On Valentine's Day, men open their wallets a little bit wider On average, survey finds, guys shell out $128 and women spend $74 By IRIS KUO Knight Ridder Tribune News WASHINGTON - Take note, gentlemen: You'll probably give more than you get on Valentine's Day. Men plan to shell out an average of $128 on their loved ones Tuesday, while women plan to spend $74, according to a new survey sponsored by Discover Card, the credit card company. Why do men spend more? "Because men have to, and women can chose to," Gail Sheehy, the author of Sex and the Seasoned Woman and other books on modern women, said via e-mail. "Women remind men and guilt them into it." Fair enough. But women also earn less, about 75 cents to every dollar a man makes, according to Vicky Lovell, study director at the Institute for Women's Policy Research in Washington. More than one-third of women don't plan to spend a dime on gifts for their sweethearts, according to the survey, which excluded men and women who said they had no lovers to buy for. Lovell suspects there's a second reason for men's extravagance: They're less comfortable letting their hearts speak. "Women may spend less because they see it as a time for men to express affections," Lovell said. What women want, however, may differ from what men buy them, according to Discover's representative sample of 1,016, polled by phone. Offered seven choices of Valentine's presents, jewelry was third in men's plans but came in fifth among women. Lingerie and clothing ranked fifth on the men's list, sixth on women's. A night on the town was the top choice for both, but there may be some argument about who picks up the tab. Seven out of 10 men surveyed said they'd pay. Six in 10 women said they would. Flowers and candy were the next most popular gifts among women, and the survey found that men know it. Valentine's Day gifts are expected to ring up $13.7 billion in sales, according to the National Retail Federation. The money is beside the point for many women, Sheehy stressed. "Women only feel obligated to send a card," she said. "It's our holiday."
Funny, In a blog I posted about how much Valentines Day sucks, I said that any man who spends more than $150 is whipped and should turn in his man card immediatley. Doing some rough sample statistics I'd say that means about 40% of american men are completely whipped. You should all be very ashamed.
I wish this whole holiday would go away. Many people have said the reasons already. Obviously not fun if you just don't like insincere saccharine displays of false affection, or if you're single and unhappy about it. Even if you have a significant other, it feels like another hoop you have to jump through, something to check off on a list. As said before, don't go out to eat on that day, standing in long lines with all the other couples, cows in the herd. Use the day before or the day after, or prepare a nice meal at home. From reading this board, it seems like there are two outcomes for a female in a relationship, neither of them ideal: 1) he doesn't get you much and you feel bitter about ending up with someone who won't put forth any effort, or 2) he's doing all that, but really only so he can get some action at the end of the night. I wanted to wear all black today, but didn't because I decided it might hurt somebody's feelings. Actually, what I really wanted to wear is camouflage. Duck and cover. I want to hide from all this. If only I had some camo...
It is definitely a lame holiday but I have come to loathe pretty much all holiday's that are commercialized. I feel most holiday's could just be eliminated.
My girl is not a fan of VDay. We're going out to sushi happy hour after work & picked up Junebug at Cactus to watch tonight. No flowers or other b.s. She'd rather me give her flowers & do nice things for her spontaneously, not when I'm told to. She rocks.
So, she's cool with meeting up at BW3 for the late game tonight? Actually, she got her present from the Rockets yesterday!
My favorite romantic holiday is Steak and BJ day, all the way. I look forward to it like Christmas! I've never found just the right gift card for the occassion. Maybe I'll start a company that sells them...
Yeah, she's excited about the fellow polak, said "We'll have to go see him play." I didn't have the heart to tell her he'd be sitting at the end of the bench. If the Olympics are on at the same time, she'd be down.
V-day sucks, wife knows my stance, I do stuff about 80% of the rest of the years so V-day is my day off
My two least favorite words to read on a menu are "Prix Fixe" Valentines and New Years are the worst times to go out to dinner. I'm cooking my wife dinner tonight.
Yeah, like I'm going to get away with dragging the wife to BW3 tonight! She's down with no big dinner, presents, etc., but that may be taking it a tad too far. Thursday night...
It's not that hard to get a card and take your woman out for a night.. It's not the end of the world like some of you make it out to be..
I like this day single or in a relationship. If I'm in a relationship its a nice time to step up to the plate and go all out. I've done that before and its great. I'm basically free to do whatever I want to do for about two weeks. To me it works out sacrifice one day and some money to gain like 2 weeks of non-stop XBOX without any complaints and everything on the side. If I'm single like this year. I'm going to go out to the bars with a few buds and get some drinks and rant about how girls did us wrong in the last year. Mean while there are girls that are doing the same thing. (thats how my sister met her husband )...Than theres the depressed girls that go out that are easy targets and I dont think they even require booze today. The thing that I hate is the couples that go out to the bars after their dinners and stuff. Go home. Do your thing. Don't take up space. It's a great day. It might honeslty be my favorite holiday. Go out and spoil your loved one, or go out and find that easy target or if all else fails get completely drunk and pass out and forget it about tonight tommorw. Happy V-day BBS
This reminds me of a quote from Maccabees. "And for their frugal spending, women shall be chained to the fencepost and sleep out in the cold. And it was written." - Book of Maccabees 43:42
I wouldn't say lame, but its another day the "man" wants me to spend my hard earned money on crap... Besides, its yet another day to find out who really loves you... I bought my g/f a red leather jacket and she got me an hour massage...She promised me a Bagwell Jersey, but she said she forgot... be-yotch j/k...My kids like it too, so it can't be all bad...
