Valentines Day, Did You Know?

In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly
celebrated around the seventeenth century. By the middle
of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and
lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of
affection or handwritten notes. By the end of the century,
printed cards began to replace written letters due to
improvements in printing technology.

Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to
express their emotions in a time when direct expression
of one's feelings was discouraged.

Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in
the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines
in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to
sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.

According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one
billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day 
the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.
(An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.)

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