• Total Valentine’s Day spending was projected to approach $26 billion — the second-highest year on record — and per-person spending was expected to come in around $193, according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights and Analytics’ annual survey.
The stay in and grill out (steaks) tradition continued at our house, where we saved on babysitting expense (our second child was originally due on Valentine’s!) and tipping, but lost out on people watching.
• About one in 14 U.S. adults (7%) reported that they’ve broken up with someone on Valentine’s Day, according to early 2020 YouGov research.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a broken heart on Valentine’s, but I did break a crown. Last year on 2-14, in fact. The culprit for the tooth troubles was crackers, not candy.
• Sixty-four percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine’s Day with their better and always remembering halves, a Tennessee newspaper reported referencing a trivia site. I wonder what percentage flat-out forgets…
I don’t remember the birthdays of friends’ kids all that well, but there’s one I can’t forget. My high school and college classmate wrote in 2006: “So I only got [my wife] a card for Valentine’s Day. Good thing she was too busy having a baby to notice.” Happy Birthday to Jake!
• Women buy around 85 percent of all Valentines, according to one (vague) source.
That might (but might not) explain my father’s rustiness in the card-choosing category. True fact: He and my mother bought each other the same dog-themed card this Valentine’s Day. The key difference was that my mom bought the dollar store card to be from their dog!!
• What’s in a name? Many Latin American countries call Valentine’s el día de los enamorados (day of lovers) or día del amor y la amistad (day of love and friendship), according to Good Housekeeping.
To save time, our friends, the Valentines, would use an alias when booking dinner reservations on Valentine’s Day. I wish their nom de restaurant was something like Clive & Juliana Bixby or the George P. Burdells, but it was more strategically uncreative and basic.
bleeveblog 