It’s no secret that as humans age, celebrations become less and less remarkable. For a seven-year-old, each and every special occasion is marked by generous amounts of sugar and fun. Entire school days are devoted to parties, allowing for bonding and festivities. The buzz around a child’s birthday lasts for weeks before and after. Young students acknowledge even seemingly trivial holidays, such as Earth Day or Columbus Day.
Fast forward to high school, and holidays, excluding Christmas, are basically indistinguishable from any other Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, this trend includes Valentine’s Day.
Most high schoolers can remember the days of glory in the past. The time when spending hours of effort perfecting one’s Valentine’s Day box was commonplace. The time when each child would receive showers of candy, where each piece signified a kind gesture from one of their classmates. Nowadays, in high school, we are lucky to get any sweets at all.
This downhill slope of Valentine’s fun is clearly reflected in the research collected by social-media platform We Heart it. According to their data, teenagers are the age group most likely to forgo sending out Valentines. Additionally, 24 percent of teenagers believe the day is irrelevant while 22 percent think it’s overrated.
While it’s true that teenagers can never quite capture those magical childhood experiences, that’s no reason to give up trying to make Valentine’s Day as special as it can be.
Take for instance, couples. Valentine’s Day should be an occasion where spending a little extra money shouldn’t be an issue. Simply put, celebrating one’s relationship should be worth it. If one treats the holiday like any other day, by going out to a fast food restaurant and watching Netflix, then he/she is missing an opportunity to experience something more memorable and splendid than 2 Big Macs. Plus, a lot of places will be offering discounts and deals for this exact purpose.
There’s something to be said for going out to a fancy place dressed in nice clothes. By no means does Valentine’s Day have to break the bank, but research has proven that giving the “star treatment” is effective. In a study by Ipsos Reid, 85 percent of participants said they felt special when others put a lot of effort into their birthday and 53 percent thought celebrating re-energizes them for the coming year. Though the research focused on birthdays, the concept can easily be applied to Valentine’s Day. People respond well when they are treated specially, and the resources put into Valentine’s activity then can help reenergize the relationship.
Even though Valentine’s Day marketing mainly features couples, since it is a romantic holiday, there are ways single people should get outside their house and celebrate. Making memories that will help strengthen one’s other relationships is extremely important, and Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to do so, even if means breaking out one’s wallet. Activities like brunch with friends, taking a new workout class as a way to express self-love or taking out one’s family, granted they don’t already have plans, are great options that don’t require a significant other. The fact that the Pew Research center found that 82 percent of 13-17 year olds aren’t in relationships means that high schoolers are especially capable of celebrating through the methods listed above.
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