Cool Valentines Day Facts

Valentines Day is Sunday. It all started with the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration celebrated on February 15. Pope Gelasius I made this festival a Christian feast day around 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day Facts

- Over 180 million Valentine's Day cards will be exchanged

- over 37 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be given.

- Valentine's Day is the fourth largest holiday of the year for flower sales behind Christmas/Chanukah, Mother's Day and Easter/Passover.

- 80% of Americans will purchase flowers for Valentine's Day.

- Candy sales for Valentine's Day are expected to top $1 billion.

- Valentine's Day is the second busiest holiday for greeting card sales behind Christmas.

- Valentine's Day is the third most popular evening for dining out behind yearly birthdays and Mother's Day

Valentine's Day By The Numbers

85% of Valentine Day cards are purchased by women.

Hallmark offers 1,300 different Valentine's Day greeting cards.

145 million Valentine's Day cards are bought every year.

174,000 gallons of sparkling wine is purchased during the week leading up to Valentine's Day.

250 million roses are grown for Valentine's Day.

63% of people, who purchase roses for Valentines Day will purchase red ones.

36 million heart shaped chocolate boxes will be sold for Valentine's Day

11,000 children are conceived each year on Valentine's Day

40% of people would hook up with someone just because it's Valentine's Day.

Consumers will spend $681 million dollars on their pets for Valentine's Day.

$1.7 billion dollars will be spent on Valentine's Day candy.

$1.9 billion dollars will be spent on Valentine's Day flowers

Date Night

Restaurant owners are happy that Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday this year because Saturday nights are already their busiest night of the week. When Valentine's Day falls on an off-night like a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, it gives restaurants another good night of business.