the numbers behind valentine’s day

Every February, romantic souls around the world celebrate Valentine’s Day by expressing their devotion to their true love. But the holiday wasn’t always flowers, cards and chocolate.

According to The History Channel, one legend has it that around 270 AD the Roman Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than married men because they would be more willing to go off to war. Therefore, he banned marriage by young men, as though that would actually solve his problem. But a priest named Valentine continued to secretly perform weddings and was jailed when the emperor found out. Eventually, he was beheaded (for one reason or another) and on the night before his execution, he sent a love note to the jailer’s daughter and signed it, “From your Valentine” — the expression we still use today.

But as a “numbers guy” I am most interested in the facts. You may be interested to know:

According to a Red Lobster survey, men and women say that Valentine’s Day (54 percent) is overwhelmingly the most romantic holiday or special occasion to propose, followed by Christmas (16 percent), a birthday (12 percent), New Year’s (11 percent) and Thanksgiving (2 percent).

Not surprisingly, the same survey shows that lobster is the clear winner when it comes to romantic food. Nearly four out of 10 men (36 percent) and women (37 percent) think that it would be most romantic to get engaged over a lobster dinner, compared to about a quarter of men (25 percent) and women (22 percent) who think steak would set the most romantic tone. Other romantic meals include pasta (14 percent), shrimp (11 percent) and chicken (4 percent).

According to the most recent Match.com survey… About 12% of singles would consider getting in a temporary relationship that they know isn’t the right relationship for them in order to avoid being without a date on Valentine’s Day. (Men were more likely than women to say they would consider doing this.) Meanwhile, 25% of men, and 14% of women, say they are experiencing unrequited love for someone else.

And a Princess Cruise survey points out that when it comes to Valentine’s Day gift giving, men are more attuned to women’s gift preferences than women are to men’s. The top five gifts men tend to give are jewelry, flowers, candy/chocolate, dinner, and a trip/vacation — a direct correlation to what women desire. Women, on the other hand, seem to think that men want jewelry, candy, dinner, trip/vacation or clothes, which is far off from the men’s actual desire of time together or a card/note.

Finally, according to a retail trade group, six percent of shoppers will get their PETS a Valentine’s Day gift, too. Wouldn’t you?