Valentine’s Day 2016: Best Gift Idea Isn’t Chocolate, Many Women Hate The Holiday, Claims Shopping Survey

Those readying for Valentine’s Day 2016 are probably looking for the best gift ideas. Chocolate and/or flowers tends to be the usual favorites, but when Americans were polled as part of a shopping survey it turns out the favored candy is actually not the favorite option even if that’s what men usually give. Speaking of the guys, it turns out a good percentage of men hate the annual romantic holiday. So, before you go off Valentine’s Day shopping, perhaps you should ask your loved one if they kinda, sorta don’t like it, either.

The 2016 Valentine’s Day Shopping Survey was conducted by Best Black Friday. While obviously the website’s major focus is on Black Friday sales, they thought their readers may benefit from knowing the best Valentine’s Day gift ideas. So, using SurveyMonkey, they gathered some interesting data for us to peruse.

The main data point that stood out was that a fairly large percentage of women don’t exactly like the idea.

• 63 percent of the survey participants plan on celebrating Valentine’s Day in some fashion
• 67 percent of women will celebrate. 62 percent of men will celebrate
• 71 percent of women aged 18 to 29 answered yes to celebrating Valentine’s Day this year. By contrast, only 58 percent of men aged 18 to 29 answered yes

All in all, a little over half of all men do not want to celebrate Valentine’s Day 2016. Interestingly enough, the percentage of women who said no to Cupid’s arrows was only five percent points lower than the men.

But just because someone plans on celebrating the holiday does not mean they actually like it in the first place. For those planning on celebrating, 43 percent found it romantic, 52 percent were just neutral, and five percent hate it but are still putting up with the holiday plans. For those not celebrating, only eight percent found it romantic, 73 percent were just neutral, and a significant 19 percent hate Valentine’s Day with all an all-consuming passion (which is probably best not directed at their partner if they like Valentine’s Day).

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The Valentine’s Day shopping will get a little expensive based upon other questions asked by the survey.

• 74 percent of the survey participants will spend $1 to $100
• 82 percent of women will spend $1 to $100, while 64 percent of men will spend $1 to $100
• 81 percent of those living in the central part of the US will spend $1 to $100.
• Only 67 percent of those living on the east coast will spend $1-$100

The interesting part is that women are actually less likely to spend more money for Valentine’s Day 2016.

• 10 percent of the participants will spend $201+
• six percent of women will spend $201+, while 15 percent of men will spend $201+
• In the 30 to 44 age range, 19 percent of men will spend $201 or more, compared to four percent of women

Here is the question everyone has been waiting for: what are the best gift ideas for Valentine’s Day 2016? To answer this question, survey participants were asked what types of gifts are their favorite to give in addition to their favorite gift ideas to receive.

As it turns out, the big favorite was a date night out on the town, with 25 percent planning to give this gift, while 36 percent preferred to receive this gift. Chocolate was the second place gift to give at 15 percent, but as for receiving, chocolate (eight percent) loses out to jewelry (16 percent), flowers (13 percent), and homemade gifts (10 percent). Other top favorites for receiving include a store bought card (seven percent), clothing/lingerie (five percent), and electronics (five percent).

[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]