Valentine’s Day spending statistics 2018

by Georgia-Rose Johnson, Shopping & Travel Publisher

30 Jan 2019

The day of love is fast approaching on February 14, with many of us celebrating by spending money on our significant others, beloved pets, and even ourselves. It’s safe to say that the American invention Valentine’s Day has grown to become a special day all over the world. But, how much does the day really cost — and just who are we shelling out for this February 14th?

More than 22 million Brits are gearing up to spend money on their loved ones this Valentine’s Day, totalling to 52.8% of us. In opposition to this, 31.2% of us won’t be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year, and 16% plan to celebrate but not spend anything. Out of those celebrating Valentine’s, each person is estimated to spend an average of £28.45. People are most likely to spend within £1 – £10 (15.3%).

Gender

Women are more likely to be spending nothing (18.7%) compared to men (13.2%). They’re also more likely to be spending less, with 19.3% of women dropping between £1 – £10, compared to only 11.2% of men. Men are more likely to be dropping the bigger amounts – they’re three times more likely than women to spend more than £201 (men at 1.22%, women at 0.39%).

Generation

Valentine’s Day seems to transcend generation, with a near equal amount of millennials (68.8%), Gen Xers (69.3%) and baby boomers (68.4%) planning to celebrate it. Baby boomers are most likely to celebrate it while not spending (20.1%), followed by millennials (16.2%) and Gen Xers (11.2%). On average, Gen Xers are spending the most (£33.94), followed by millennials (£25.75) and baby boomers (£25.47).

Region

Those in Yorkshire and the Hunter are the loneliest, with 37.3% planning on not celebrating Valentine’s Day this year. This is followed by the West Midlands (35.5%) and East Midlands (33.3%). On the other hand, Londoners are the most likely to be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year (73.5%), followed by Northern Ireland (73.2%).

As for who we’re spending our money on, most people are planning to treat their wife or husband (59.6%), followed by their boyfriend or girlfriend (28.2%) and then their children (4.7%). The next most likely candidate is pet dogs, with 4.5% of Brits planning on doting on their pups.

Cats, on the other hand, get less love than their doggy-counterparts – only 3.0% of Brits plan to spend money on them. That ends up being 3.1 million Brits who are showering their pets with love this Valentine’s Day. There’s even 2.1% who are spending it on themselves!

Gender

Women are much more likely to spend money on their kids on Valentine’s Day (8.2%) compared to men (1.5%). Women are also more likely to celebrate Valentine’s Day by treating themselves than men (2.5% compared with 1.7%).

Generation

Millennials are the most likely to spend money on their cat or dog (8.7%), followed by Gen Xers (7.4%) and baby boomers (4.1%). Millennials are over twice as likely to treat themselves on Valentine’s Day at 3.5%, compared to 1.3% of Gen Xers and 1.1% of baby boomers.

While 50.0% of the population rarely, if ever, receives Valentine’s Day gifts, there’s 9.7 million of us who have received a gift they didn’t like. That’s 46.8% of those who do receive Valentine’s Day gifts that don’t like them. On the other hand, 53.2% of us who receive gifts always like them – a much happier lot than the 13.8% who, out of the gifts they’ve received, have never received one they’ve liked.

Gender

Of those who receive gifts on Valentine’s, men are more likely to not like them (52.6%) than women (41.4%). Men are also less likely to receive Valentine’s Day gifts in the first place, with 51.1% of all UK men saying they rarely, if ever, get a gift they like, compared with 49.0% of women.

Generation

Surprisingly, of those who receive gifts, millennials are most likely to not like their Valentine’s Day present (52.5%) compared with a close 52.3% of Gen Xers and 34.4% of baby boomers. Baby boomers are the most unlikely to receive a Valentine’s Day gift, with 59.1% saying they rarely, if ever, receive a gift, compared with 45.4% of millennials and 43.7% of Gen Xers.

Celebrating Valentine’s Day after February 14 has become surprisingly popular – 7.9 million (19.0%) Brits plan to have a belated Valentine’s Day to get better value. That’s 1 in 5 of us! Interestingly, more women (20.5%) have celebrated Valentine’s Day after February 14 to get better value when compared to men (17.5%).

Generation

Generation-wise, the younger you are, the more likely you’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day after February 14 to save money. Over 1 in 4 millennials (25.6%) admit to professing their love late, followed by 22.0% of Gen Xers and 11.5% of baby boomers.

Income

Interestingly, the more you earn, the more likely you’ll have celebrated Valentine’s Day late to save your money. 17.2% of those earning between £0-£35,000 have celebrated late, 5% less than the 22.2% of those earning £35,001+, on average.

Region

As for the region, Londoners have celebrated Valentine’s Day after February 14 the most out of all regions (23.1%). Those residing in the East Midlands are hot on their tail at 22.5%, followed by those in the South West (20.0%). In contrast, those residing in Wales are the least likely to profess their love late to stretch their pound further (13.0%), followed by those in Northern Ireland (14.3%) and those in the North West (16.5%).

• Methodology

  This data comes from a survey of 2000 UK adults, commissioned by finder.com/uk and carried out by onepoll during February 2018. A minimum of 56 respondents was surveyed in each region.