Valentines Gift Ideas

Did You Know That…

…Valentine’s Day is the second largest card sending holiday of the year, second only to Christmas?

…Women purchase about 85% of Valentine’s?

…Valentine’s Day is also celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Australia?

…In February 2004, $2.4 billion worth of jewelry was purchased?

While some things can be known about the origins of Valentine’s Day, one thing we don’t know for sure is just where or when we began celebrating amore, although there have been many stories told over the years. I’ve been reading a few of the legends and myths and I want to share them with you. I have my favorite. Now you pick yours.

The Stories About Saint Valentine

One story alleges that Valentine was a priest living in the 3rd century in Rome. His story is deeply enmeshed with that of the Emperor Claudius II (aka: Claudius the Cruel), who ruled Rome at this time. Claudius was involved in many wars around Rome, but he could not convince many men to leave their wives and families. His solution was to outlaw marriage and cancel all engagements. The men would then be able to focus on waging war. Valentine, believing this law to be unjust, began marrying couples in secret. When Claudius discovered what Valentine was doing, it is said that he had him executed.

Another story has Claudius killing Valentine for helping Christians escape the Roman prisons, where they were regularly beaten and tortured.

Yet a third story claims that Valentine was put to death for curing the jailor’s daughter of her blindness. She frequently visited Valentine while he was jailed. They were said to have fallen in love. In fact, Valentine may have originated the tradition of sending written avowals of love and romance. Prior to being put to death, Valentine allegedly wrote a letter to her, signing it “From your Valentine”, an expression we continue to use today. It is believed that he was executed on February 14, 269 A.D. Thus, Saint Valentine became both a romantic and a hero.

The Feast of Lupercalia

The Feast of Lupercalia may have been the first legend told surrounding the beginnings of Valentine’s Day. Lupercalia, a fertility festival celebrated on February 15, was a celebration to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture. Lupercalia was also a dedication to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. Lupercus was said to watch over the shepherd’s flocks, keeping then safe from wolves. The Roman priests would sacrifice both a goat and a dog to begin the festival. The goat represented fertility, while the dog symbolized purification.

The goat’s hide was then sliced into strips and dipped into the sacrificial blood. The men went out into the streets, gently slapping the women with the goathide strips. The women welcomed this gesture as they believed it would make them more fertile in the year ahead. Later in the day, all the single women’s names were placed in an urn. The bachelor men would pull a name from the urn. The couple would spend much time together over the next year and many of these pairings resulted in marriage.

The Feast of Lupercalia continued for centuries. As Christianity began to take hold though, the priests strived to replace the heathen practices by substituting the names of saints for the girls names. Those drawing from the urn would then aspire to imitate the lives of the saint whose name they had drawn. While the priests wished to abolish the pagan traditions, they sought to keep the festival flavor of feasts and sports. Thus, Lupercalia became Valentine’s Day.

Traditions Over the Ages

The origins of our modern valentines most likely date back to the early 1400’s. While he was a prisoner in the Tower of London, the French Duke of Orleans wrote many, many poems and valentines to his wife. Some of these remain and are on display at the British Museum in London. flowers became popular gifts about 200 years later in France.

Americans began the tradition of exchanging hand-made valentine’s in the early 1700’s. Presently, every February, all across America, we celebrate our love and our loved ones on Valentine’s Day with gifts, flowers, candy, and Valentine’s greeting cards. Saint Valentine became the patron saint of lovers and we continue to celebrate the spirit of love and sentiment and good feelings.

Patricia Tomaskovic is the Owner of http://www.one-stop-gift-shop.com. We are a fully stocked online shopping mall with over 3500 items, offering a complete line of gifts for every occasion.

Stores and florists spend a great deal of time, money and effort promoting their products as perfect for Valentine’s Day. This is done for good reason as most people turn to commercially available products on Valentine’s Day to give a great gift to their loved ones.

However, with a little effort you may find you can give your partner a really great gift on Valentine’s Day which comes straight from your heart. This can be done in the form of a homemade gift. Despite what you may be thinking it does not take a great deal of time or talent to make these great gifts. This article will provide a few ideas for homemade gifts you can give to your loved one on Valentine’s Day.

A scrapbook is one of the most obvious homemade gifts you can give to your partner on Valentine’s Day. It is also one of the easiest homemade gifts you can make and also one of the gifts which is most likely to be greatly appreciated by your partner. This is a great combination if you want to give your partner a spectacular gift on Valentine’s Day.

To make a great scrapbook start out by selecting the pictures you want to use in the scrapbook. You can select pictures of each of you individually, pictures of the two of you together, pictures of places the two of you have visited together or any combination of the pictures previously mentioned. Once you select a series of pictures you really like there will likely be an obvious theme for the scrapbook. Once this theme emerges you can search for the scrapbook as well as accessories for the scrapbook such as stickers, ribbons or other graphics. Finally, assembling the scrapbook is as easy as gluing the pictures and accessories to the page and putting everything together in an order which makes sense.

Homemade candles are another great gift you can give your partner for Valentine’s Day. Making candles is actually quite simple. You can find kits in craft supply stores which will not only include everything you need to make a great candle or two but also provide you with simple step by step instructions on how to melt the wax, insert the wick, pour the candle and allow the candle to set before releasing it from the mold.

Also, there will likely be the opportunity to use dyes and perfumes to create a candle of a customized color and scent. When adding color or scent to a candle, care should be taken to add the dye or perfume at the appropriate time for the best results.

One final idea for a homemade Valentine’s Day gift is a CD filled with your partner’s favorite music or a DVD with pictures of videos of the two of you together. You can even combine the videos with movie clips or music which you think fits well with the rest of the images or video.

This may sound like it is extremely difficult but it really is not. With the technological advancements being made, many of us would be surprised to learn that we can do a lot of these things on our own computers at home. However, if you are having a great deal of trouble, you might want to consider consulting a friend or family member for advice on how to accomplish your goal. This way you can still give your loved one a homemade gift for Valentine’s Day but you will have some help with the most difficult parts of the project.

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Valentine’s Day is the day of Romance. Many couples celebrate this day like with the same reverence as thier own anniversary. Therefore, they often want to plan a very special and romantic Valentine’s Day for them and their partner to enjoy.

Planning Valentines Day With Your Lover

Surprises are great and your partner may really appreciate your thoughtfulness and planning but one way to ensure your lover is surprised by your plans for Valentine’s Day is to involve him or her in the planning process. Amking plans together gives you and your partner the opportunity to enjoy even more time together and to make time which you know you will both love.

Another alternative to make sure your Valentine’s Day with someone special is a great day is to really put a great deal of time and effort into the planning. It can be difficult to plan a truly spectacular Valentine’s Day at the last minute because you are likely to run into a series of mishaps as a result of others trying to plan a great Valentine’s Day for themselves. To avoid this type of problem, plan way ahead and make all necessary reservations way in advance.

A weekend getaway can be the right move and as elaborate as a long weekend on a tropical beach or a couple of days in a new city. It doesn’t matter where you go or what you do as much as it matters who you are with for this trip.

If you are spending Valentine’s Day with someone special, you might want to consider giving your loved one a truly unique gift. For example red roses are one of the most traditional Valentine’s Day gifts but you can put a spin on this old fashioned idea. It may not seem like the most romantic gift to others but if you know it is something your loved one will cherish; it can be a great Valentine’s Day gift.

Another way to spend a memorable Valentine’s Day with someone special is to cook a dinner for him r her. Many couples view Valentine’s Day as a time to go out to expensive restaurants and enjoy elaborate meals but thats not to say you cant heat up the night at homer.

Val Torcher is a syndicated Romance writer and contributor to http://www.valentinesdayday.com/ the Valentines day resource center.

Have you started preparing for Valentine’s day yet? Valentine’s day is just around the corner 11 days from the time of writing. The fact that you are reading this means that you have already spent some efforts on making valentine’s day a lovely day for both you and your loved ones.

But that’s not all, here are the following checklist as a guide for you before you forget anything.

Before Valentine’s day
1. Have you planned what to do? Any Surprises? Any romantic ideas? Gifts?
2. Have you bought your gifts?
3. Have you ordered your flowers?
4. If you are planning to go to a restaurant, have you book the restaurant?
5. Is there anything planned after eating at the restaurant?
6. Have you bought any champagne?
7. Decided on your clothes?

On Valentine’s day
1. Have you collected your flowers?
2. Confirm your place at the restuarant?
3. Style your hair?
4. Have you shave?
5. Perfume or cologne?
6. Be early
7. Be a Gentleman - Open the door, take off the coat, paying the bill.

Final pointer - It’s actually the thoughts that counts, the effort you put in, and how much you love her. Have a Romantic Valentine’s day.

George Tee is the creator of the website www.1-learning.com which is full of dating tips, advice, gift ideas and valentine’s day surprises. Read more regarding valentine’s day at www.1-learning.com

Women can always tell if you put thought into Valentine’s Day or if you are just winging it. Careful planning will give her the message that she is special to you.

Things to Remember Before Valentine’s Day

Do something to remind you to plan early, such as writing a note.

Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare.

Make dinner reservations. Preorder flowers. Get her a card before they are picked through. Arrange a babysitter yourself; don’t make her do it. She needs to know that she knows that she is special to you, that she is your top priority.

Remember, you want to bring a smile to her face or a tear to her eye.

Do something so out of the ordinary that you surprise even yourself.

Special Valentine’s Day Plans

Look through your wedding album together. Make her a Valentine’s card. Place a Valentine’s card under her pillow. Place a flower under her car windshield wiper. Hide a love note among a bouquet of flowers. Deliver a Valentine to her place of work. Leave notes that give clues to a restaurant where you are taking her. Blindfold her and take her to a nice dinner. Take the day off and spend it treating her like the special woman she is. Have breakfast, lunch and dinner by candlelight. Make a banner that says Happy Valentine’s Day. Give her a dozen red roses or a dozen of her favorite flowers. Make a CD of love songs that are special to the two of you. Write her a love letter or poem. Make a list of the reasons you fell in love with her. Take her on a picnic. Pray for her and your relationship together. Recreate your first date, proposal, or some other special moment. Commit yourself to her in some way: promise you will strive to live up to your wedding vows; to have more fun in the relationship; or to be more spiritually focused as a partner. It’s the Simple Things that Matter…

Kiss her hand the right way by lowering your lips to her hand. Whisper something loving in her ear. Wish her Happy Valentine’s Day first thing in the morning. Choose a Valentine’s Day card before they are picked through. Ask her to be your Valentine.

Mark Webb is the author of How To Be A Great Partner and founder of Partner Focused Relationships™. Sign up for Mark Webb’s “Relationship Strategies” Ezine ($100 Value). Just visit his website at http://www.powerfulrelationshipadvice.com or http://www.therelationshipspecialist.com

Mark Webb is the author of How To Be A Great Partner and founder of Partner Focused Relationships™. Sign up for Mark Webb’s “Relationship Strategies” Ezine ($100 Value). Just visit his website at http://www.powerfulrelationshipadvice.com or http://www.therelationshipspecialist.com