Valentine’s Day has been getting a bad rap lately, and for fairly logical reasons.
Despite all it’s done for happily united lovers across the globe, many halves of the relationship feel slighted, frustrated and, quite frankly, hurt by the pathetic presents (or lack thereof) given by their respective partners.
For those who complain that Valentine’s Day is a commercial holiday meant to spark consumerism, well, you’re partly right. According to Hallmark.com, more than 190 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged every February – it’s the second-largest greeting card holiday of the year. Hallmark alone offers 2,000 different cards.
So what do you get your loved one to prove that “No, I swear I didn’t just pick this off the shelves at Hallmark five minutes before I got to your house?”
Actuarial science major Mark Seeber reflected on the best gift he’s ever given.
“I made a home-cooked meal,” he said. “For dessert, I made a cheesecake, and around her piece of cheesecake I put a diamond necklace.”
Dessert and jewelry all in one, for some, may seem like a dream.
“I got a Chia Pet once,” said sophomore social work major Courtney Davis. “I think it was a Tweety Bird. My boyfriend wasn’t very good at picking out gifts.”
And some gifts are given without much thought at all.
“I had a girl give me incense sticks,” said freshman journalism major Ben Frommer. “I guess it was a hint, but I never mentioned that I liked or wanted them though, so it was kind of weird.”
Tessa Vithayathil, a freshman political science major, actually received a bad gift gone rotten.
“One time I got a fruit basket … and the fruit wasn’t even good,” she said.
Emily Freisher can be reached emily.freisher@temple.edu.
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