Valentine’s Day

14 February 2027

Valentine’s Day is 14 February, a day for cards, flowers, candy and other gifts for a partner, a friend or a pet. It is not a federal holiday and nobody gets the day off. In 2027 it falls on a Sunday. The National Retail Federation expected a record $29.1 billion of Valentine’s Day spending in 2026.

The origins are unclear and the popular story is contested. The name comes from one or more Christian saints called Valentine, at least two of whom were said to have been executed on 14 February in the 3rd century. A link to the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February, is often repeated, but the holiday probably took shape much later than that.

The romance came in the Middle Ages. The first recorded association of the date with romantic love is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, the Parliament of Fowls, written in the late 14th century, in which the day is the time when birds choose their mates. Written valentines appear in the 1500s, and commercial valentines in the United States are associated with Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts.

The day is a fixture of the retail calendar. The retail federation put Valentine’s Day spending at a record $29.1 billion in 2026, after $27.5 billion in 2025. Candy was the most common gift, bought by 56 percent of shoppers, ahead of flowers, jewelry and an evening out; pet owners spent $2.1 billion on their animals.

Observance is personal rather than public. Just over half of consumers, 55 percent, planned to take part in 2026, and most of those planned to buy for a partner; the retail federation put spending on spouses and partners at $14.5 billion, against $2.4 billion for friends. Schools hold card exchanges, and timeanddate.com lists the day as an observance rather than a holiday in every state.

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Valentine’s Day”
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Lupercalia”
• National Retail Federation, “Valentine’s Day spending expected to reach new records”, January 2026
• Timeanddate.com, “Holidays and Observances in the United States in 2027”

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