Valentine’s Day doesn’t just suck for singles who don’t want to be reminded of their singlehood. It’s also a pain in the tuchus for couples scrambling to find a dinner reservation, sometimes at a restaurant with ridiculously marked-up menu “specials.” Thankfully, statistics have come to the rescue to show that you should really just stay in and avoid the hassle. [More]
valentine’s day
FTD Delivers Forgotten Valentine's Day Flowers Only After Intensive Pestering
By 2.22.11
Dennis didn’t get to take part in this year’s Valentine’s Day Garden of Discontent, but not because he was happy with the flowers that he ordered for his wife. The company didn’t deliver the flowers he ordered, and only dropped off any flowers at all after he called them for five days in a row. [More]
Was FTD Just Overwhelmed This Valentine's Day?
By 2.15.11
Was the combination of a flower-centric holiday and a controversial Groupon promotion too much for FTD to handle? The network didn’t spend this Valentine’s Day just sending puny flower arrangements to people’s moms. For many people, they just went ahead and didn’t deliver the flowers at all. Two readers who took advantage of the Groupon discount shared their stories. [More]
The Consumerist's 2011 Valentine's Day Garden Of Discontent
By 2.15.11
On Valentine’s Day, we are expected to show loved ones how much they mean to us by giving them dead plants. For extra style points, we pay strangers to bring these dead plants to the recipient for us. However, florists are unfathomably busy on Valentine’s Day. So busy that we almost feel bad criticizing when things go wrong. Almost.
The Consumerist’s annual Valentine’s Day Garden of Discontent is a collection of flower or gift deliveries that aren’t what the recipient had in mind–and sometimes aren’t even close.
Vermont Teddy Bear Gets Guy Dumped On Valentine's
By 2.14.11
Vermont Teddy Bear are supposed to be harbingers of love and snuggling. But for reader Erik, who emailed us his story in response to our request for tales of romance, love and heartbreak centered around a specific product, sending one of those stuffed bears only served to herald his doom. Here’s his story of how a Vermont Teddy Bear got him dumped on Valentine’s. [More]
Groupon & FTD Offer Refund For Controversial Valentine's Day Deal
By 2.14.11
Amid allegations that FTD jacked up the price on flowers being sold through a Groupon promotion, both companies are offering a refund to peeved customers. [More]
10 Thrifty Ways To Deliver Big On Valentine's Day
By 2.11.11
Just because the economy is in the dumps doesn’t mean your spirits have to be on V-Day. There’s lots of great ways to celebrate your relationship without buying into all the myths of conspicuous consumption. At the same time, classic romantic gestures can be nice and sweet, as long as there’s more feeling than Franklins behind them. Here’s a guide to some last-minute, creative, frugal and even free ways to say “I love you.” (Spoiler alert: the best day to celebrate February 14… is February 15! It’s like getting Valentine’s Day half-off!) [More]
Newegg Knows What Women Really Want This Valentine's Day: Sexism
By 2.11.11
This Valentine’s Day gift suggestion list from Newegg has a “Cutie and the Geek” theme, featuring gifts ostensibly for a Newegg shopper, his wife or girlfriend, and gifts that the entire couple can use. Sample items from the “cutie” section: red freshwater pearls, Ralph Lauren sunglasses, and a pink netbook. Sample items from the “geek” section: an electric razor, a 120 GB solid state drive, and a home server. Cary finds the selection a bit sexist, writing: “Great piece of marketing work. I guess women aren’t allowed to enjoy geeky toys and instead need ‘pink netbooks’ or jewelery as gifts.” [More]
How About A Very Good Sparkling Rosé For Only $8?
By 2.7.11
Consumer Reports recently dipped their snifters into a batch of sparkling rosés and found that you don’t have to spend much green to get one that will keep you in the pink. [More]
12-Year-Old Finds Unexpectedly Racy Valentine's Conversation Heart
By 2.4.11
As a literal-minded, sugar-crazed child, near Valentine’s Day I always wondered whether you could have an entire conversation with conversation hearts, the chalky seasonal candy. (You really can’t.) A 12-year-old California girl says that she recently found an unexpected dirty message in her bag of candy hearts, and her parents notified a local TV station just in case it might happen to other families, too. [More]
White Castle Offers Test To See If She Really Loves You
By 1.19.11
If your love is true — I’m talking love as deep as what you’ll find in Before Sunset or the hearts of Buffalo Bills fans — it can survive absolutely anything, including the complete forgetting of Valentine’s Day or its utter degradation, which would encompass dinner reservations at White Castle. [More]
The Valentine's Day Garden Of Discontent
By 2.17.10
On Valentine’s Day, we are expected to show loved ones how much they mean to us by giving them dead plants. For extra style points, we pay strangers to bring these dead plants to the recipient for us. However, on designated flower-giving holidays, the extra demand means that florists can really screw up. Here is this year’s crop of Valentine’s Day flower failures from the Consumerist Garden of Discontent. [More]
Papa John's Heart-Shaped Pizzas Still Heartbreakingly Round
By 2.14.10
To celebrate Valentine’s Day and deliciousness, Shana ordered two heart-shaped pizzas from Papa John’s last night. Had she seen our post on this very same pizza last year, she would have been aware that the heart is a lie and the pizza is only vaguely heart-shaped-ish. But Papa John somehow managed to do even worse this year. [More]
How A $19.99 Flower Arrangement Costs $49.95
By 2.12.10
Craig writes that he found a great deal from Proflowers recently: a dozen roses for $19.99. Good boyfriend and sensible shopper that he is, he ordered them for Valentine’s Day, only to discover that the delivery charges and holiday surcharges made the cost more than double. [More]
How To Buy The Right Gift Of Underthings For Your Special Lady
By 2.12.10
Valentine’s Day is soon approaching. Whatever your feelings about the day, the cold capitalist fact remains: this is a holiday when people who are not women venture into stores and attempt to purchase underthings for women. This can sometimes end badly. Fortunately, blogger Treacle over at Wisebread has broken down the essentials of lingerie-buying into four simple steps that even the most fashion-impaired gentleman can use to find a suitable gift. [More]
Valentine's Day Can Also Creep
By 12.21.09
Justin snapped this shot inside the Penn Station Kmart in New York City, signifying that the cosmic order of holiday creepage can indeed infringe on Christmas by allowing the unreasonably far-off occasion of Valentine’s Day to violate the yuletide cheer. [More]
It's Going To Get Crowded At This Kroger Come Easter
By 2.15.09
You people had better start buying some of this holiday crap if you want Kroger to have any room for Fourth of July supplies. At least, we’re assuming this is left-over holiday coffee for sale. If it isn’t, then, as our tipster Paul puts it, “I believe that February 14th marks a new record for the earliest start of a store’s Christmas Shopping season.” *shudder*
By 2.14.09
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Thieves stole all the roses—400 of them—from an Ohio florist yesterday, as well as the vases, the decorations, and the computer. [Associated Press] (Photo: tillwe)
