By ELIZA PLUCKHORN
Couples all across the world will celebrate Valentine’s Day , Feb. 14 by buying their sweetheart a box of chocolates, a bouquet of flowers, and a nice meal at their favorite restaurant.
However, not everyone likes to stick to the norm for Valentine’s Day. According to a study done by WatchList.com, only half of American’s plan on treating their significant other this V-Day. That makes sense considering the average American household has around $7,000 in credit card debt.
Some people have a traditions of decorating homemade cards for their family. Some people can’t be with their significant other, so they celebrate with friends. And some people are ignoring the existence of this holiday all together with the belief that Valentine’s Day is made up, a waste of money and time, and just another day made to feel different for no reason.
Olivia Davis, a 20-year-old fun loving Ramapo College student, celebrates the holiday with her family every year. Her mom started the tradition of making her daughters beautiful cards, and as they grew up, they joined her in the tradition.
“I never thought of Valentine’s Day as silly because its always been such a happy day for my family. I’m very close with my parents and my sister so making and exchanging these cards is a cherished memory we all hold in our hearts,” said Davis.
Davis will be celebrating Valentine’s Day a little different this year, since she now has a boyfriend. “I’m still celebrating with my family, but I think it will be fun to do all the cheesy things like buy him a huge box of chocolates,” said Davis.
Unlike Davis, however, Stacey DeRosa, 20, will be celebrating this Valentine’s Day while her valentine is overseas for 4 months.
“I’ve been with Kathie (DeRosa’s girlfriend) for a few months now, and her being far away during Valentine’s Day isn’t something I’ve really been looking forward to,” said DeRosa. “I don’t enjoy the month of February very much for family reasons, but I was looking forward to being with the person I love on the day that’s all about love.”
Lucky for DeRosa, her friends have decided to have a small party to celebrate the day of love. Though she can’t be with her valentine, she still plans on having a great time with people who care about her.
Anti-Valentine’s Day
A lot of people who enjoy the presence of their significant other opt to celebrate the holiday of love and romance, while some people prefer to treat the holiday as nothing more but the rich wanting to increase their wealth by exploiting gullible Americans.
The projected amount all Americans will spend on Valentine’s Day this year is $27.4 billion, according to the National Retail Foundation. George Kats of Cherry Hill, 21, agrees that Valentine’s Day is ‘over-hyped’ and unnecessary.
“I never understood the hype of Valentine’s Day as a child. It seemed like a silly little holiday that would get you a half day in elementary school and leave you with a sugar hangover the next morning,” said Kats. “As I got older, I realized that the holiday was extremely materialized, making people in relationships feel like they had to celebrate their loved ones on some random day in the middle of winter.”
Kats mentioned that his boyfriend of two years doesn’t care much for the holiday either. “By not celebrating Valentine’s Day, we save money and enjoy each other’s company without feeling obligated to show it in some fake, forced way,” said Kats.
I like the different perspectives you used because it was interesting to see how people of a similar age and background all can have very different perspectives on the same holiday.
With the first statistic you used about only half of Americans planning on celebrating the holiday, I want to know more about why this is. It would be interesting if you used a quote from one of your sources immediately after this sentence to back up why only half of people are celebrating.