Holiday Gift Ideas & Traditions Blog

On Valentine’s Day you were feeling a little lonely. I guess the commercialism of the day got to you. You told me something I found interesting: you are afraid of a romantic attachment because it would signal a loss of freedom and autonomy. Did you get this idea from watching your father and me? I certainly hope not.

Marriage does not mean the loss of autonomy.

Marriage means becoming part of a unit. With children, the size of this unit grows. It may not be run along democratic lines-indeed, ours is not-but belonging to our family unit means that there are three people who care for you more than anyone else. We expect the same in return.

So, my dear, do not fear romantic attachments. One may be the start of your own family unit. Your marriage will be completely different from mine. You will have more choices. You will also not be able to blame your husband if you make the wrong decisions. I taught you to think for yourself but not to put yourself first. I love you.

Mom

Love! We all need that warm, fuzzy, feeling we call love. Love is a strong positive emotion of regard and affection, and love makes the world go around. This wonderful emotion makes us feel wanted and appreciated. We have love for our family and children and the love for each is different and unique to each individual. This love is unchanging no matter what situation occurs or what these individuals do. This type of love is truly unconditional love - a love that will not leave us no matter what and a love that would make us jump off of cliffs for. The love we feel for these individuals is different than the “shaking in the knees, heart fluttering” kind of love we may feel towards someone we are dating. Oh, the awesome feeling of first love and infatuation is one you will never forget! This type of love is romantic, intimate and sexual and this same type of love is felt between an engaged or married couple. Yet this love can change and grow or it can change and deteriorate over time. It can be the most beautiful feeling and it can be the most heartbreaking. It’s this romantic, intimate and sexual love between two individuals that must be worked at each and every day in order for it to endure the years. So what can one do to keep the romance in your life alive? Here are some tips that will help to keep the love alive:

1) Do little things in the course of a day such as leave notes, send gifts or gift baskets, bring home flowers or call just to say you love each other.

2) Make a date with each other. Schedule regular dates without the kids, if possible, and make time for each other.

3) Show affection by holding hands, cuddle, and kiss. This will keep your partner happy and also sets a positive, healthy example for your children.

4) Show your appreciation for each other every day.

5) Keep the communication lines open and truly listen to your partner.

6) Always give 100%.

The most romantic day is nearing - Valentine’s Day! It is a day to celebrate love and romance, and the bonds you have created with your loved one. As the day of love nears, plan to make it an unforgettable day and spark the love and romance in your life.

1) Make your own Valentine’s Day card, write a poem or a sincere love letter.

2) Book the honeymoon suite of a hotel and plan a night of romance.

3) Plan a romantic getaway.

4) Prepare a candlelight dinner and a night of dancing.

5) Watch a movie that has special meaning to both of you, such as the movie you saw on your first date.

6) Propose all over again.

There are many ways that you can be romantic, but the most important is to say “I love you” on a frequent basis. Those three words go a long way. So what does love have to do with it? Love has everything to do with your relationships and your life. Without love, our existence would be dark and dreary.

Doesn’t it feel wonderful to be loved?

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and the day of love will be celebrated by many couples, families and children around the world. Candy, flowers, gifts, holiday gift baskets and cards are exchanged between loved ones. This is all in the name of St. Valentine.

Why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day? The beginnings and history of Valentine’s Day and its patron saint is shrouded in myth and mystery. However, for ages February has been a month of romance. St. Valentine’s Day contains trace history of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

Saint Valentine

Who was Saint Valentine? One legend claims that Valentine was a priest during the third century in Rome. Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men because he decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families. Valentine defied Claudius and performed marriages for young lovers in secret. Claudius, when Valentine’s secret actions were discovered, ordered that he be put to death.

Other myths suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.

According to another legend, Valentine sent the first valentine greeting himself. While Valentine was in prison it is said that Valentine fell in love with a young girl who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter which he signed “From your Valentine.”

The legends and history of St. Valentine are murky and mysterious. However, the stories portray Saint Valentine as a heroic, caring and romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France. There are many stories, all varying, about what actually became of Valentine. Some say that he was beheaded while others say that he became sick in prison and died.

In 1835, the remains, or at least what are to believed the remains, of St. Valentine were given to an Irish priest, Father John Spratt by Pope Gregory XVI, after Spratt impressed the Pope with his preaching during a visit to Rome. A black and gold casket can still be viewed every Valentine’s Day at the Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin, Ireland.

Some individuals believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in February to commemorate the anniversary of the death or burial of St. Valentine, which probably happened around 270 AD.

Cupid - The God of Love

Another famous and important symbol to the much celebrated Valentine’s Day is the cupid, a mischievous winged boy armed with bows and arrows. Signifying emotions of love and desires, Cupid aims those arrows at Gods and humans causing them to fall deeply in love.

Cupid has always played a role in the celebrations of love and lovers. In ancient Greece he was known as Eros, the young son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. To the Romans, he was known as Cupid.

In Roman mythology, Venus, Cupid’s mother and goddess of love ordered her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest man in the world. Venus was overcome with jealousy of Psyche’s beauty. Instead, Cupid fell in love with Psyche and brought her to a secluded palace where he visited her only at night.

However, Cupid, unseen by Psyche, forbade her to ever look upon his face. One night Psyche lit a lamp and looked at him while he slept and because she disobeyed him, Cupid punished her by abandoning her and she was left to wander throughout the world in search of her love, Cupid. After many tests and trials she was finally reunited with Cupid and the gods made her goddess.

Cupid and his arrows have become the most popular of love signs. Love is most often depicted by two hearts pierced by an arrow, Cupid’s arrow.

Have you been struck by Cupid’s arrow? This Valentine’s Day, celebrate love and romance with your special someone and visit us for many wonderful gift ideas including delectable chocolate gift baskets, heart shaped gift towers, bath and beauty gift baskets and more.

And, remember, when Valentine’s Day has come and gone, the holiday may be over but the Valentine’s Day mood should be celebrated every day.

We all know how Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the United States. On February 14^th, adult, children and lovers alike exchange Valentine Day gifts and cards with one another. Many Western countries such as Italy, France, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia celebrate this romantic day in much the same way as in the United States. But what do other countries around the world do to celebrate love as we do during our Valentine’s Day celebrations?

In Wales, many people forego the traditional Valentine’s Day celebration in February to celebrate St Dwynwen’s Day on January 25^th instead. St. Dwynwen is the patron saint of Welsh lovers.  

The Nordic countries Denmark and Norway know February 14^th as Valentinsdag, but most people don’t celebrate the day unless they take the time to send a romantic card to their lover. However, their neighbor country of Finland has Ystävänpäivä which is known as friendship day when people take the time to remember and celebrate with friends. 

In Israel, people pronounce their love, give marriage proposals and send romantic gifts or cards in late August on Tu B’Av which is the festival of love. 

Brazilians celebrate the Day of the Enamored on June 12^th. This date is just before St. Anthony’s Day who was the marriage saint. It is on this day that couples exchange gifts or give flowers and cards to one another. 

Columbians and Mexicans celebrate Love & Friendship Day similarly. The difference is that in Mexico they celebrate on February 14^th while in Columbia they celebrate in September. The most prevalent tradition is to exchange gifts in a secret way – much like the way Americans do with secret Santa exchanges during the Christmas holiday season. 

In Korea & Japan, our version of Valentine’s Day has evolved into two separate holidays. On February 14^th, women present gifts to their male lovers and friends. The traditional gift given is chocolate. However, there are two different kinds of chocolate that have very different meanings to the recipient – one version for loved ones and one for friends. In fact, over half of the Japanese chocolate gift sales occur at Valentine’s Day. Then, on March 14^th which is known as White Day, the men return the favor by giving gifts to the women. Gift ideas include white chocolate or marshmallows to carry-on the white theme and flowers or jewelry. 

In China, on the 7^th day of the 7^th lunar month, the Chinese celebrate the “Night of Sevens”.  During this festival devoted to love, colorful rituals are performed in addition to exchanging gifts and cards.

Traditionally, red roses are the best selling Valentine’s Day flowers. They extend a message of romantic love & passion and are a great way to say ‘I Love You’ to your significant other making them the perfect choice for this romantic holiday. Other rose colors each have their own symbolic meaning so if you want to send flowers to someone that you aren’t romantically involved with, we’d recommend that you choose a rose color based on this list of interpretations. Of course, you can always mix rose colors to send a bouquet meaning multiple things such as a mixture of red and white roses which can mean unity.

• White means purity, innocence and heavenly. It can be associated with new beginnings such as marriages or with remembrances such as memorial services.

• Deep burgundy translates to beauty.

• Dark pink says ‘Thank You’ or expresses gratitude and appreciation.

• Light pink corresponds to sympathy, grace and joy.

• Yellow means friendship, joy, happiness and warmth. A great gift for a true friend.

• Orange and coral translate into desire and romantic passion.

• Peach means appreciation and gratitude and can sometimes signify sympathy.

• Lavender corresponds to enchantment or ‘Love at First Sight’.

• Blue corresponds to the unattainable. A great color to send to someone who is an enigma.

• Black signifies farewell and can be used to symbolize vengeance against an adversary.

Lovers Lifesavers – Prior to the party, buy a roll of lifesaver candies. Split into groups of 3 or more players per team (teams should have the same number of players). Have each team stand in a straight line and give each of the players a toothpick which they hold in their mouth. Give the first person in each group’s line a lifesaver candy that hangs on the toothpick in their mouth. When you say go, they must transfer the lifesaver to the toothpick of the player in line after them, without using their hands. The next player to the next player and so forth down the line. If the lifesaver falls to the ground or someone uses their hands, the team must start all over at the beginning. The team members that finish the lifesaver toothpick relay first win little Valentine’s Day Gifts.  

Suck & Blow Valentine Card Game – Be sure to have a standard deck of cards on hand. This game will require 8 or more people who should sit in a circle so they are close to the people next to them. It is best if you have an even number of people with an equal number of boys and girls so that you can sit boy-girl-boy-girl-etc. No hands can be used in this game while passing the card. Start the game by having one person hold a card to their mouth by sucking on it like a vacuum. They then turn to the right and pass it to the next person by placing the card on their mouth so the neighbor will need to suck on the card while the previous person blows to release the suction pressure and let go. Don’t drop the card or you’ll be kissing the person sitting next to you! 

Romantic Love Scrabble – This is a great game for 2 players or 2 teams of players. Set a standard Scrabble game up as you usually would and follow the same rules, except in this version, all of the words formed must be romantic words or words used in a romantic sentence or with sexual innuendo. For example, you could use the word hood if you justified it with the sentence ‘I’d like to get a look under your hood’. 

 Mending A Broken Heart Game – Cut hearts out of red construction paper and then cut each heart in half in an unusual zigzag or other pattern. When guests arrive at the Valentine Party, hand them half a heart. Throughout the party, they should try to find the guest with the other half of their heart. It is a great game to get your guests to mingle. 

Valentine Cupid Bingo – Make up bingo cards either on your computer or by hand on construction paper. Each card should have a 5 square by 5 square grid with C-U-P-I-D written across the top of the columns instead of BINGO. Draw a heart on the center space and call it the Free Space. Assign the other squares numbers. Buy a large bag of Valentine conversation hearts for people to cover the spaces when a particular number is called.  Make up little squares of paper that have all the letter/number combinations (e.g. C1, U6, P9, etc) and put them in a bowl. The moderator selects a paper from the bowl and calls out the numbers until someone gets bingo and yells out CUPID! Be sure to have lots of Valentine prize gifts on hand to give to the winners.

Having a little Valentine get-together with your relatives or entertaining the neighborhood kids this Valentine’s Day?  Here are some great games for children aged 5 to 10. Just buy some little Valentine themed gifts to give to the game winners.

1. Steal My Heart – Buy a few large bags of conversation heart candies and put them in a large bowl in the center of the kitchen table. Have all the kids take a spot around the table and give each one of them a set of chopsticks. In a timed 3 minute period, the children should try to ‘steal’ hearts from the big bowl and set them in front of themselves on the table. They can use ONLY their chopsticks – no hands. The child with the most hearts in front of them when time runs out wins.
2. Matchmaker Valentine Memory Game - Buy a bag of the conversation candy hearts with little Valentine sayings like ‘Be Mine’. Go through the bag and find pairs of hearts that are identical (same color and same text saying). When you want to start the game, lay all of the hearts face (text) down on the table. Then have the children take turns flipping over two hearts. The goal for the child is to match up the pairs during their turn. If they get a pair, they get to take another turn until they miss. The kid with the most pairs at the end wins.
3. Hugs & Kisses Candy Guessing Game - Fill a jar or glass bowl with a mixture of Hershey kisses and Hershey hug candies. Then have each child guess how many pieces of candy are in the container. The one closest to the actual number wins the jar of Valentine candy.
4. Valentine-Themed Pictionary – come up with a list of valentine related words like heart, candy, cupid, flowers, rose, diamond necklace, etc. Break the kids into two groups. Have one person in one of the groups draw out the clue (no talking or hand gestures) while their teammates try to guess the word. They have 1 minute to guess it. If they don’t guess the word in the allotted time,  the other team can steal the point if they can guess the word. Play several rounds and the team with the most points wins. Note – you can adjust the allotted time depending on the age of the kids and their ability to draw.
5. Valentine’s Day Make A Word Game – Write out the word Valentine’s Day on the board or have each child write the word out at the top of a sheet of paper. Then, call out go and have each child write down as many 3 or more letter words that they can make out of the letters in Valentine’s Day in 5 minutes. The child with the most words wins a fun Valentine Day Gift.

The history of Valentine’s Day and where Valentine Day traditions stem from is an enigma that has required some conjecture and speculation on the part of historians. So where did this romantic holiday where people declare their love for one another likely originate? The Catholic Church acknowledges the existence of up to 11 Saints named Valentine (such as Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni). And there are numerous Christian martyrs who were also named Valentine. The evolving legend stipulates that one of these Saint Valentines from the medieval ages was persecuted and jailed for his Christian beliefs or was a priest that was jailed for performing marriages that did not please the Roman Emperor.  Before being executed, one of these St. Valentines wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter whom he supposedly loved, healed or befriended and signed it ‘From your Valentine’.  Others have postulated, that Valentine traditions may be related to the Greco-Roman fertility and love festivals that they held in February. Of course, how these legends tie into the modern Valentine’s Day holiday is not clear.

Undisputed is the fact that during the 1840’s, the modern era of Valentine’s Day traditions began. It was during that decade that the first mass produced Valentine Day cards were first produced and distributed. The practice of giving gifts to your significant other on this holiday started in the late twentieth century when people starting exchanging Valentine chocolates and flowers in addition to the standard greeting card. Finally when the jewelry industry started promoting for Valentine’s Day in the 1980’s, diamonds took off to become one of the best-sellers during the Valentine holiday.

Valentine’s Day is a world-wide holiday that is celebrated by numerous countries around the globe including the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Mexico, Australia and France.

According to Hallmark, Valentine’s Day is the 2nd most popular holiday for giving greeting cards, second only to Christmas. In fact, this year an estimated 192 million Valentine’s Day cards will be given to friends, family, spouses and significant others. According to the US Census Bureau, 65% of households will celebrate by giving a Valentine’s Day greeting card. The first mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards were sold around 1847 invented in Worcester, Massachusetts by a woman named Esther Howland. Esther’s father operated a book and stationary store which is where she got her inspiration for the embossed paper lace Valentine card she designed.

According to the US Census Bureau, 38% of US households mark Valentine’s Day by giving candy. The classic box of chocolates was purportedly introduced by Richard Cadbury way back in 1868. Of course, it likely didn’t feature the heart-shaped box that is a favorite among romantics today. It turns out that Valentine’s Day is the 4th biggest holiday for candy sales in the US. This really isn’t a surprise considering that the average American consumes about 24.7 pounds of candy in just a year. Chocolate and non-chocolate confectionary businesses are cashing in on that candy consumption making chocolate a 13.5 billion dollar industry and non chocolate candy a 5.5 billion dollar a year business. California and Pennsylvania are the leading producers of chocolate in the US while Canada is the leading international supplier of candy to the United States (both chocolate and non-chocolate).

According to the US Census Bureau, 32% of American households celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving flowers. Surveys show that nearly 15% of women in the US actually send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day. There are over 22,000 florists in the United States who offer everything from fresh cut flowers to beautiful bouquets. Lilies are the best-selling flowers followed closely by roses. California is the leading supplier of domestically grown flowers supplying nearly 75% of the nation’s domestic grown flowers while Columbia is the leading international supplier of cut flowers to the United States.

According to the US Census Bureau, 11% of American households celebrate the Valentine holiday by giving jewelry to their significant other. Jewelry stores in the US typically sell over $2.4 billion in February alone.

Romance is in the air in some specially named cities across the nation. There are actually two towns in the U.S. named “Valentine”, one in Nebraska and one in Texas. Valentine’s Day also conjures up plenty of love and believe it or not, there are nine cities in the nation that have the word “Love” in their city name.