30 Fun Valentine’s Day Facts About the Holiday of Love

There are four specific states that can claim the "city of love" title: Arizona, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia. Each contain a city or town named Valentine (or Valentine's with an "s" at the end, in Virginia's case.)

International Quirkyalone Day, also observed on February 14, is a celebration for single people. Despite what you might think, it's not an anti-Valentines Day event, but a chance to embrace individuality and self-love! The holiday has been recognized worldwide since 2003.

Valentine's Day isn't just for the lovers. Each year, teachers receive the most Valentine's Day cards, followed by children, mothers, and wives. If you remember all the sweet classroom Valentine's Day parties of your childhood, this shouldn't be shocking!

Because of this, millions of dollars worth of roses are grown around the globe and shipped to the U.S. for Valentine's Day. In 2021, the U.S. imported $730 million worth of roses, making up 42% of the country's total flower imports that year.

There are so many Valentine's Day movies to watch with your sweetheart, but not all of them are rom-coms! Many films related to the holiday are scary movies, including the 1981 hit, My Bloody Valentine.

Valentine's Day-inspired emojis, with their heart shapes and cute colors, can be seen as a modern-day Valentine, of sorts. If you've ever texted your sweetie a heart to symbolize your love on Valentine's Day, you aren't alone. In 2024, the classic red heart was the second most-used emoji.

To be precise, the National Retail Federation estimates that consumers planned to spend an average of $188.81 on their recipients in 2025. The standards are high!

The made-up holiday was first mentioned in a 2010 episode of the TV show Parks and Recreation, starting a massive, nearly unbelievable wave of "friend to friend" spending. The National Retail Federation states that since 2015, such friendly gift expenses have more than doubled to $2.1 billion.

In 2024 alone, people planned to spend a whopping $1.5 billion on their pets for the holiday of love. That means toys, clothes, beds, and more! The real question is, are gifts for our pets really just presents for ourselves?

The National Retail Federation reported that Americans spent more than $21 billion on Valentine's Day gifts in 2021 alone. And that was during the ongoing pandemic, for goodness' sake!

According to Time.com, the concept of flowers having different meanings dates back to the 18th century when Lady Montagu sent a series of letters from Turkey to her home in England describing the Turkish flower language known as sélam. She misinterpreted it to mean that every flower symbolizes a different sentiment used to send love letters. Though this wasn't exactly true, the concept spread throughout society with the publication of a dictionary for the language of flowers in 1819. In turn, sales of roses (a perceived symbol of love and beauty) skyrocketed in the 19th century.

“Lovebirds” is commonly used to describe two people who are very much in love, especially around Valentine’s Day. But did you know that the taxonomic origin of this figure of speech is more literal than its everyday use? The word is also the common name for Agapornis birds, native to Africa. The brightly colored parrots mate for life, travel in pairs, and even feed each other—similar to couples you might see when going out to eat on Valentine’s Day.

According to a survey from Wedding Wire, Valentine's Day was the most popular day in 2020. This matches up with plenty of other surveys which have found that February 14 Christmas, and New Year's are all dates that people love to pop the question.

Near the end of the fifth century or around 500 A.D., Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as St. Valentine's Day. As for the origin and reasoning, that's a bit murkier.

Yep, you heard that right! Charles, the Duke of Orléans, was imprisoned in the Tower of London when he was 21 years old. In 1415, he wrote a letter to his wife with a poem that used the term "Valentine" to refer to her. The first line read, "My very gentle Valentine," and is considered by many to be the very first recorded valentine.

The movie that made the most money of all time was the historical romance Titanic which brought in $659 million total at the domestic box office. Well, it held the title of highest-grossing until Avatar came out twelve years later.

Lace can be seen all around on Valentine's Day, from ribbons to gift boxes. Well, the word itself has an origin befitting the holiday: the English word "lace" comes from the Latin word for "snare", as in you ensnare someone's heart. Put that in your next Valentine's Day card!

Pharmacist Oliver Chase initially cut medicinal lozenges by hand but eventually started making versions without medicine because candy was becoming popular. In the mid 1800s, he invented a lozenge-cutting machine to speed up the process and later a lozenge-printing machine to print words onto candy.

How do you let distant loved ones know you care on valentines day? Probably a call or text. Alexander Graham Bell, the man who invented the telephone, applied for a patent on February 14, 1876.

It's unclear: For starters, there was more than one St. Valentine. Some historians point to a third-century Roman priest who secretly married couples in defiance of the Roman emperor Claudius II Gothicus. Others point to a different priest—this one thrown in jail for attempting to assist Christians in Roman prisons.