08/2012

I don't want my boyfriend spending money on me just to 'celebrate' a made-up holiday. And I certainly wouldn't want him spending almost $200 with money that should be going to his student loan payments. I'd just end up feeling guilty.

[mindAbove]

03:35 PM on 02/08/2012

Valentine's Day is a "cutesy" holiday. My husband and I celebrate it on a very small scale. However, the retail industry, like with so many other holidays, makes you feel like you have to overspend and it's not necessary. It is so much more meaningful, when your loved one remembers you on a day that isn't a nationally celebrated day and not on a day that you are almost expected to do something nice /loving.

[secondcoming]

03:30 PM on 02/08/2012

Valentines is the Devil's birthday and if I remember right last year what little she was wearing was red.

[Phoenix Lee]

03:26 PM on 02/08/2012

valentines day is for the heathen, i have money in my pocket, since being an evangelical false idols[cupid, amor, eros ect.] thou shalt not worship any gods before me.save your money with your soul.

[Stacey Schley]

03:08 PM on 02/08/2012

Valentines Day for us will be spent like any other day. Home cooked meal, a nice stroll, and maybe a movie on the couch. Flowers will die, I don't need the chocolate, and I still have three drawers of lingerie from our wedding, but there is never enough quality time spent together.