You know I couldn't let a holiday pass without giving you some fun facts [1] to spice up the conversation during your day. After the roaring success of my Super Bowl fun facts [1], I dug deep for lots of fabulous nonsense. Did you know that approximately 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are sent each year? (I believe it - I made and sent out 30!) Or that the Italian city of Verona, where Romeo and Juliet lived, receives over 1000 Valentine's addressed to Juliet each Valentine's day? To know who invented the first box of Valentine's Day chocolate,
- Richard Cadbury, of Cadbury cream egg fame, invented the first box of Valentine's Day themed chocolates in the 1880s.
- 3% of pet owners give Valentine's Day gifts to their beloved furry friends.
- Over 50 million roses are given on Valentine's Day.
- 73% of people who buy flowers are men.
- In Medieval times people who couldn't write their names signed with an 'X' in front of a witness. The 'X' was then kissed to show sincerity. Many believe this is how the 'X' symbol became synonymous with the kiss.
- On average men spend $130 for their dates on Valentine's Day.
- Children received 39% of all Valentine's related gifts and candies.
- Mothers and wives are the biggest givers on Valentine's Day, providing 33% of all gifts.
- More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine's Day.
- Even if they don’t make the final purchases until the last few days, 75% of men testify that they plan ahead for Valentine’s Day.
- On Valentine's Day, women prefer to open their gifts after a nice dinner while men prefer to receive presents first thing in the morning.
- The most romantic place to share candy is in front of the fireplace.
- In the 1800s physicians commonly advised broken hearted patients to eat chocolate to calm their pining.
- Throughout history, chocolate has always been seen as an aphrodisiac: Madame DuBarry served chocolates to all of her suiters, Cassanova consumed chocolate instead of champagne to induce romance, and the ancient Aztec king, Montezuma believed chocolate would make him virile.
- 8 billion conversation hears will be produced this year, enough candies to stretch from Rome, Italy to Valentine, Arizona 20 times and back again.
Source: Candy USA [1]