Each February chocolates, flowers, and sentimental cards are priced at an all-time high for the year. All across the country rush out to buy these romantic gifts for their significant other.

  Some people believe Valentine’s Day is a “money making” holiday and this year the National Retail Federation (NRF) is expecting Americans to shell out around $18 billion on around this romantic holiday.

  The NRF broke the prediction down estimating each man would spend around $168 on the holiday, while women spend about half that much on their lover.

  Most commonly bought are gooey chocolates, endearing cards, and vibrant roses. According to news.holidash.com last year 58 million pounds of chocolate, 188 million cards, and 110 million roses were purchased. Sales were only expected to increase this year, despite the economic crisis many Americans are burdened with.

   Aside from these extremely common Valentine’s Day gifts, Americans also dish out money on expensive dinners and fancy jewelry to prove their love, because as we all know, the more money you spend on someone, the more you love them.

  Some people say money cannot buy happiness, but for those being showered in gifts on Valentine’s Day, it seems to be doing the trick. This holiday was never intended to be a “money making” holiday though; it was supposed to be a day to show love.

   When the transition between a romantic day spent with your true love became a competition of who could spend the most money on the biggest, best gifts is unclear. However, it seems that prices tags are becoming more important than the actual meaning behind the gift. 

  Even though Valentine’s Day was intended to be a holiday to express your love toward someone, if you truly love the person, you would do this everyday not just on the designated holiday. Apparently though, for most Americans, love, like many other things, is taking a backseat to materialistic items, even on Valentine’s Day.