What I Think Of Valentine's Day

This blog entry is answering a question from Quofda.

First off, I don't believe that Valentine's Day is some commercially built-up holiday straight from the marketers at Hallmark like some people I know would like you to believe. If anything, Christmas is more guilty of being that holiday than anything else. Kids no longer think of anything at Christmastime other than the presents they want to get from their parents, and I'm not talking about the religious aspects of Christmas, but rather the whole point of "giving" and not "receiving". Okay I'm off point.

I think Valentine's Day can be celebrated without spending a lot (or any) money, and you can think up great things to do for your loved one without doing what everyone else is doing. Rose prices are so incredibly jacked up that it's probably just as meaningful to your loved one to buy them one really nice rose in a single stem vase than to drop some serious money on a dozen. You don't have to succumb to the pressures of chocolate stores and buy the heart-shaped assortment just because they're out front and easy to reach. At the Godiva store near us you can buy truffles individually and make a little bag of the ones you like. At $1.95 or so a piece, you can afford to get a few of the nice ones and skip out on the filler junk they put in the big assortment boxes. Plus you can choose the ones you want. It's cheaper, more thoughtful, and puts your input into the selection so that you can pick what your loved one actually wants to eat.

So I think Valentine's Day has nothing wrong with it except when people go ridiculously overboard. It should be a sign of your love for someone else, not an outward expression of how much Valentine's Day memorabilia you can pack into one shopping trip.