Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Valentines Day

Don’t get me wrong I had a wonderful Valentine’s Day. It was full of fun activities, good food, along with good company. Every Valentine’s Day my husband and I have a little tradition of doing some of the same things. It is a fun relaxing day of all of our favorite things. What is not so fun is what it does to the bank account. I cannot believe how much we fork out on these made up holidays. I heard in my marketing class that more couples break up the month of February than any other month. This got me thinking of the expectations that people have. My teacher previously worked in the candy/chocolate business and what better time to buy chocolates than for your special someone. And if you don’t have a special someone it is a good time to spend money on yourself. This holiday has people buying gifts, doing activities, and going out for a fancy dinner. What a great hallmark idea. Spending hundreds because it is a day we are supposed to express our love for the people that matter most in our lives. Advertising and society play such a large role. The United States has another holiday to celebrate and of course to spend. I find it so fascinating how much we drop to make these special days worthwhile by spending. If you are not spending then you have to deal with the potential break up. Breaking up over not saying I love you with gifts and goodies on one day is crazy. People should look at their relationship on all the other days to see how much someone cares about or loves you.

5 comments:

B*Marie said...

I love what you wrote and your ideas! I spent my V-Day at Brighton snowboarding, it was the best! One of the managers I work with isn't big on celebrating "commercial" holidays. She's gotten to the point where she doesn't even want to put up a Christmas Tree. I think that's a little crazy- but she feels like what it once stood for has diminished or been forgotten because of everything else that is now pushed on us. All the glitz! She and her husband celebrate Valentine's Day, but in a different way- they each pick one random day in the year to surprise each other and make that their Valentine's. I think it is brilliant and will probably one day do the same. That way when the day comes around it really is special and from the heart, and isn't being done because the media reminded you a million times about it.

Meg said...

I can TOTALLY relate to how working retail sucks the fun out of holidays. Seriously, Thanksgiving and Christmas are a blur and the whole time I just wish they were over because people are so much more cranky and rude during the holidays than any other time when you work in retail. People just get so crazy buying all this crap for Christmas and then everybody returns it the day after. BUT I think it's also true that our culture has been created by ourselves. And while there is a huge consumer hype around every holiday, that you have to go buy everything, over time we have made that part of the holiday a priority. It's hard to explain, but it's kind of a vicious cycle. The only thing that can stop it is the economy. Like this past Christmas, my family just drew each others names, so you only bought one gift and gave one gift. It was so cool! I was done Christmas shopping in like 30 minutes. There was just a lot less stress, besides the fact that I was working a million hours with holiday shoppers from hell.

ASUMIN said...

I'm so glad you have a wounderful varentines day!
In japan,Valentine's Day is celebrated in an interesting manner on two different dates in the country.On February 14, female present gifts to their boyfriends or any man close to them. The favor is returned to ladies on the White Day celebrated on March 14 when men pamper women who gave them gifts a month before on Valentines Day.

Greg said...

I agree. I think now the holidays are used as a way for companies to make some money, and not what they are all about. It's crazy to think how much money is spent on Valentine's Day alone. Interesting to see that more couples break up during this month than any other.

Kimmy Morley said...

I have to give advertisers and retails credit for this holiday. This is basically a holiday they created single-handedly. I do love the idea of Valentines day, but I think it can be spent without spending a lot of money.