COUNTY LIFE
ROSES/FLOWERS
- 110 million roses, the majority red, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.
- Valentine’s Day is the big time of year for red roses; Mothers’ Day means more pastel roses.
- California produces 60 percent of American roses, but the vast number sold on Valentine’s Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America.
- 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day.
- 73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine’s Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
CARDS
- About 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year. That’s the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
- One-third of all Valentine cards are accompanied by gifts.
- Romantic cards are the best-sellers. Victorian era-influenced cards are prominent this year.
- An estimated 25 percent of Valentine’s Day cards are humorous
- More than 50 percent of cards are sold the week of the holiday, with the largest and most elaborate Valentine cards sold 48 hours before February 14.
- 70 percent of those celebrating the holiday give a card, followed by a telephone call (49 percent), gift (48 percent), special dinner (37 percent), candy (33 percent) restaurant meal (30 percent), and flowers (19 percent).
- Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts. Children ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine’s cards with teachers, classmates, and family members
- Hallmark has over 1330 different cards specifically for Valentine’s Day.
CHOCOLATE & CANDY
- Conversation Hearts: In 1866, candy manufacturer NECCO made the first “Conversation Hearts” — then called “Motto Hearts.” According to NECCO, eight billion of these little candies are sold between January 1 and February 14.
- More than 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine’s Day.
GENERAL
- In the United States, 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine’s Day with their sweethearts.
- The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine’s Day.
- Valentine’s Day is big business. Consumers will spend an average of $77.43 on Valentine’s Day gifts this year. E-commerce retailers expect to rack up about $650 million in sales of food, candy, flowers, and other Valentine’s Day gifts. Of that amount about $350 million will be for gifts and flowers and another $45 million will be spent on food (including chocolate) and wine.
- About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.
Happy Valentine’s Day
The Candy Cane Sip & Stroll With Me kicks off Fantasy of Lights Christmas weekend in Bowie on Dec. 6.
Bowie’s popular strolling event will be from 5-8 p.m. on Dec. 6 throughout downtown. Participating merchants invite strollers to enjoy wine or other drinks and holiday munchies as they shop stores and visit retailers. There will be live music, a holiday photo booth and carriage rides.
Wristbands may be purchased at any of the participating merchants for $15. Strollers will receive a wine glass with their wristband, but they also are welcome to use a previous glass.
Proceeds go toward downtown beautification projects by the Bowie Community Development Board.
Participating merchants are: Rooted Souls Studio, Brandi’s Hair Salon, Beauty Bar + Co., Sharing the Love of Dolls, Broke Gals Boutique, Culpepper’s Trading Post, Hwy. 59 Boutique and Gifts, Studio 81, Wheat Jewelry Design, Mowens Slingin that Wax, Wise Street Mercantile, Silver Bullet Web Solutions and Cross M Beef, Hat Rack Hair Styles, Reboot Tech Repair, R&K Sound and Entertainment, Kimber Creek Gift Store, Sister Act Connection, The Element Salon, TScott designs, The Cactus Flower, The Wildflower Downtown, Rustic/Wings/Belle Rose, Thrift Angels Thrift Store, H&R Block, LaBelle Vintage Mall and Bowie Smoke Shop.
Sip & Stroll is a prelude to the Fantasy of Lights Christmas Festival on Saturday that has activities throughout the day, and a Christmas home tour on Sunday afternoon.
For 58 years the Bowie Young Homemakers have been helping build families and community through its activities and support. While its signature event today is Santa’s Workshop, their efforts have touched many through the years.
The club was launched on Nov. 1, 1967 after being organized by two Bowie home economics teachers. Waunita Schaffner served as club advisor 40 years and left the post when she retired after 39 years of teaching, 31 in Bowie.
As she retired in 2006, she told The Bowie News she and Francis Stewart thought this type of club would be good for young people. It was originally associated with the state association, but later left that group when they wanted to exert control over how local funds were spent.
The initial thrust of the organization was to encourage young homemakers and help them accomplish their goals.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
Top photo- Colorful Christmas decorations are a trademark of Santa’s Workshop.
Communities, just like families, will come together for Thanksgiving with holiday meals this week, so don’t spend the day alone or without a meal.
Saint Jo and Forestburg will have their town dinners on Nov. 21, while the Nocona Senior Citizen Center also will serve its Thanksgiving feast.
In Saint Jo the meal will be served at noon in the Saint Jo Civic Center. The center board will provide the turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, bread and drinks. Guests are asked to bring their favorite side dishes whether it be vegetables, salads or desserts to complete the meal.
Food may be dropped off at the civic center that morning. This meal is free. The civic center is a 501c3 non profit corporation and donations are appreciated.
The Forestburg Community Center Club will serve up its dinner at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 21 at the community center. The club will provide meat, dressing and drinks, while guests are asked to bring a side dish or dessert.
The Nocona Senior Citizens Center will serve up its Thanksgiving feast at noon on Nov. 21. The meal will include traditional holiday favorites. Cost is $10 for adults, $5 for those 12 and under and free for those under the age of four. The center is at 400 Boston Street.
The center is already taking RSVP reservations for dine-in and take-out, call 940-825-3148. Center staff sent out their gratitude for those who donated turkeys and hams this past week after one of the center freezers went out. They have plenty of turkeys but could still use a few hams.
The center experienced a big setback earlier this week when its freezers went out destroying the turkeys and hams already stored for the dinner. Community members have been stepping up to fill the void and center officials were planning to restock this weekend.
First Methodist Church of Bowie members will once more host the Bowie community Thanksgiving Day dinner from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Members invite you to come as you are to share a meal in fellowship hall or call for delivery or carry-out.
Delivery orders will be taken until noon on Nov. 27. Call the church office at 940-872-3384. Calling to report pick-up meals is helpful, although not necessary. There is no charge for dinner.
There also will be a free hot meal on Thanksgiving Day at First Baptist Church of Nocona from 10 -11:30 a.m. The church is located at 511 Cooke and the meal of traditional favorites will be serv
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