of course its a ploy to get our money, but depending on who your spending you time with it canbe worth it.

OMG I just realized but save one, I have managed to find myself single each Valentines, mind you this may be due to the fact that other than sleeping/hibernating and watching the telly I rarely leave the house in February.

Anyway I think it is a cute holiday. Personally if I was with someone special I would love to even get a poem or a hand made card and some gift that was more sentimental than pricey.

What I do find over the top is (from when I worked in jewelery) parents would bring in 13 yr old to by their girlfriend gold..call me cheap but what???!!!
Firstly how about some chocolate or a teddy bear and second gold bracelets in grade 8 for a girlfriend etc, am I old fashioned, how can a parent support this. I thought they needed their heads checked.

Really though it is a fun day if you are attached, depressing day if you are alone, a horrible day to wed on in my opinion but each to their own.

In the past, I'd buy one cute and one sexy Valentine card for hubby. I'd buy the boxer with hearts and a box of candy. He'd buy me flowers, and perfume. I never got candy because he felt that chocolate was too fattening. I'd also buy my 3 kids a small box of chocolate (which I ended up sampling).
THOSE WERE THE DAYS. Now, I realize that cards, candy, flowers, perfume are just too darn expensive. This year, MIke and I are going to a very casual BYOB restaurant with friends and back to the house for a Bailey's Irish Cream cake, fruit and coffee.

Marge and I do usually observe the day, as we do most other occasions. And I think we are both creative and romantic in our approaches. Yet, it doesn't take the "special" days for these things to happen. And sometimes, the special thing that occurs on the traditional day would not be so considered by others.

Yes, I'll create a card for Marge for Valentines (and her birthday on 2/22), and yes, there will be chocolate (we both like it), and probably flowers (but today we're digging up some rose bushes and putting them in a different location, and her Mom was talking about roses at Walmart and how inexpensive, and Marge was talking about how short time they last).

But the main "gift" for Valentines AND Marge's birthday is the fitness program for the Wii that we got Marge when we got a refund on our escrow account.

One thing Marge would definitely like - maybe I can give her later in the year: a massage from a really good masseur or masseuse (like at a spa).

My husband and I exchange cards and chocolates.
We used to go out for a meal every year, but it's almost impossible to get a table, and it's just too busy even if one is available, so we don't do that any more

There's a nice upscale (at reasonable costs) restaurant where Marge and I like to go on special occasions, but she has to go out of town for a continuing ed course that she can't get at the hospital where she works, that is on that day. Maybe that's one reason why we're not so legalistic about what specific days the romance happens - as a nurse, often she works on holidays.

We are going to skip it this year. We had some huge marriage issues that resulted in a year of counseling. So instead of Valentines day we are celebrating the next weekend. It was the weekend that we decided to get our marriage back on track and stay together instead of getting divorced. I think that this will be our "valentines" tradition from now on. We are doing really good now and feel like we need to celebrate that day.

Congrats to you and hubby for not giving up and seeking counseling. I think your new tradition sounds perfect.

How wonderful --- happy for you both!

Yes, Val. I agree with the others. I congratulate you and your hubby. The day is special to the two of you.

December 8th was the day of Marge's and my first date, and so we chose December 8th as our wedding date (the following year - it took that long for me to talk her into marriage; both of us feared marriage would ruin a wonderful relationship).

I think the true inner meaning of romance is communication. Chocolates and other things can be nice, but it is the drawing closer together in our understanding and desire to "be there" for the other, that is what romance claims to be. IMO.

May our hearts always be open to romance and magic. And may we always be willing to receive love - even when we feel like we don't deserve it. We do. And so does our mate (at least, when they've paid their penance - just joking!).