Trivia about Valentine’s Day

About three percent of pet owners give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.

One-third of all Valentine’s Day cards are accompanied by gifts.

Hallmark has more than 1,330 different cards specifically for Valentine’s Day.

About one quarter of Valentine’s Day cards have humorous messages.

American women say they’d rather receive chocolate than flowers on Valentine’s Day.

Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and sweethearts.

About one billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year. The holiday is second only to Christmas in terms of the number of cards sent.

The celebration of Valentine’s Day can be traced to the ancient Roman holiday of the Lupercal, which honored Lupercus the Lycaean, who protected flocks of sheep from wolves.

Seventy percent of those celebrating Valentine’s Day show their affection by giving a card. Others make a telephone call (49 percent), give a gift (48 percent), plan a special dinner (37 percent), give candy (33 percent), have a meal in a restaurant (30 percent), or give flowers (19 percent).

Pope Gelasius declared February 14 to be Saint Valentine’s Day in 498 A.D.

Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentine’s Day candy box in the late 1800s.

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.

The Chocolate Manufacturers Association of America says 36 million boxes of chocolate are sold for Valentine’s Day.

About 110 million roses, most of them red, will be sold for Valentine’s Day this year.

Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent on the telephone, an “improvement in telegraphy,” on Valentine’s Day, 1876.

Valentine’s Day was originally associated with the mating season of birds.

Fifteen percent of women in the United States send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day.

During Abraham Lincoln’s campaign for President, a Democrat named Valentine Tapley swore he would never shave again if Abe were elected. Tapley kept his word and his chin whiskers went unshaved from November 1860 until he died in 1910, attaining a length of 12 feet six inches.

Americans spend $655 million each Valentine’s Day on candy, making it the fourth biggest holiday of the year for confectionery purchases, after Halloween, Christmas and Easter (in that order).

In the U.S., it’s estimated that 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for Valentine’s Day.

During Victorian times, it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine’s Day card.