I spent so long this morning trying to figure out how to post Melinda Doolittle’s rendition of Funny Valentine here. That song is one of my favorites and no one does it better than Melinda. But WordPress has limitations – and the one music provider they have a deal with didn’t have it in their library. Dang!
Valentine’s Day this year isn’t about “stuff” for us. Hubby and I decided to forgo gift-giving in lieu of sending flowers to a friend who is really down and out and terribly alone this year. And we’re giving the kids a healthy infusion into their savings accounts instead of gifts. We don’t need anymore stuff. We do, however, need CHOCOLATE and there’s no shortage on that around here!
Some Valentine’s Trivia to sweeten your day:
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.
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.
About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.
During the late 1800s, postage rates around the world dropped, and the obscene St. Valentine’s Day card became popular, despite the Victorian era being otherwise very prudish. As the numbers of racy valentines grew, several countries banned the practice of exchanging Valentine’s Days cards. During this period, Chicago’s post office rejected more than 25,000 cards on the grounds that they were so indecent, they were not fit to be carried through the U.S. mail.
Hallmark has over 1330 different cards specifically for Valentine’s Day.
In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
In the United States, 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine’s Day with their sweethearts.
In Victorian times it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine’s Day card.
Only the U.S., Canada, Mexico, France, Australia and the U.K. celebrate Valentine’s Day.
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.
The first American publisher of valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland. During the 1870s, her elaborate lace cards were purchased by the wealthy, as they cost a minimum of 5 dollars – some sold for as much as 35 dollars. Mass production eventually brought prices down, and the affordable “penny valentine” became popular with the lower classes.
The oldest known Valentines were sent in 1415 A.D. by the Duke of Orleans to his French wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It is still on display in a museum in England.
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.
Wearing a wedding ring on the fourth finger of the left hand dates back to ancient Egypt, where it was believed that the vein of love ran from this finger directly to the heart.
A ring has been included in wedding ceremonies since the 12th century. Pope Innocent the Third ordained that marriages had to take place in church and that a wedding ring should be exchanged during the service.
