Love is in the air. And, it is also in the aisle (store aisle that is). When true love is on the line, Americans are ready to spend. According to the National Retail Federation, spending on Valentine’s Day this year is projected to be nearly $19.6 billion! That’s an average of $143.56 for each American.
What kind of love tokens will be given? Well, roughly 19% will give (and receive) jewelry for a total of $4.7 billion, and 35% of us will go out for a romantic dinner. Sigh…
Other statistics that show how much we love:
- 55% give candy to loved ones (especially chocolate)
- 114 million Valentine’s cards will be given
- 9 million marriage proposals offered
And it doesn’t stop with our beloved partners. It extends to schools, where we spend an average of $7.26 on children’s classmates and teachers, and on our pets who receive $5.50 worth of goodies. Even our co-workers get in the action with an average of $4.79 spent.
Finally, “gifts of experience” such as concert or event tickets are popular and 24% of people plan to give such a gift. Lest we forget about mobile, more than 50% plan to use their smartphones to help with decisions, and 36.9% will use smartphone to research gift giving.
What did you give and receive?
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Poll students: What did they give, and receive, on Valentine’s Day?
- Show a video on spending for Valentine’s Day: http://cnn.it/2Bsoigt
- Show NRF graphs on spending: https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/nrf-says-consumers-will-spend-near-record-196-billion-valentines-day
- Divide students into teams. Have each team develop a unique promotion for a Valentine’s Day experience gift.
- Have students vote on the most creative idea.
Source: National Retail Federation
