Valentine’s Day is either one of the most looked forward to or most dreaded holidays of the year.  Usually a person’s attitude toward it is a direct reflection of his or her relationship status.  Couples love to love each other, but if you’re single, seeing all of the happy couples can make you want to cry.  But if you really think about it, whether you’re in a relationship or not, Valentine’s Day is a cliche for many reasons.
It makes people who are single feel bad about it. While being in a relationship is great, being single has its perks too. On any other day of the year, many single people are glad to have their freedom and not to be tied down to someone else. They have the opportunity to meet new people and be all that they can be on their own. Valentines Day makes the majority of single people want to stay at home and eat ice cream because all of the happy couples around are depressing.
It promotes gender stereotypes.  It typically reinforces the idea that women, being the more emotionally unstable and needy in the relationship, care way more about the holiday than guys do.  There are hundreds of jokes about girlfriends going crazy when they don’t get the exact right gift; In reality, only an extremely high maintenance and frankly crazy person would freak out about something like that. It’s also expected that guys do all of the work and buy all of the gifts when, in reality, I’m pretty sure that a guy would like some chocolate too.
If you want to have a nontraditional holiday but still want to celebrate, there are some things you can do.  Have a girls (or guys) night and treat yourselves to dinner.  I’ll be getting my favorite comfort food (sushi). Of course, there’s been a lot of chatter going on about various movie releases.Whether you go out to see a movie and grab dinner or stay in and avoid all of the couples, just remember: you’re not the only one who hates Valentine’s Day.
Not many people know why the holiday started.
Not many people know why the holiday started. Valentine’s Day was actually created to honor the three martyrs named Valentine.  The first Valentine was a martyred priest in Rome.  Valentine of Terni is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian.  A third Valentine was martyred in Africa.  The day is called a commemoration on the Calendar of Saints.   It also falls on the fertility festival, The Feast of Lupercalia, which was celebrated in the Coliseum where people had foot races and made animal sacrifices.  Not exactly what you would think of when you think of Valentine’s Day. As much as I dislike the holiday, I would choose chocolate and teddy bears over animals sacrifices anyway.
It’s the biggest example of a Hallmark Holiday.
The company makes the most money off of Valentine’s Day.  Other examples of Hallmark holidays are Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, as well as St. Patrick’s Day. Most people buy into the commercial side of the holiday and ignore the idea of just telling people you care. Instead of really showing their significant other how much they care with something heartfelt, they buy huge stuffed animals, stale candy and half-dead roses from the nearest CVS. Why use one day a year to give someone gifts that they’ll probably want to throw out in a few days (I mean what is a teenager going to do with a huge stuffed bear) when you can show him or her how much you care everyday? Don’t buy into the commercialism of the whole thing.