Boycott St. Valentines Day

For all those that think the only people who dislike Valentines Day are 'bitter singles', think again. I am an avid hater of the holiday regardless of whether I am in a relationship or not. Which is good for my boyfriend because he doesn't have to worry about getting dinner reservations on the most notoriously difficult night of the year. So, I have reasons why I am not a fan of the holiday of love and here they are.

-It is my belief that you should not need prompting to be romantic. To have such a day set aside in the calendar like this when you are expected to show your affection to your OH, and vice versa, actually makes it LESS romantic. Romance should be surprising and spur-of-the-moment. This holiday just makes everyone a sheep!

-It is yet another case of the consumer industry mish-mashing a bunch of myths and stories together to create a holiday to sell. Others include Easter & Halloween (except they have some basis in religious beliefs)

-THERE WAS NO SAINT VALENTINE! At least not in the sense that this holiday portrays. There was in fact several of them in Roman & Christian histories and all of them were religious martyrs. But not one of them was associated with love, until one Geoffery Chaucer came along. Some people claim there are earlier associations (but none as far back as when the Saints were alive), Chaucer is generally acknowledged as the beginning of the holiday.

-Apart from weddings, I believe love should be as private a thing as possible. After all, it's between two people so why should the rest of the world bear witness to it. Valentine's Day makes it seem like you have to prove something to the world about your relationship when the only opinion that matters is that of the people involved in said relationship.

So, there you have it. My reasons for being a Valentines Day Scrooge!

Quote:
It is my belief that you should not need prompting to be romantic. To have such a day set aside in the calendar like this when you are expected to show your affection to your OH, and vice versa, actually makes it LESS romantic. Romance should be surprising and spur-of-the-moment. This holiday just makes everyone a sheep! I agree about this.

I don't hate it, but we don't celebrate it. We did a few times when we were first married, but it felt so forced and phony. So now it's just another day for us.

We don't celebrate it either. I buy her flowers all the time... When they are less expensive.

i agree that you shouldn't have to have a day just to show affection for someone, in a relationship you should do it all the time or whenever you feel like it- but valentine's day isn't saying that. it's not saying, don't be romantic except on this day, it's just a day where you are encouraged to be romantic if you wouldn't usually be.

i think it's a nice idea, i have no idea why people get so annoyed about valentine's day. it's just a day where you show that you care for someone, whether its your boyfriend, your mum, or your best friend. i can't find fault in that!

Ok you convinced me.

Its a Hallmark Holiday anyway.......

but wait can't i still have some of those cinnamon hearts?

I agree... It's just another day in our house. We may buy chocolates and wine and hang out (my persuasion) But we do thoughtful gestures all year round which I think is more romantic.

I'd rather wait until the next day for chocolates when they go 50% off lol.

Originally Posted by Lucy /img/forum/go_quote.gif i agree that you shouldn't have to have a day just to show affection for someone, in a relationship you should do it all the time or whenever you feel like it- but valentine's day isn't saying that. it's not saying, don't be romantic except on this day, it's just a day where you are encouraged to be romantic if you wouldn't usually be.
i think it's a nice idea, i have no idea why people get so annoyed about valentine's day. it's just a day where you show that you care for someone, whether its your boyfriend, your mum, or your best friend. i can't find fault in that!

I'd say it's more than encouraged to show affection though. There's so much pressure on people to make something of the day. How many people do you know who got into a strop with their OH because they didn't make an effort? I still feel that their shouldn't be a day to prompt people to show affection. Nobody should need prompting and for a lot of people Valentines Day is the main romantic day they have. They feel like if they go with the whole card,flowers & chocs thing on 14th Feb then they're let off for the rest of the year. Rather than encouraging people to show affection it essentially kills it because, so long as you make the appropriate gestures on Valentines Day then you've done your part for the year. It encourages laziness and complacency rather than affection I think. At least that's the conclusion I come to from working in retail. I can guarantee you that on 13th Feb the queue in our store will be out the door with people who forgot to get a card and think that they're life will not be worth living if they don't get one.

I like the Valentine's Day candy. lol.

That's about it.

Originally Posted by Sherbert-Kisses /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd say it's more than encouraged to show affection though. There's so much pressure on people to make something of the day. How many people do you know who got into a strop with their OH because they didn't make an effort? I still feel that their shouldn't be a day to prompt people to show affection. Nobody should need prompting and for a lot of people Valentines Day is the main romantic day they have. They feel like if they go with the whole card,flowers & chocs thing on 14th Feb then they're let off for the rest of the year. Rather than encouraging people to show affection it essentially kills it because, so long as you make the appropriate gestures on Valentines Day then you've done your part for the year. It encourages laziness and complacency rather than affection I think. At least that's the conclusion I come to from working in retail. I can guarantee you that on 13th Feb the queue in our store will be out the door with people who forgot to get a card and think that they're life will not be worth living if they don't get one. Yep. I heard a commercial on the radio the other day for a jewelry store, and was saying something about how even if she says she doesn't want a gift she really does. Whatever. They just want you to buy a $500 bracelet.

Oh no, no no... I could never boycott Valentine's day. Especially when there's still hope in getting one a those 500$ bracelets.

Honestly you could say that about any holiday. You could boycott birthdays, because the people are already born. You could boycott pretty much any holiday because the reason for a lot of holidays don't matter to anyone anymore. The fact is I love that I have a day to celebrate and make it a lovey day. My sweetie is more important to me than 4th of July or Christmas so yes, I do go out of my way to make them extra happy. Come on, people spend a ton of money on stuff like 4th of July, Superbowl parties, and don't get me started on Christmas. I am not saying that you should love them any less the rest of the year, I am merely saying I think it is one of the best holidays ever because it does celebrate something I do care about.

Valentine's day is a great way for me to make up to my lover all the things I found out after xmas that they really wanted and I didn't realize at the time. Nothing like having a second chance to make up now for letting them down back then.

I've never had a man on Valentine's Day so I could care less. The 'rents usually get me some chocolates and I'm happy with that.

I don't celebrate Valentine either, it's just a commercial thing. I enjoy the promotions and i love heart shaped stuff, but that's about it.

Originally Posted by Chaeli /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh no, no no... I could never boycott Valentine's day. Especially when there's still hope in getting one a those 500$ bracelets. LOL! I'll cross my fingers for your.

I agree with Dalylah, I think celebrations are what you make them - it's basically my mum that cooks christmas dinner, organises presents, puts up decorations, puts together our after dinner treasure hunt.... Christmas would be nothing without her. When I move out, I am totally going to put the effort in to celebrate holidays, regardless of whether it's just me in my house or if I'm surrounded by a husband and children.

Sometimes we forget to be romantic, and I think Valentines day is a nice opportunity to remember. I also think that it can be difficult to be romantic towards men, it can be embarrassing for them, so it is one day of the year that you can do something romantic and sweet for them, without the same kind of awkwardness on the other days of the year.

Basically, I see holidays as a chance for us to pull our socks up, and remember to celebrate something good in our lives.

I buy my sister flowers most years, and often get friends little things too, so for me it's about showing people I care about them.

Although we're not boycotting it, the bf and I aren't doing anything for this Valentine's day. I've never really been big on Valentine's day anyways, I'd rather be romantic every day!

boys suck.