Happy Valentine's Day!

The most romantic day of the year arrives this Saturday!
Have a great Valentine's Day and enjoy these Valentine fun facts!


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.