Valentine’s Day

BY THE NUMBERS

By The Numbers, a look at what’s in the news . . . by the numbers. These are just numbers, not suggestions that they mean more or less than what they are. We do not suggest that one number is connected to another. These are simply facts with no extraneous details, bias or slanted reporting. To borrow (and perhaps mangle a bit) a quote from legendary fictional detective Joe Friday, it’s just the numbers, ma’am!

Valentine’s Day is Saturday – and while everyone is planning the perfect date night, evening out, special meal, heartfelt present or whatever . . . we here at your favorite online edition thought we’d sic our pack of intrepid reporters (OK, maybe that’s just one lonely guy in front of a computer screen) on diving into all this romance and Cupid business and finding out what Valentine’s Day really is all about . . . by the numbers!

$29,100,000,000

Yes, you counted those zeros correctly – that’s $29.1 billion (with a big, ol’ capital B) dollars that’s projected to be spent this year on Valentine’s stuff.

$200

For those keeping score at home, that $29 billion breaks down to just about $200 per person, well, $199.78.

$13,300,000,000

And for those REALLY keeping score at home, about $7 billion is being spent on jewelry and a little less than that on a special evening out. That leaves almost $16 billion left. We’re not sure we want to know what that’s being spent on.

60 percent

How many marriages today that began online.

0 percent

How many marriages from those born before 1960 that began online . . . OK, OK, we know that’s not true. It just seems that way.

33 percent

How much online dating activity goes up during the two week period leading up to Valentine’s Day.

41 percent

About 4 in 10 people opt to buy flowers for Valentine’s Day (we prefer red roses, by the way).

30 percent

According to our friends at WalletHub, about 30 percent of annual flower sales happen now.

13 and 11

The percentages, respectively, of men and women who would like to get chocolates for Valentine’s Day.

225

The year St. Valentine was born in Terni, Italy. There were relics of him in the catacombs of a church in Rome. His skull has flowers around it and is displayed in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome.

2

And lastly, Cupid carries two kinds of arrows. One has a golden point, the other lead. If you get hit with the golden one, you are full of desire. Lead? Not so much.