Valentine’s Day Spending To Hit $26 Billion, As ‘Experience Gifts’ Grow In Popularity (2024)

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Valentine’s Day Spending To Hit $26 Billion, As ‘Experience Gifts’ Grow In Popularity? ›

Overall, consumers plan to spend a total of $25.8 billion to celebrate Valentine's Day, on par with last year's spending and the third highest in the survey's history. Sixty-two percent of consumers ages 25-34 plan to celebrate this year, more than any other age group.

Valentine's Day exploded in popular culture beginning in the 1840s. The origins of Valentine's Day are pretty obscure. While scholars generally agree that the holiday was popularized in the 1840s in the U.K. and U.S., the specific historical roots of the celebration remain ambiguous.

For Valentine's Day 2024, roughly half of surveyed U.S. shoppers said they would buy chocolate or candy as a gift for another, making it the most shopped for Valentine's Day gift. About a third of respondents said they intended to purchase flowers.

In the past couple of years, the most remarkable increase has been Valentine's Day spending for children's classmates and teachers, which rose sharply from 1 in 5 people intending to buy gifts for their young ones and their teachers in 2021 to 1 in 4 people in 2023.

With the holiday right around the corner, let's take a look at how Americans will spend in 2024. The National Retail Federation (NRF) projects total spending will approach $25.8 billion on Valentine's Day in 2024. This is on par with last year and is significantly higher than the pandemic years.

It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.

Geoffrey Chaucer Links Valentine's Day to Romance

By the Middle Ages, thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France. Perhaps that's why, in the 14th century, Valentine's Day took a romantic turn, thanks to the influence of English poets like Geoffrey Chaucer.

The top gifts include candy (57%), greeting cards (40%), flowers (39%), an evening out (32%), jewelry (22%), clothing (21%) and gift cards (19%).

Modern Love

The 'pursuit of pleasure' defines this rebellious trend for 2024; with celebrations offering the perfect outlet for hedonism. One of the key indicators of this trend was the rise of empathy fatigue and centring of the self.

Spending differs by gender and age. Men spend more on Valentine's Day ($200+), while women usually spend less. Millennials are the biggest spenders, with those in that age group planning to spend around $300 on the holiday.

How has Valentine's Day changed over the years? ›

Valentine's Day traditions have evolved a lot over the years. For example, in the Middle Ages—which lasted from the 5th to 15th centuries in Europe—people started exchanging handmade cards with love notes inside. Today billions of dollars are spent on Valentine's Day cards and gifts each year around the world.

The holiday is an economic engine for businesses of all types in communities across the country. The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that 53% of consumers plan to celebrate Valentine's Day, and $25.8 billion will be spent on the holiday this year, or about $185.81 per household.

SALT LAKE CITY — According to the National Retail Federation, the average American will spend about $185 celebrating Valentine's Day this year. The nation as a whole spends an estimated $25.8 billion.

The average consumer will spend $192.80, up from $175.41 in 2022. The average planned spending on family members and significant others remains unchanged from 2022 to 2023, holding steady at around $131.

In the Middle Ages, people throughout Europe believed that birds mated on February 14. This belief, that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine's Day, led to the idea that boys and girls should do the same. As early as the 15th century in England, men wrote “amorous addresses” to their lady love.

The Romans had a festival called Lupercalia in the middle of February - officially the start of their springtime - and the occasion was marked by lots of different rituals. Did you know? The first Valentine's Day was in the year 496 AD!

In the late 1800s, the holiday was also commercialized, with businesses printing and selling pre-written Valentine's messages. Around that time, people started giving candy and flowers to loved ones or going on romantic getaways with their partners.

There are so many ways to recognize the people we love, and Valentine's Day provides the opportunity and means to do so. The holiday being so commercialized allows for gifts to be affordable, and while gifts do not define the holiday, they show the sentiment, consideration and energy that the day is all about.