February 2nd, 2024, Lesley Simeon
Valentine’s Day is around the corner - a time for cute date ideas, making dinner reservations, picking out thoughtful gifts, buying the perfect outfit and swapping text messages for handwritten cards. We explore what Americans have in mind for Valentine’s Day this year - from who they want to spend it with and how, to what inspires their celebrations and how much they would want to spend on the day.
Just over half of all Americans (51%) say they have celebrated Valentine’s Day before and will do so again this year. Women are more likely than men in the US (55% vs. 46%) to say this.
Nearly three in ten Americans (29%) say they’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day before but will skip it this year. More men than women would be skipping the celebration this year (31% vs. 26%).
Two in five Americans will only celebrate Valentine’s Day with their romantic partners; more than a third will also include friends and family
A little over two in five Americans say they only celebrate the occasion with romantic partners (41%), while a little over two in ten (21%) celebrate it only with friends/family.
Over a third of Americans (36%) celebrate Valentine’s Day with romantic and non-romantic partners such as friends or family.
Looking into YouGov demographic data, we see that Gen Z is most likely to celebrate the day with only with friends and family (47%) and Baby Boomers are the most likely (46%) to say they only celebrate Valentine’s Day with romantic partners. Millennials lead (44%) in celebrating the day with both romantic and non-romantic partners.
But what’s Valentine’s Day without any gifts?
Food/drink, flowers, confectionary, greeting cards - Americans plan on sticking to Valentine’s Day gifting staples
Americans would most prefer being gifted food/drink items (39%) and greeting cards (38%) on Valentine’s Day. Men’s preferences when it comes to gifts they’d want to receive are quite the same (37% would like to be gifted food/drink items, 34% would like greetings card). As for women, flowers (51%) trump greeting cards (42%).
Looking across ages, Gen Z consumers are more likely than the rest to like receiving gifts food/drink items (51%), shoes, clothes and accessories (28%) and toys, games or books (15%). Millennials would much prefer receiving experiences like concerts or spa sessions (35%), jewelry (28%) and confectionary (28%), more than consumers from other generations would.
Americans plan on giving the same set of items as gifts as well. Similar proportions of men and women are planning on gifting their loved ones greeting cards and food/drink this Valentine’s Day. More than half of all men (52%) intend to gift flowers - significantly more likely than women (22%). An even lesser proportion of men (13%) wish to receive flowers as gifts.
Preference for food, flowers and greeting cards holds ground across age groups as well. But compared to other age groups, Gen Z is most likely to choose experiences like concerts, spa-day, etc (26%), health and beauty products (14%) and jewelry (24%) as gifts for their Valentines this year.
Millennials are more likely than consumers from other age generations to gift toys (17%) and video games and consoles (11%) on Valentine’s Day, while Gen X is most likely to gift confectionary (33%).
Now with gifts decided on, let’s see how much Americans plan on spending towards Valentine’s Day celebrations.
Most Americans will spend the same amount as previous years on Valentine’s Day this year; 16% plan to spend less
About six in ten (61%) of Americans plan to spend roughly the same amount for the Day this year compared to the previous year. Furthermore, 16% plan to spend less than before, while 13% plan to spend more.
Between men and women, two in ten women (20%) plan to spend less than before for Valentine’s Day this year - far more likely than men to do the same (9%).
Men are more likely to spend more this year than women (16% vs. 11%).
Where do Americans find inspiration for Valentine’s Day gifts and celebrations? Friends and family top.
Friends and family are the dearest - at least when it comes to seeking inspiration for Valentine’s Day gifts and celebrations. More than a third of all Americans (35%) say seek inspiration from friends and family, followed by in-store advertising (19%) and Google (16%). TV advertising comes in last at 11%.
While similar proportions of men and women say they find inspiration through in-store advertising, women are more likely than men to seek inspiration among loved ones (37% vs. 33%).
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Methodology: YouGov polled 1,500 US adults on January 25, 2024. The survey was carried out through YouGov Surveys: Self-serve. Data is weighted by age, gender, race, political affiliation, education level and region. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Self-serve.
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels