Are You In Love this Valentine’s Day?

As we approach Valentine’s Day next week, we all are being reminded by the shelves full of chocolates in red heart shaped boxes in every retail store, the ads for flowers and the Valentine’s Day packages available at hotels, spas and restaurants. We decided at this hotel to do a Valentine’s Day ard and chocolates for all or our guests staying with us on that day. Which made me think, how did this holiday evolve in America and I found this interesting tidbit on History.com:

“Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap." Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.”

So make sure you show some love to that special someone next week. Based on the above statistic, most likely the ladies are already planning to, but the men have some catching up to do!  Happy Valentines to all!!

Be Well,

Michael D’Amodio