While itās true that Valentineās Day is best known as a day lovebirds celebrate each other, it is also evolving beyond just that one-dimensional mushy sentiment.
The āday of loveā is increasingly being celebrated by non-couples, such as friends, family members and strangers in undefined pairings who are in the early stages of getting acquainted.
Ahead of Valentineās Day, which typically is a major annual dining out event, leading restaurant booking platform, OpenTable, conducted a survey of consumers to gauge how the day would shake out this year at restaurants nationwide.
This is what the results revealed:
Singles and group celebrations are increasingly redefining the traditionally couple-focused holiday. The OpenTable survey results showed 61% of singles are open to going out on a first date on February 14th. The most willing among them are GenZers.
Also, 51% of all diners are considering double dates this Valentineās Day.
Separately, the day before Valentineās Day is becoming more popular to mark friendship celebrations, such as āGalentineās Day.ā OpenTable data revealed a 34% increase in parties of more than six on Feb. 13, 2024, compared to the previous year.
As many as 25% of respondents said they will celebrate Galentine's Day this year, according to the OpenTable online survey, which polled 1,513 US consumers between Dec. 24th, 2024 to Jan. 2nd, 2025.
"Valentine's Day dining has gone through a major vibe shift over the years, and this year sees a continuation of that, with couples, double dates and groups of friends planning to dine out for the occasion," Robin Chiang, chief growth officer of OpenTable, said in a statement.
Record spending expected on friends
Overall spending on Valentineās Day is expected to reach a record $27.5 billion in 2025, according to the National Retail Federationās annual Valentineās Day spending survey.
Thatās up from last yearās $25.8 billion in total spending, and up slightly from the previous record of $27.4 billion reached in 2020.
Among those surveyed, candy is the most popular gift for the occasion (56%), followed by flowers (40%), greeting cards (40%), an evening out (35%) and jewelry (22%).
The NRF survey said consumers plan to spend a total of $6.5 billion on jewelry, $5.4 billion on an evening out, $2.9 billion on flowers, $2.5 billion on candy and $1.4 billion on greeting cards.
While total spending on significant others is expected to reach a new record of $14.6 billion (up from last yearās record of $14.2 billion), spending on gifts for family members is estimated to reach $4.3 billion, up from $4 billion in 2024.
One-third of consumers plan to purchase gifts for friends this Valentineās Day, up from 28% last year and the highest in the surveyās history, the NRF said. Another 19% expect to purchase gifts for co-workers, up from 16% in 2024 and another record, while 32% of shoppers plan on Valentineās Day gifts for their pets.
āPurchasing gifts for those outside of significant others or family members continues to rise in popularity and reflects consumersā growing interest in celebrating all the meaningful relationships in their lives,ā Phil Rist, Prosper Insights & Analytics executive vice president of strategy, said in a statement.
The NRF-Prosper Insights & Analytics survey (conducted from Jan. 2 to Jan. 7) polled 8,020 adults about their Valentineās Day shopping intentions.
Sweethearts candy ācommitmentsā
Whatās Valentineās Day without some Sweethearts?
The small heart-shaped candies bearing cute messages such as āBe Mine,ā āLove You,ā āXOXOā and āFirst Kissā have become the most iconic Valentineās Day sweets since they were created in 1902.
Bryan, Ohio-based Spangler Candy Company (family-owned and operated) produces more than 600 million Sweethearts candies for Valentineās Day.
Another fun fact: There are 40 sayings printed on the candies at any given time, and each year a new theme is included.
Of the 600 million candy hearts made this year, the brand has 15 million āMARRY MEā candy hearts, 15 million āMOVE IN?ā candy hearts and 15 million ā4EVER EVER?ā candy hearts.
Those messages arenāt just for show, the brand said. Theyāre backed by serious commitment by the giver to the recipient.
The brand explained to Bagable.com that the three new messages on this yearās Valentineās Day candy hearts are no joke. Really.
Utilizing artificial intelligence, those three specific candy hearts messages are scannable via mobile devices on sweetheartscandies.com.
Once scanned, the messages āMOVE IN?ā, āMARRY MEā and ā4EVER EVER?ā take users to websites where they can actually book a move through moving company Piece of Cake Moving & Storage, get married online through Courtly (a provider of online marriage services) or buy heart-shaped headstones if they truly mean ā4EVER EVER,ā or āātil death do us part.ā
āSweethearts conversation hearts are āCommitment Hearts,āā Evan Brock, vice president of marketing for Spangler Candy Company, said in a statement.
āWeāve come full circle from embracing ambiguity with last yearās āSituationship Boxesā to helping todayās singles define their relationships with Americaās much-loved Valentineās Day candy,ā said Brock.