There are so many surprising facts about Valentine’s Day! Would you believe that the first valentine was sent in the 15th century or that chocolates used to be prescribed by doctors? Learn about these Valentine’s Day fun facts and more with this list—perfect for sharing with your students!
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The History of Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day has its origins in a Roman holiday.
In the 6th century BC in February, Romans would celebrate the fertility festival of Lupercalia by sacrificing animals and performing other rituals.
Pope Gelasius banned the celebration of Lupercalia.
In the 5th century, Pope Gelasius forbade the Pagan fertility celebration of Lupercalia. Some say he replaced it with “St. Valentine’s Day,” though no one knows the exact origins of the holiday for certain.
The first Valentine’s Day celebration took place in France.
Although the exact first celebration is hard to pin down, the first official Valentine’s Day as a celebration of love likely occurred in Paris in the 1400s. The English and French associated mid-February with birds’ mating season, making it an appropriate time to celebrate romance.
The first valentine was sent from prison.
The Duke of Orleans wrote the first valentine in the early 15th century while he was imprisoned. He wrote a poem and sent it to his second wife, but, of course, he never saw her reaction to the poem he sent because he was in prison.
Esther Howland sold the first mass-produced valentines in the 19th century.
The custom of trading valentines seems to have begun in Europe and the United States in the 18th century, but some legends attribute the exchange of affectionate greetings to St. Valentine himself in the 1840s, Esther Howland of Massachusetts sold the first mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards. Howland’s father owned a stationery store, and she took advantage of the opportunity to sell fancy greeting cards.
People in the Victorian era used valentines to discourage suitors.
During the Victorian era, people who did not want attention would send “vinegar valentines” or “penny dreadfuls.” They were intended as an insult to unwanted admirers.
Historians credit the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer with connecting romance to Valentine’s Day.
Chaucer, who also authored The Canterbury Tales, wrote about Valentine’s Day in The Parliament of Foules.
Sweet Facts About Valentine’s Day
The inventor of candy hearts started out by producing medicinal lozenges.
In the 1800s, Boston pharmacist Oliver Chase invented a machine to simplify the process of making lozenges. The machine was later used to make heart-shaped candy with messages printed on them. Learn more about how Sweethearts are made in this video.
8 billion conversation hearts are manufactured each year.
So many conversation hearts! Classic romantic phrases on the candies include “Be Mine,” “Cutie Pie,” and “I’m Yours.” Billions of candy hearts went unproduced in 2019 when the company that made Sweethearts was sold, resulting in a conversation-heart–less Valentine’s Day.
Consumers buy over 58 million pounds of chocolate and candy for Valentine’s Day.
The Valentine’s Day season represents about $4 billion in confectionery sales each year.
The chocolate box has been around for more than 150 years.
In the mid-1800s, the Cadbury company took advantage of falling import costs and created the first box of chocolates. They subsequently created the first heart-shaped box of chocolates in the 1860s.
Doctors once prescribed chocolate to fix a broken heart.
This may be one of the most surprising Valentine’s Day facts: Physicians in the old days would recommend chocolate to people who were suffering from a broken heart or pining after a lost love. Modern medicine supports the claim.
In Japan, women give men chocolate for Valentine’s Day.
Women give men chocolates in Japan, although they have pushed back against this tradition, arguing that it’s too obligatory.
Flowers on Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest holidays for giving flowers.
If you’re giving flowers this Valentine’s Day, you’re in good company. The other top flower-giving holiday is Mother’s Day.
Each flower’s color has meaning.
Red roses symbolize love, but other flower colors have meaning too. Deep pink symbolizes happiness, purple = royalty, and white = sincerity.
250 million roses are grown just for Valentine’s Day.
Giving red roses on Valentine’s Day became part of popular culture in the Victorian era. But the practice of assigning symbolic meaning to objects found in nature goes back to ancient times.
Roses are in the top 10% of U.S. imports.
In 2024, the United States imported $1.01 billion in roses, making roses the 497th most imported product (out of 5,488) in the United States. In 2024, the main origins of the United States’ rose imports included Colombia ($581M), Ecuador ($400M), Guatemala ($18.2M), Mexico ($5.17M), and Ethiopia ($2.42M).
Valentine’s Day by the Numbers
Most Americans will buy gifts, cards, or treats for Valentine’s Day.
About 80% of consumers in the United States plan to shop for Valentine’s Day, making Americans unmatched in the realm of Valentine’s Day shopping. Sweet!
About 25% of pet owners give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.
Valentines are not just for humans but for dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, and other pets!
U.S. pet owners spend over $2 billion per year on valentines for their pets.
Not only will a quarter of pet owners purchase valentines for their furry friends, Americans collectively spend over $2 billion in the process!
Men spend more than women on Valentine’s Day.
In fact, men spend about 25% more money than women do on Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day Cards
145 million greeting cards are exchanged every year for Valentine’s Day.
And that’s just in the United States, according to Hallmark! Over 1 billion valentines are sent worldwide, according to this video from Homeschool Pop.
Hallmark prints more than 500 Valentine’s Day card designs.
Hallmark makes more than 500 Valentine’s card options, so there’s literally something for everyone.
Teachers get more valentines than anyone else.
We appreciate teachers too so this is one Valentine’s Day fact that comes as no surprise to us! Teachers receive more valentines than even children, wives, and moms!
Valentines are much plainer than they used to be.
In the 19th century, Valentine’s Day cards were at their peak. People decorated valentines with everything from peacock feathers to lace to jewels!
Hallmark was the first greeting card company to go national.
Hallmark founder Joyce Clyde Hall was the first to advertise greeting cards nationally. He ran an ad in Ladies’ Home Journal and also sponsored radio ads.
On This Date …
The League of Women Voters was officially formed on February 14, 1920.
The League was formed in Chicago just six months prior to when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women the right to vote.
Oregon and Arizona both became states on Valentine’s Day.
Oregon (in 1859) and Arizona (in 1912) became states on Valentine’s Day.
Alexander Graham Bell filed his patent for the telephone on Valentine’s Day.
Alexander Graham Bell submitted documents to the patent office on February 14, 1876. The patent was granted on March 7, 1876.
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy gave a televised tour of the White House on Valentine’s Day.
On Valentine’s Day 1962, CBS aired a special tour of the renovated public rooms in the White House hosted by popular first lady Jackie Kennedy. Fifty-six million viewers watched from home!
Of the 365 possible birthdays, February 14 is the 63rd most common birthday.
Being born on Valentine’s Day is surprisingly common!
Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular days to “pop the question.”
According to a survey from Wedding Wire, Valentine’s Day was the most popular day in 2020. After Valentine’s Day, popular dates are New Year’s Day, Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, and the Fourth of July.
The original Dracula movie was released on Valentine’s Day.
On Valentine’s Day in 1931, the original version of the movie Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, was released by Universal Pictures.
Other Valentine’s Day Facts
Many countries throughout the world celebrate Valentine’s Day.
The United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, Argentina, France, Mexico, South Korea, and the Philippines all celebrate the day of love.
Mass weddings are a Valentine’s Day tradition in the Philippines.
The government funds the mass weddings so they are free for the couples, aside from registering to get married.
More than 40% of couples look forward to dining out on February 14.
There’s nothing like a juicy filet mignon or a pile of crab legs to stir up a little romance. To that end, statistics show that 42% of couples will dine out at their favorite restaurant on Valentine’s Day.
There are many movies about Valentine’s Day.
Numerous movies are either set on or around Valentine’s Day or have the holiday in their title. Surprisingly, many of these films are horror movies!
In fact, the highest-grossing movie of all time is a love story.
The movie that made the most money of all time was the historical romance Titanic, which brought in $2,201,647,264, according to IMDb.
California is the state with the most chocolatiers.
The state has 130 chocolate makers, followed by Pennsylvania with 118.
There was more than one Saint Valentine.
The Catholic Church recognizes three different Saint Valentines (or Valentinus). Each of the Saint Valentines was martyred and could have inspired the holiday.
The first name Valentine was most popular in 1922.
The Official Social Security website has tracked the top 1,000 baby names every year since the early 1900s. The first name Valentine, which is more popular for boys, hasn’t cracked the top 1,000 since 1955. The name hit its peak popularity in 1922, with 132 babies named Valentine that year.
Many famous singers, including Frank Sinatra, have covered the show tune “My Funny Valentine.”
This famous song is from the 1937 musical Babes in Arms. Elvis Costello, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others have all covered it.
Four U.S. states have cities named Valentine.
You can live in a town named Valentine in Arizona, Nebraska, Texas, or Virginia (it’s actually “Valentines” in Virginia).
Lovebirds are actual birds.
The term “lovebirds” describes a couple in love. It’s also the common name for the Agapornis bird.
63% of us will send a Valentine’s Day text.
Texting is the new Valentine’s Day card. Most people said they will text loved ones on Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day is not just for couples anymore.
Valentine’s Day now celebrates all kinds of love—friendships, family, and self-love—popularized by trends like Galentine’s Day. The holiday debuted on a 2010 episode of the TV show Parks and Recreation, starting a massive wave of girlfriend spending. The National Retail Federation states that since 2015, Galentine’s gift expenses have more than doubled to $2.1 billion.
An alternative to Valentine’s Day is Quirkyalone Day.
Invented in 2003 by author Sasha Cagen, Quirkyalone Day embraces a philosophy of personal contentment. A “quirkyalone” is a person who feels whole as a single and prefers to wait for the right person to come along rather than dating indiscriminately. The movement celebrates freedom and possibility.
The red heart is one of the most-used emojis.
The red heart is a classic emoji, and in 2024, it was up there with “crying with laughter” and “heart eyes” in the top three emojis.
Cupid was a Greek god.
We know him as a chubby, arrow-shooting baby, but Cupid was actually a handsome Greek god in mythology whose magical arrows could make mortals fall in love or hate. He became the face of Valentine’s Day in the 19th century.
Every year, thousands of people send letters to Juliet from Romeo and Juliet.
People write letters to Juliet, star-crossed lover from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and send them to Verona, Italy. The Juliet Club is a group of volunteers in Verona who respond to the letters.
Teaching Ideas for Using Valentine’s Day Facts
Here are five fun ideas from 3rd grade teacher Stephanie Sanders for using our Valentine’s Day fun facts.
Play Four Corners Trivia
Preview our Valentine’s Day facts. Then create multiple-choice trivia questions with four possible answers per question on note cards or as a projectable slideshow. Better yet, after viewing the Valentine’s Day Facts slideshow as a whole class, have each student pick their favorite fact and come up with four possible answers and write them on an index card. Collect the cards.
Before playing the game, designate each of the four corners of the room as a different letter choice (A, B, C, and D). Using your deck, read one question with the answer choices aloud. Students will have 30 to 60 seconds to go to the corner that corresponds to the answer they think is correct. Repeat as many rounds as you’d like.
Conversation Hearts
We all love candy hearts this time of year, so why not have students create their own to use for learning about Valentine’s Day? Give students six construction paper heart shapes in red and pink (or better yet, have them cut out the hearts themselves). Students will write one favorite fact from the Valentine’s Day facts and decorate each one. Use the conversation hearts to play various games where they can share their facts with one another, such as the Kagan-inspired mix-pair-share game below.
Mingle and Learn
Give each student one of the conversation hearts from the activity above. Put on some music and let students mix around the room to the beat. When the music stops or the teacher calls “pair,” students pair up with the classmate closest to them. Give them time to share their fact and chat, then turn the music on once again. This can be repeated multiple times, making sure students pair up with a different classmate each round.
Warm Fuzzies
These super-cute, easy-to-make little nuggets are just like the ones from back in the day. You will need the following: red and pink pom-poms, googly eyes, and matching colors of construction paper. (Throw in some purple for fun if you wish!) Students (or the teacher, depending on the age of students) will cut small heart shapes and little, rectangular-shaped strips from the construction paper. Glue the pom-poms onto the bottom of the heart shapes to make feet, then glue the googly eyes onto the pom-pom to create the little warm and fuzzy creature. Last, write a fact on the slip of paper and affix it to the heart shape.
Valentine Category Scavenger Hunt
Make playing cards by writing a broad category featured on the list on each one, such as candy facts, historical facts, flower facts, Valentine’s facts by the numbers, and happenings on February 14. Each time you pick a card, have your students work in small groups with their computers or tablets to find as many related trivia facts from the slideshow as possible for the related category. Give students five minutes per category to find and write down their facts. You can expand on the game by having students use outside sources, too, to find the related facts. See which group finds the most related facts each round!
Get your free Valentine’s Day Facts slides!
If you want to share these Valentine’s Day facts with your classroom, just fill out the form on this page and receive a copy of our Google Slideshow with all of the facts found above!
