HOLIDAY PROFILE
Valentine’s Day
Whether romantic, familial, charitable, brotherly, or platonic – celebrate love!
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VALENTINE’S DAY
Valentine’s Day is celebrated annually on February 14.
In 2023, February 14 is a Tuesday.
Celebrate on the exact date, or on an evening near February 14!
Ways to Celebrate
Obviously many celebrations of Valentine’s Day will occur among just two sweethearts, but here are some ideas of how to celebrate with family, friends, or your broader lovable community.
Get together those you love, whether family or friends, to share food and expressions of love. Make it a picnic at a park (or a beach) if you’re in a warm-weather location (with a beach). Or try something new and adventurous, like sushi-making. See our Valentine’s Day Pizza Party info on this page for some more specific ideas. That’s amore!
Host a Classy Cocktail Evening with Other Couples
You and your significant other can welcome other couples over for an elegant time. Put on our Valentine’s Day Playlist, cook or order a tasty dinner, and pop open some vino for a sophisticated night celebrating love and friendship.
Art with Heart
Gather friends for a fun time of social activities and laughs. Put on your own sip and paint event, do some wine tasting, write and share poetry or songs, or make it a game night.
Fête Resources
Try out our idea for combining the holiday with a pizza party (National Pizza Day is nearby on the calendar [February 9]) and check out the Fête playlist!
Valentine’s Day Pizza Party Idea Board
Click on idea board for printable image with hyperlinks.
Valentine’s Day Music Playlist
More About The Holiday
Valentine’s Day History & Traditions
Spring Festival & Early Saints
Saint Valentine’s Day may have been a 5th-century replacement for an old Roman festival that celebrated the coming of spring (Lupercalia). It is unsure which Christian martyr, or combination of saints, named Valentine was being celebrated back then. Many stories coming from those early saints with the name “Valentine” emphasized acts of heroic, sacrificial love. The mid-February date was likely chosen to take the time of Lupercalia or to commemorate the death of a certain Saint Valentine.
Birds & Written Romance
The day became more closely associated with romantic love in the Middle Ages, when notions of courtly love became associated with the “lovebirds” of early spring. In 1375 Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a poem that connected the idea of romance and Saint Valentine’s Day. Formal messages or “valentines” began appearing in the 1500s and often depicted a mischievous cherub portrayal of Cupid, the Roman god of love.
Popularity in Europe & the US
It became commonplace for people to express affection by exchanging handwritten notes and commercially printed cards in the 1700s. Esther Howland of the United States took inspiration from English valentines and, in 1847, popularized mass-produced valentines of lace and floral decorations. By 1850 Valentine’s Day had become an unofficial national holiday in the USA.
Valentine’s Day Trivia
- Verona, Italy receives thousands of letters addressed to “Juliet” each year, and on Valentine’s Day the Juliet Club awards the most touching love letter with the “Dear Juliet” prize
- Roses weren’t always the go-to Valentine’s Day flower – in earlier times many flowers were categorized with different meanings, so a bouquet of flowers could contain an entire encoded message
- Valentine’s Day is the second-largest holiday for giving greeting cards, with approximately 145 million cards exchanged each year (not including packaged valentines for kids)
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