Gift Idea for Everyone

If you are in love, then Valentines Day is the occasion of the year for you. It is that day reserved for lovers and love. Many songs have been inspired by this occasion. Many wedding proposals and wedding vows have been made in this particular day. Retail shops, jewelry stores, flower peddlers and chocolate factories enjoy brisk business on the day directly leading to Valentines.

And what are the usual items associated with this occasion?

We have flowers, of course. Flowers connote a lot of things, but mostly, they are meant to symbolize love in all its glorious stages. Yellow roses, for example, have been meant to convey friendship. White roses have been meant to convey respect. Peach roses are meant to convey flirtatious gestures. Red roses are reserved for categorical love. Even the shape of the petals and the age of the buds have been given meaning, which takes on a particular import if given during Valentines Day.

In 2003, the domestic receipts for roses and lilies alone totaled $112,000,000. Thats for 36 states in the United States, and for only two varieties of flowers at that. Globally, the floral business could easily be worth billions of dollars per annum. And most of the sales are experienced you guessed it during the period leading to Valentines Day.

Chocolates have also become a popular message of love in the day of hearts. Chocolates are sweet, and this fact alone makes it achieve so many romantic meanings. A lot of people have given them as gifts to indicate a thoughtful and affectionate gesture.

As a testament to how chocolates are popular Valentines Day gifts, an average American consumes 25 pounds of this sweet delicacy per year. And an average of 14 pounds is consumed in the month of February.

One of the best ways to celebrate amorous vows is through jewelries. Engagement rings, commemorative bracelets, symbolic anklets these are just some of the popular adornments that are presented in the name of love. There are almost 300,000 jewelry shops in the United States alone. And they generate an average of $2,400,000,000 in sales every February. Thats a lot of money exchanged for jewelries in the month that is highlighted by Valentines Day!

Fine dining restaurants also experience a field day come February. Reservations are mostly made weeks, if not months, in advance for the more popular destinations. Youll find these high society dining places bustling with activities the week of Valentines Day. And each table is usually occupied by pairs.

Of the almost 140,000 marriages celebrated in Las Vegas, Nevada every year, around 45,000 of them are celebrated in the month of February. Romance is in the air during this period, and people in love would rather capitalize on it by exchanging their wedding vows in the wonderful city that is the pride of the desert state.

Indeed, these statistics show that Valentines Day is a day for lovers and love. And this involves people of all ages. You would see teenagers holding hands, senior couples renewing their commitments to each other, and middle-aged pairs trying to recapture their youth together. Valentines Day knows no age, as does love.

Much has been said about the commercialization of Valentines Day. Many people claim that it is an invention of greeting card companies to boost the sales of their products. Assuming that to be true, few can argue with the fact that Valentines can still be celebrated without the material things like cards, flowers, chocolates, jewelries and the likes. The best memories of Valentines are the times you have spent together, and this is what love is all about, after all.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 8th, 2005 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.