Valentine's Day
Always observed on February 14
Facts
- Approximately 144 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged industry-wide (not including packaged kids’ valentines for classroom exchanges), making Valentine’s Day the second-largest holiday for giving greeting cards.
- In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Denmark, and Italy.
- Hallmark first offered Valentine’s Day cards in 1913 and began producing them in 1916.
2012 Product News
- Hallmark offers more than 1,400 Valentine’s Day greeting cards, including 99-cent value cards, Shoebox humor cards, Mahogany valentines for African-American consumers, and Hallmark Sinceramente designs with Spanish and bilingual messages designed for Hispanic consumers.
- Hallmark Gold Crown® stores offer the widest variety of unique and innovative cards including:
- Webcam Greetings with augmented reality technology come to life with a webcam.
- UNICEF cards provide ways for consumers to give back. A portion of the sale of UNICEF cards helps improve and save the lives of children around the world.
- Cards With Sound play favorite songs and audio clips from movies and TV shows. Some of these cards come in a large, 8.75-by-8.75-inch square or heart shapes.
- Cards With Motion give the illusion of a fully animated two-second scene or 3D image.
- A unique collection of kids' cards includes cards that come with 3-D glasses and a 3-D poster, and Push-Button Cards With Sound that enable the recipient to push buttons on the card to hear special messages from the characters.
- Some of the cards combine technologies, for example sound with motion, sound with lights, Webcam Greetings with sound, fiber optic animation with sound, and sound with paper mechanics such as pop-up images inside the card.
- Personalized Valentine's Day greeting cards are available on Hallmark.com.The sender can create the perfect Valentine's Day card by personalizing the text and adding photographs. Hallmark.com will then stamp and send the card.
- Hallmark.com also offers personalized classroom valentines, which feature the sender's name and/or recipient's name, as well as photos.
- Hallmark Gold Crown stores offer a variety of Valentine's Day gifts including animated stuffed animals and Hallmark Confections premium chocolates. Valentine gifts such as photo frames, gift books, Recordable Storybooks, music boxes, pendants, light-hearted gifts and mugs also are available at Hallmark Gold Crown stores.
- Saying “I love you” or “I appreciate you” isn’t always easy, but with new Blooming Expressions, it’s easier when you say it with a flower! The stunning red and pink blooms are showcased in a beautiful vase—press a button and watch the blooms unfold to reveal a heartfelt sentiment.
- Hallmark offers an everyday gift line, Storybook and Story Buddies, during the Valentine's Day season. Storybooks and Story Buddies feature a stuffed animal with voice-recognition software inside. When someone reads the coordinating storybooks, the stuffed animal responds with sound to certain words and phrases.
- Love 'Em? Bug 'Em! plush bug provides a fun way for parents to show kids how much they love them. With two varieties available this year, this stuffed bug can hold cards, stickers and other small gifts for a fun way to encourage a child. Parents can continue to place encouragement cards and gifts in the bug as time goes on.
- Valentine partyware for home, school and office plus stickers and a variety of gift bags, wrap, tissue and add-ons makes one-stop valentine shopping easy.
Holiday History
According to Roman legend, during the third century, Valentinus was imprisoned for his Christian beliefs and sentenced to death. While jailed, according to legend, Valentinus restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter. The night before he died, Valentinus wrote a farewell note to the girl, which he signed, “From Your Valentine.” His sentence was carried out the next day, Feb. 14, 269 A.D.
Hundreds of years later in fifth century Rome, people honored Juno, the pagan goddess of love and marriage, on Feb. 14. During the celebration, men would draw women’s names and court them for marriage.
Around 498 A.D., Pope Gelasius declared Feb. 14 as St. Valentine’s Day to honor the martyr Valentinus and to end the pagan celebration.
In 1849, Esther Howland of Worcester, Mass., published the first American valentine.
In Stores
Available at Hallmark Gold Crown® stores nationwide. Use the store locator on Hallmark.com to find the nearest Hallmark Gold Crown store.