While Christmas 2010 is now a distant memory, you probably remember hearing complaints about how commercial that particular holiday had become.
Valentine’s is approaching and while it isn’t quite a holiday per se, it is a day that some like to spend money on, sometimes more than necessary. Some even say that, like Christmas, it is commercialized. Is Valentine’s Day an opportunity to show our loved ones how we feel or is it a chance for us to spend some of our hard-earned money?
Valentine’s cards, candy and dinners are just some of the things people spend money on and sometimes people spend a little too much.
According to a 2009 report from USA Today citing BIGresearch, $14.7 billion was spent on purchases that year and an average of $67.22 was spent on a significant other but does there need to be a particular day of the year that you tell that significant other that you love him or her?
Do you need to spend money (whether it is more or less than $67.22 or not) to show he or she that you care?
I certainly don’t think so.
When I was a child in elementary school, we wouldn’t spend money for Valentine’s Day; rather, my classmates and I would take construction paper and scissors and make cards by hand for one another and even then, it wasn’t a chance to really teach us what love is but rather a chance to keep us occupied by having us work on some arts and crafts.
There will be some couples that won’t be spending money on each other at all and just because they aren’t, doesn’t mean that there isn’t any love in that relationship.
Love doesn’t take the shape of gifts or cards, it’s a feeling and an emotion and shouldn’t be characterized by how much money someone spends.
As our Crafty Corner columnist Darlainea Redlack puts in her Valentine’s Day craft column, “I have always believed that we do not need a special day to show loved ones how we feel.”
I’ve heard some people say that Christmas should last 365 days a year and if that’s true, so should Valentine’s Day.