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With Valentine’s Day just a couple of weeks away, people are looking for ways to show their sweetie some love and it seems they’re ready to spend some cash to do it. Americans are planning to spend $25.9-billion on Valentine’s Day this year, according to an annual survey from the National Retail Federation. That’s up from last year’s $23.9-billion and it’s the second-highest year for spending since they first started tracking in 2004.
The poll of 76-hundred U.S. adults finds:
- Just over half (52%) plan to celebrate the holiday and will spend an average of $192.80.
- Those between the ages of 34 and 44 plan to spend $336 to celebrate Valentine’s Day, the most of any age group surveyed.
- Folks between 25 and 34 are the next biggest spenders, planning to spend an average of $238.
- The most popular gifts include candy (57%), greeting cards (40%), flowers (37%), an evening out (32%), jewelry (21%), gift cards (20%) and clothing (19%).
- In total, Americans plan to spend more than $5.5-billion on jewelry and close to $4.4-billion on a special night out.
- About a third (32%) of respondents plan to give a gift of experience, that’s up from 26% last year and it’s the highest since the survey started asking the question in 2017.
- As for where people will be doing their Valentine’s Day shopping, online is the most popular with 35%, closely followed by department stores (34%), discount stores (31%) and specialty stores (18%).