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