Looks like today, we still celebrate St Valentine's Day as many years ago - by exchanging gifts such as cards, candy, flowers, etc. But for today Valentine's Day is big business. Consumers will spend an average of $77.43 on Valentine's Day gifts this year. E-commerce retailers expect to rack up about $650 million in sales of food, candy, flowers, and other Valentine's Day gifts. Of that amount about $350 million will be for gifts and flowers and another $45 million will be spent on food (including chocolate) and wine. The Empire State Building in New York City played a prominent role in the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Every year, a selected group of couples gets married on the building's 80th floor. To be selected, there to get married, on Valentine's Day, you have to write an original essay explaining why you want to have your wedding in the Empire State Building. .
Couples on the observation deck afterwards may find their lips crackling with electricity as they kiss. This is because of the huge static electricity build-up that tends to occur near the top of the building. .
Apparently, gifts of chocolates and flowers haven't replaced carefully chosen cards on Valentine's Day. Since 1915, Hallmark, the undisputed leader of the greeting card industry, has manufactured cards to be mailed in envelopes. Founder Joyce Hall started selling greeting postcards from two shoeboxes as early as 1910. The Norfolk, Nebraska, teenager with the big ideas built a Kansas City business and global empire. Today, Hallmark makes a tremendously diverse range of cards in 30 languages and sells them in more than 100 countries. The United States Post Office in Loveland, Colorado, USA, creates a special and one-of-a-kind cancellation stamp every year in order to celebrate Valentine's Day and the romantic name of Loveland, Colorado. The Post Office is now averaging greater than 300,000 Valentines remained annually including 104 foreign countries and all 50 United States. The cancellation stamp sample shown here is from 1995.
Some people still make their own valentines. Most parents think these are the best kind. .
The modern valentine card has become increasingly sophisticated, keeping pace with popular technological advances. For example, there are cards that let you record a romantic message, "scratch-and-sniff" cards and cards that play romantic music. .
And of course, a lot of us today will send e-mail valentines. Some sites even offer free personal use of their illustrations or cards. Other technology allows you to send a romantic fax or videotape with a personal valentine message. But choose your valentine carefully -- some people find fax and e-mail missives too impersonal and not private enough for this holiday of love. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest! .