What day is St. Valentine’s Day? February 14 is the day to celebrate love.

What is Valentines Day in our modern era? What are its roots? What are some ideas for Valentines Day gifts or activities?

The Modern Meaning of  St. Valentine’s Day

What is Valentines Day? The modern Valentines Day is the day to express love, affection or tolerance for those near us. We give Valentines gifts or cards to help express these feelings.

Ideas for Valentines Day Gifts

People in committed relationships, or just dating, give flowers, candies, greeting cards or more intimate gifts for Valentines Day.

Many schools or workplaces will mark Valentine’s Day with minor tokens of appreciation. A box of chocolate for the office to share; or some heart-shaped decorations.

As the first picture shows, heart-shaped chocolate covers both bases.

There’s no “kissing strangers or acquaintances” associated with St. Valentine’s Day. If you missed kissing under the mistletoe during the Christmas holidays, either commit to a relationship or wait ten months.

This is also a good day to spend time with your children, particularly because some organizations create special events for families to enjoy Valentines Day together.

The Roots of St. Valentine’s Day

The early Romans celebrated Lupercalia in mid-February. This combined worshipping a god of fertility in nature with commemorating the semi-mythical founders of the city of Rome, Romulus and Remus. As a fertility festival, the date became associated with romantic love.

In the 5th Century, once the Roman Catholic Church became influential enough to ban pagan rituals, Pope Gelasius replaced Lupercalia with the feast of St. Valentine. It’s not clear which of several saints named Valentinus is most associated with this feast; all had been martyrs. One story says that a Christian prisoner wrote letters to a young woman, closing with “from your Valentine”.

There’s a bit more detail in “Valentines Day“.

Frugal Ideas for Valentines Day Activities and Events

Since St. Valentine’s Day 2013 is on Thursday, it may be difficult to find low-cost events on the exact date. My apologies if you’ve missed the chance for Valentines Day events on the weekend of Feb. 9-10. I’m making a personal note to get an earlier jump on things next year.

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One example is the Metro Toronto Zoo. Your child, aged 4-12, gets free admission Sat/Sun Feb. 9-10, 2013 for giving a Valentine’s Day card to a snake at the Toronto Zoo. It’s a fun Valentine’s Day craft. One discount per Valentines card. See the official “Toronto Zoo Celebrates 2013 Year of the Snake“. (Thanks to Marilyn Campbell for writing “Valentine’s Day Events 2013” in About.com Toronto. That’s where I learned about the Metro Toronto Zoo event among the many others she lists).

If the Year of the Snake catches your fancy, learn more in my “Celebrate the 2013 Chinese New Year in Toronto on a Budget“. It has useful background and reference links, even if you don’t live in Toronto.

You could also check library programs and museums for special events celebrating St. Valentine’s Day. The likely activities include making chocolate candies or Valentines greeting cards.

Ideas for Valentines Cards: Make Your Own

You don’t need to visit “ye olde paper mill” to make your own Valentines cards. As this picture shows, it’s so easy that a child could do it. (With safety scissors and parental supervision!)

I always need to remind myself to fold the paper in half vertically, and draw only half the heart before cutting it out. This ensures the heart is symmetric left-to-right.

While it’s great to help your child do a Valentines project with real paper, you might consider computer-based artwork instead.

Typical St. Valentine’s Day gifts for your “sweetie” include a box of chocolate and a “Happy Valentines Day” greeting card.  I really recommend buying a high-quality card for your significant other.

You can send amateur greetings in personalised Valentine cards to your online friends. Amazon offers a book on how to make e-cards, “Create Easy Animations and E-cards – Made in Minutes, Remembered for a Lifetime!“. The Amazon Prime program lends this book to Kindle users for free, although there is also a retail sales price. It’s only 34 pages, and seven reviews give it a combined rating of 4.9 out of 5. Remember, you can send Valentines e-cards to friends, family or business acquaintences…but be sure your “one and only true love” gets a more tangible token of your undying affection than an electronic Valentine card.

Whether you make paper Valentines Day cards or e-cards, these do-it-yourself creations do count as personalized gifts for Valentines Day.

Valentines Gift of Chocolate or Carob?

A couple years ago I described this “health versus expectations” choice in “Choosing Chocolate or Carob as a Valentines Day Gift”. That web site has evaporated; sorry. If you agree that carob is better, health-wise, you just need to spin your Valentines gift decision as your investment for a longer-term relationship. There’s extra cachet for insisting on organic carob; or you could literally earn brownie points if you buy carob powder.

If you stick with chocolate gifts for Valentines Day, I’d recommend that the best chocolate is dark chocolate because my wife says so.

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Thank you for reading about cards and gifts for Valentines Day.