As the wintery months of January come to an end, we've prepared a Valentine's offer for you: a hand-written gift tag and a sprinkling of chocolate hearts, FREE with any gin order until Feb. 14th. The ideal gift to show just how much you appreciate your partner, crush or even your best friend. Shop now and get that perfect gift sorted in good time.
But it's not all hearts and sunshine in the C.B. office. There's an on-going debate about Valentine's Day between Holly, Deb and Paul: Pro-Valentine's vs. Anti-Valentine's.
Let's take a look at some Valentine's Day facts:
- Valentine's Day originated as a Christian feast day honouring early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine. There's also a lot of dark and bloody history associated with the Romans to the holiday... which we won't go in to. Google at your own risk.
- Cupid is the son of Venus in Roman mythology. You know, that baby with a potentially dangerous weapon in his grasp? Well thankfully, his non-lethal arrows are shot from his bow to pierce hearts and cast spells of love. Aww.
- The first Valentine thought to have been sent was a poem. Penned by a French Duke named Charles, he wrote to his wife whilst imprisoned in the Tower of London: "I am already sick of love, my very gentle Valentine." And the rest was history. ;)
- King Henry VIII officially declared February 14th as the holiday of St. Valentine's Day by royal charter in 1537. (Yep, that King who had six wives...).
- The mass-production of Valentines began in the 1840s.
- Valentine's Day is now one of the busiest days for restaurants and food outlets, second only to Mother's Day.
- In 2019, $20.7bn was spent in America on Valentine's Day gifts and cards. (No, we're not kidding).
- However; 49% of American adults, according to the National Retail Federation in 2019, admitted that they prefer not to celebrate the holiday.
- Following this, 27% of people (according to the National Retail Federation) in 2020 admitted to purchasing gifts for their pets for Valentine's Day.
- Known as Ystävänpäivä in Finland and Sõbrapäev in Estonia, both countries celebrate February 14th as Friendship Day, where they exchange cards and gifts with lovers, friends and family members, too.
- Penicillin was actually discovered by Sir Alexander Flemming on February 14th 1929...! So if you're thoroughly against celebrating the holiday of love, you can always celebrate this scientific advancement instead!
The holiday of love has truly held its place throughout history, modernised and altered in so many interesting ways across the world. So despite our arguments in the office of whether Valentine's Day is a true celebration of love or if it's all just one big commercial sham, perhaps we've been looking at it all the wrong way. Perhaps the diversity of the holiday across the world displays how Valentine's Day should be celebrated however you want it to be.
If you're all about the pink and red hearts, the chocolate and the endless declarations of love, then so be it.
If you'd rather spend the whole day in bed with your main men (Ben and Jerry) and a good chick-flick, sounds good.
Or if your plan is to buy your cat the perfect Valentine's Day gift before spending the evening dancing around the kitchen to some Anti-Valentine's tunes, you do you, boo!
Regardless, we've created some Valentine's playlists offering something for everyone:
So head over to our Spotify and choose your side - or go with both! Whatever you decide, celebrate your way and enjoy. Just... don't leave that gift until the last minute, yeah? We've got you covered: Shop now.
All our love,
- ?.