Thursday debate topic about Valentine's Day

         Back in September of 2009 this blog started out primarily discussing Halloween, with a special emphasis on how Halloween is important to the U.S. economy.  This was a series that encompassed many posts so I won't link to anything in the present post.  However, one of my main points in that series was that Halloween is a huge economic driver to the U.S. economy and those who consider abolishing the event day should rethink their position.  Similar arguments apply to Valentine's Day.

       Practically speaking, Valentine's Day is a frivolous day of celebration of love and romance.  The event itself is more personal and primarily based between romantic partners.  The celebration has evolved to include our children, relatives, friends, or anyone else for whom we may have feelings of love or deep friendship.  The main spending is for cards, candy, flowers, jewelry, and other "love" or friendship themed gift items.  The National Retail Federation predicts that in 2010 the average person will spend $103 for Valentine's purchases.  This is a significant influx to our economy and almost anything that adds to the economy is a plus for the country.

         Yet in these economic times one has to somewhat selfishly consider the practicality of frivolous unneccessary expenditures such as we may find at Valentine's Day.  The state of one's own household economy certainly must be considered before making any special purchases for the day.  Furthermore, Valentine's Day is often a false embodiment of something that romantic partners should be sharing spontaneously throughout the year.  For many a Valentine's gift is more of an obligation to fulfill to a partner or an expectation from the standpoint of a recipient.

         And when you think about it $103 dollars per person doesn't really buy that much when you consider that this may include gifts or tokens not only for partners, but also  friends, teachers, co-workers, bosses, and so on.  So in that regard, you can figure that this expenditure is primarily for cards, flowers, or cheap trinkets that will for the most part end up in the trash.  Certainly most of the candy that will be bought does not promote heathful living.

         My argument is this:
Valentine's Day is just another example of the frivolous self-indulgence and wastefulness of Americans.

          I certainly don't think the day should be abolished like some think about Halloween.  And my arguments in defense of Halloween can certainly be used to defend Valentine's Day.  The day promotes spending money and as long as that spending does not hurt the spender's personal finances in too negative a way then that spending can benefit the economic climate.  The event day can be great fun and enhance one's romantic life.   Valentine's Day does celebrate friendships and love which should be seen as a positive thing.

        But I just have to wonder:  Are there some better ways we could celebrate this day?  Wouldn't it be wrong to go into debt to buy expensive Valentine's gifts?   Don't we often exchange a lot of insincerity in our gifts of that day?   Did you realize that you can often buy those Valentine's boxes of chocolates the day after for half off?

Oh, and by the way, since I forgot to send out any cards, I want to wish a Happy Valentine's Day to my Mom; my daughters--Ada, Diana, Emilee, and Angie; my sisters Joy and Joni;  my other relatives; my friends; and of course, all of my wonderful blog readers and followers.