February 5, 2020
Roses are red. Violets are blue. But when did Valentine’s Day become a celebration for more than two? In 2020, 68.2 million Americans — or 26.77% of the adult population — plan to buy a Valentine’s Day gift for more than one romantic partner, according to a recent survey from Finder.com.
Men are more likely than women to shop for more than one partner, with 35.50% of men saying they will purchase a Valentine’s Day gift for more than one romantic partner, compared to 21.03% of women.
Millennials make up a large chunk of those shopping for more than one romantic partner, with 36.46% of the generation — or 31.1 million millennials — saying they would purchase a Valentine’s gift for more than one romantic partner.
Where are people getting their gifts?
Those who plan to double dip on Valentine’s gift giving don’t make up the whole present-buying pie. In 2020, roughly 181.8 million people will buy gifts for their Valentine, and where they’re shopping may surprise you.
While the No. 1 source for Valentine’s Day gifts is from brick-and-mortars, with 39.96% of people planning to run into a physical store, 37.43% say they will buy their gifts from Amazon, with a further 7.37% saying they will purchase presents from a different online retailer. It means that nearly half of all Americans shopping for Valentine’s Day will get their gifts online in 2020.
Who’s buying Valentine’s Day gifts?
More men than women are planning on purchasing gifts for Valentine’s Day, with 92.4 million men saying they’ll buy Valentine’s gifts compared to 77.7 million women.
As to where people will get their gifts, men are more likely than women to pick up presents from a brick-and-mortar store, whereas far more women than men plan to make their own gifts.
Generational Valentine’s Day buying habits
Millennials are far and away the most likely to shop on Amazon for St. Valentine’s, with 39% looking to the retail giant for a Valentine’s Day gift this year. At the other end of the spectrum are boomers, among whom 40% plan to buy from a brick-and-mortar store and a further 52% say they won’t buy anything.
Spending big on Valentine’s Day
With 181.9 million planning to buy a gift in 2020, it may not surprise you that February 14th is big business. Americans will spend roughly $19.2 billion on gifts this year, each gift averaging $110.
Where that money is spent and on whom varies widely. Girlfriends and wives luck out on Valentine’s, with the average girlfriend gifted a present worth $126 and the average wife’s gift costing $122. These values are more than double the average amount spent on husbands ($56) or boyfriends ($51).
In 2020, men are expected to spend $3.6 billion more on Valentine’s gifts than women, spending an expected $11.4 billion for men compared to $7.8 for women.
As far as the average gift, men will spend almost double that of women. Of those who plan to spend on Valentine’s Day gifts, men say they’ll spend an average of $153.65 compared to $77.89 women plan to spend. Women are expected to outspend men in only one of the nine gift recipient categories: boyfriend.
Millennials are expected to spend the most among the generations on Valentine’s Day gifts, dropping some $8.4 billion in 2020, representing almost 44% of all Valentine’s spending.
On a per-gift basis, Gen X is expected to spend the most on average on their wives> ($157) and girlfriends ($150), and the Silent Generation is expected to spend the most on average on other family members ($150).
What are people doing for Valentine’s Day?
It’s not just gift giving that’s big on Valentine’s Day. Plenty of people plan to take up romantic activities and getaways. In addition to the $19.2 billion Americans will spend on gifts, another $30.7 billion will be spent on Valentine’s Day activities.
Travel is the priciest item on Valentine’s Day, with people expected to spend about $299 on a romantic getaway, followed by new outfits ($85) and dining out ($79).
Women are expected to outspend men by almost twice as much on travel expenses, with women saying they’ll spend about $394, compared to the $218 men say they’ll spend. However, men are expected to outspend women in all other categories.
Travel is where big money is spent this Valentine’s Day, led by Gen Z in total cash splashed. The average Zer expected to spend a whopping $553 in 2020, followed by Gen X at an average of $406.
Valentine’s Day spending to hit $50 billion in 2020
All told, Americans are planning to spend roughly $50 billion for Valentine’s Day in 2020, combining $19.2 billion on gifts and $30.7 billion on activities.
Men are expected to foot slightly more of the Valentine’s Day bill spending approximately $26.1 billion on the day, with women planning to spend $23.9 billion.
Methodology
Our data is based on an online survey of 2,398 US adults born between 1928 and 2002. The survey was commissioned by Finder and conducted by Pureprofile in January 2020. Participants were paid volunteers.
We assume the 2,398 participants in our survey represent the US population of 254.7 million Americans who are at least 18 years old according to the July 2019 US Census Bureau estimate. This assumption was made at the 95% confidence level with a 2% margin of error.
Finder’s survey asked:
- Will you be purchasing a Valentine gift for more than one romantic partner?
- Where will you purchase gifts for Valentines Day?
- On average, how much are you planning to spend on gifts for family and friends for Valentine’s Day?
- How much will you be spending on other Valentine’s Day activities?
We based our average spending calculations on only the participants who said they planned on spending in that particular category — for example, to calculate mean spending on Valentine’s gifts for girlfriends, we did not include the 28.59% of participants who selected “Not purchasing gifts for Valentines Day” and the 62.91% who responded “$0.”
We calculated total Valentine’s Day gift spending based on estimated spending in the categories of:
- Girlfriend
- Wife
- Husband
- Boyfriend
- Secret
- Other Family Members
- Friend
- Pet Dog
- Pet Cat
We calculated total Valentine’s Day spending on activities based on estimated spending in the categories of:
- Travel
- New outfit
- Dining out
- Entertainment
- Hair/makeup/beauty
To avoid skewing the data, we did not include extreme outliers in our calculations.
We define generations by birth year according to the Pew Research Center’s generational guidelines:
- Gen Z — 1997–2002
- Millennials — 1981–1996
- Gen X — 1965–1980
- Baby Boomers — 1946–1964
- Silent Generation — 1928–1945
Why was Valentine’s day named after a beheaded priest?
Hi Farrel,
Thanks for getting in touch! The date of Fr. Valentine’s death may have become mingled with the Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan festival of love. On these occasions, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius decided to put an end to the Feast of Lupercalia, and he declared that February 14 be celebrated as St Valentine’s Day.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Nikki