Valentine’s Day is a hugely impactful holiday in today’s culture, so much so that it can make or break romantic relationships. The message of celebrating romantic love and honoring your significant other is a welcome one, but there are fundamental issues with the holiday. Issues such as: in many relationships preparation, planning, and payment for everything lies with one individual; there are ridiculous markups for everything related to Valentine’s Day; and a huge percentage of Americans have no way to celebrate it although it is a major holiday.

   Many times the whole weight of Valentine’s Day lies with one individual in the relationship, a blog even published an article questioning whether men should expect to receive anything at all for the holiday (thejournal.ie). Is it really fair for the responsibility of celebrating a holiday which is based on the love in a romantic relationship to fall completely on one party’s shoulders? In a time when gender norms and standards are being torn down this is one which should certainly go along with the rest of them.

   What comes along with that planning is paying. On average, men spend 275 more dollars than women for Valentine’s Day, according to a study conducted by a banking website (bankrate.com). That is no small sum of money, and as men are already expected to take on a majority of the financial burden of a romantic relationship, it is completely unfair. Junior Nico Villalobos shared his opinion on the high cost of things on Valentine’s Day: “It is important to make your significant other happy, but you should find ways to do so which won’t be so expensive.”

   Making the situation even more difficult is how expensive gifts can get just in time for Valentine’s Day. Products can see as much as a 30 percent price hike for the holiday making the situation even more difficult for those tasked with purchasing presents for their significant other. In the United States, an estimated 20 billion dollars were spent on Valentine’s Day in 2019 (moneywise.com).

   Finally, all holidays can be celebrated by everyone in some capacity, except for Valentine’s Day. In 2017 more than half of all Americans reported being single for Valentine’s Day (entreprenuer.com). Not only can they not celebrate the holiday themselves but they observe all the happy people around them and it can have a detrimental impact on some people’s mental health. Especially with social media being as prominent as it is today. There is no getting away from reminders that you may be alone for Valentine’s.

   With a few simple changes such as more balanced effort of monetary contributions, Valentines Day can take huge steps towards the upper echelon of the holiday hierarchy. A change in focus from romantic love to love in general also would not hurt its reputation. In this day and age, Valentine’s Day leaves something to be desired, but it could be easily remedied and lead to a step forward in the holiday’s history.