Does anyone else not 'get' Valentine's Day?

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I certainly don't have an issue with people that enjoy the holiday. I just don't understand the rituals. If they're supposed to be symbols of love, then it makes no sense.

Now, if you give your partner gifts they can actually enjoy I can see the purpose of that.

I got my husband a couple shirts I know he'll love with snarky cards.

I honestly do not get any holiday really. As soon as my children were grown I put a stop to all of them.

It is a corporate manufactured holiday designed to sell product. It only has the value that we place on it as a culture. The same as diamonds.

Instead of buying your loved ones a card for Valentines, learn a craft and make something for them. If that catches on, the holiday will die and we will regain a small part of sanity as a culture.

Hating Valentines has become cliche, but for a reason - a holiday made for loving people. Are we not supposed to love others during the rest of the year, or just not as much by comparison? It's a thinly veiled scheme which we can overcome, if we choose to do so.

If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. Forced affection especially in the form of gift giving is kind of a poisonous thing and should be avoided. If you fake this just to fit in or because you think it's expected of you, then you'll go through the motions and it will get in the way of developing genuine feelings or evaluating other people for who they really are. It's only when you pull back and evaluate the other side of possibly not having feelings that you can understand what you see in another person. I'm not sure I'm making sense on this.

What I don't get is the stuff that they buy. How does chocolates and stuffed animals show your affection for someone?

Why not just buy them something related to their interests?

It shows you care enough for them, that you pay notice to their interests.

Anyway, I believe affection is something you should show all year round. Not just on February 14.

Because it is a $14 billion a year industry.

I don't get it. Dedicating a day to communicating your love for others is not a bad idea, but that's not what it's about in reality.

All I see is forced affection and an excuse for shops to make money out of it.

Seeing all the men rushing to buy flowers and chocolate (and all the women making a huge deal out of it / expecting all these things) makes me cringe. It's so meaningless.

Exactly. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I'm probably the least romantic person on the planet. Yes, I should be showing it every day, but the only way that's going to happen is if it becomes a routine, and that is definitely not romantic. Valentine's Day used to annoy me too, but now I just view it as a kick in the pants to say things I should be saying all year but don't. Honestly, the biggest annoyance now is that pretty much everyone complains about how stupid it is.

We don't buy anything for each other though. I don't see the point in useless gifts either. I write love letters. (Heh, cheesy.) Because I can say how I feel better that way. I don't force it though. If I don't feel like doing it, I don't make myself do it just because it's Valentine's Day. But usually I do feel like it.

£££££ << This.

This video came to mind, for the Valentine's holiday:

http://www.muft.tv/watch/Video,Item,2910529334.html

I disagree with regards to Valentine's Day, but definitely is true of Sweetest Day. Look up the history of that holiday, it's quite fascinating. It doesn't even have any cultural traditions like the way Christmas was hijacked, just invented out of thin air to sell candy during a traditionally slow sales season.

So...
What's a "Hallmark holiday"?

Like a commercialized holiday?

A holiday shaped and molded to maximize Hallmark's sales.

So Hallmark... invented... Valentine's Day?
Or you mean they took advantage of it...

I'm very bad with expressions

Hallmark didn't invent Valentine's day, but they have taken advantage of it.