With Valentine’s Day coming up many people are expressing their love, or hate, for the holiday. We’ve made a list of pros and cons for Valentine’s Day to help those confused about how they feel.

Pros:
Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate ALL of the relationships in your life. Valentine’s Day, the day of love, some might think it’s only a day for romantic love but that’s not all it is. Whether it be a love interest, friendships you really value, some might even celebrate a good relationship with their parents. It’s a day where everyone is free to express their gratitude and love for those around them, for the people they choose to surround themselves with. Valentine’s Day may feel like a useless holiday for some, some might just say it’s an excuse to party. But we’re not going to focus on that; after all, that’s just one opinion.

Valentine’s Day is a great day to get things off your chest, it’s’ the one day a person can gather all their courage and confess to someone special. Many people might not feel brave enough to confess on any other regular day of the year. However, with a specific day dedicated to love and confessions with lots of other people confessing, one might just be able to gather their courage and take that step towards revealing their true feelings.

This day doesn’t always have to be centered around confessing and thinking up speeches to give to crushes. For those of us that already have significant others, Valentine’s Day could be a day dedicated to the one you love. A day to celebrate all of your ups and downs and how through it all you’ve grown and so has your love for one another. With sentimental words, sentimental gifts might follow. Valentine’s Day is a good day to spoil your partner. When thinking of Valentine’s gifts one might think of expensive jewelry or fancy dinner reservations, maybe even an expensive vacation to France, the city of love. That doesn’t have to be the case, meaningful gifts could be anything. A well written love letter, something your partner has been repeatedly talking about. Maybe even just taking a break from your responsibilities and spending the day together. It’s not about how much money was spent, but how happy both of the people feel.

Of course there’s also those that neither have a significant other or have a crush, which is completely fine there’s no shame in being single. For those that are single, Valentine’s Day can still be fun. I know I said it doesn’t always have to be about parties, but it could if you wanted it to be. Valentine parties could be a good way to go out with friends and celebrate, if it’s just having a good time at a party surrounded by friends or even possibly meeting someone at said party. It could even be seen as a new beginning in terms of moving on from a past relationship and getting back out of your comfort zone.

Whether you’re single or not, there’s always something fun to do on Valentine’s Day.

Cons:

While there are a lot of pros, not all of Valentine’s Day is sweet and cute.

First of all, Valentine’s Day can make some people feel like they are on the top of the world, and make others feel absolutely terrible. Not everyone has a significant other and sure, some might not care, but seeing lover-related decorations all around is not exactly pleasant when someone is getting over a past relationship, unhappy in your relationship, or simply not in a relationship. Also, while for some people Valentine’s Day is a good excuse to muster up courage and ask someone out, for other people it can be a harsh reminder that they still haven’t done so.

Secondly, for people that are currently in love or in a relationship, Valentine’s Day has created an expectation that people should go all out for the day. Some people just do not have that ability, whether it be because of time, money, or another reason.

On the topic of money, Valentine’s Day, like most big other holidays, is absolutely commercialized. Stores stock their shelves with pink and red decor and really, all they hype for the holiday is just another way of getting people to spend their money on gifts. This does not mean that buying gifts for people is bad per se, but it has created a very materialistic view of love. One does not need to buy a dozen roses and a mound of chocolates to prove to someone that they are loved.

Also, Valentine’s Day overall just seems like an unnecessary holiday. Not only can people celebrate love any day of the year, but there are other days that are much more personal to the couple. Anniversaries are more meaningful because they are specific to the couple, so they have a lot more sentimental value, which is really what is important.

Lastly, and arguably most importantly, candy hearts look a lot tastier than they really are.

Word Count: 864