During February, people with significant others begin scrambling to find the perfect gift for their date on the biggest day of love in the year: Valentine’s Day. While most people view this as a day of loving the important people in their lives, economists see this as a big boom in prices and money-spending as a result. 

In 2021, Elana Dure’s article “Valentine’s Day Shoppers Are Expected to Spend $23.9B in 2022”  explains how around half of American adults spent “a total of $21.8 billion”. 

High school students are not excluded from this Valentine’s Day spending. When it comes to high schoolers with jobs and fewer responsibilities for money, Valentine’s Day spending can get out of hand, and some students can even go over $100 or more on their significant other. 

Kendal Yates (11), however, does not give into this “holiday frenzy” attitude; she thinks “it is stupid how everything costs more on Valentine’s Day”. 

However, other students usually spend around $20 to buy their significant other something special. However, the price of dinner, flowers, gifts, candy, etc. gets expensive when businesses profit off of such a big gift-giving holiday. 

Blue Bishop (12) spoke about how “everywhere has Valentine’s Day boxes everywhere” so companies must be making a lot of profit.

While gift-giving can be expensive on the consumer end, businesses flourish during the holiday season and Valentine’s Day itself. 

Mrs. Thompson mentions how “it’s a good way for companies to make money and a way for them to raise their prices” as a way of meeting supply and demand. A good example is how much business flower shops get during this time of year as opposed to other slow months. 

Mrs. Thompson understands how “people feel like they traditionally have to buy [gifts] for their significant others, and the companies see it as an opportunity to sell a lot at once.”

While gift-giving is the most popular form of showing appreciation on Valentine’s Day, other students have come up with other ideas as a way to save money but still show their appreciation for their significant other. 

Remy James (11) mentioned how she and her significant other “are making cards” instead of the traditional gift-giving. 

Most people agree, however, that Valentine’s Day is sometimes overrated and wildly more expensive than most anticipate. 

Bishop understands how it is a holiday “but some people go too extreme for this holiday”. Yates and James agreed and mentioned how they are doing more personal time activities with their significant others that involve their relationships without breaking the budget.

While Valentine’s Day is an extraordinary holiday, make sure to keep track of the cheap candy that does not get sold after the holiday season.