Today is Valentine’s Day and many of us will be exchanging cards and celebrating in our different ways, be it splashing the cash on an expensive dinner or having a home-cooked meal with our partner. But does our enthusiasm for Valentine’s Day wane as we get older?
Some Statistics
The average person in the UK will spend £52 this Valentine’s day, with the UK predicted to spend a total of almost £1.5 billion.
Finder also discovered that the older people get, the less likely they are to celebrate the holiday:
- 79% of those aged 18-27 will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year
- 76% of those aged 28-43
- 56% of those aged 44-59
- 45% of those aged 60-78
- 30% of those aged 79-97
Why then do we tend to celebrate Valentine’s Day less as we get older?
Commercialisation Gets Old Pretty Fast
Valentine’s Day is an opportunity for us to express our love for another, usually a romantic partner. This idea in itself is very wholesome, yet this expression of love tends to come with a price tag…
It’s certainly not a hot take to state that Valentine’s Day has become commodified, and this is one reason why people tend to celebrate the holiday less and less as they get older. Some may find that the message behind the holiday is becoming diluted and the pressure to buy expensive gifts can quite simply get tiring.
Settling Down
Another explanation as to why less of us celebrate Valentine’s Day as we get older is that more of us are likely to have been in longer relationships and settled down.
A survey from Teads found that while 85% of people in relationships in the UK plan to celebrate this Valentine’s Day, 39% of married couples do not intend to celebrate the holiday.
In long-term relationships, the novelty of Valentine’s Day can wear off, as after spending years together, couples may feel that they don’t need one specific day to express their love.
Is the Focus of Valentine’s Day Changing?
Of course, we must also acknowledge that many people will not celebrate Valentine’s Day through no choice of their own. For those who are single or who have lost a partner, the holiday can feel lonely, especially with its focus on romantic love. This is why the trend towards using Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to appreciate all of our loved ones, not just romantic partners, is all the more important.
The Medill Spiegel Research Centre found that 43.3% of Americans are now choosing to celebrate with family and friends, signalling a shift towards a more inclusive holiday. This idea of using the holiday to focus on different types of love aside from romantic, has taken root all over, not just in America.
This can be seen with the global trend of Galentine’s day (often celebrated the day before on 13th February) which typically involves all-female celebrations of friendship.
Just because less of us celebrate Valentine’s Day as we get older does not mean it’s a holiday just for young couples, and you don’t need to buy expensive gifts and plan elaborate dates to show someone you care about them. This holiday is all about love and that’s something that comes for free and is experienced by people of all ages!