Some people think Valentine’s Day is a wonderful occasion to show their loved one how much they really care, while others feel that Valentine’s Day is over commercialised hype, believing it is unnecessary to buy gifts, to show someone that you really love them.
Considering that the true meaning of Valentines Day has been lost to time, whereby, three saints have been attributed with the creation of the festival to celebrate their good deeds, it can perhaps be understood why some people view the day with cynicism.
However, for others, it is extremely important to give gifts to their loved one because it demonstrates how much they love them. It is part of their love language. Love language is a theory developed by Gary Chapman in 1992. He suggests that there are five ways “romantic partners give and receive love,” – one of them being gift giving.
““To some, it can seem greedy or as if the recipient is fixated on things versus love itself … (However) Whether that item is a tiny trinket from a thrift store, or a 50-foot sailboat is inconsequential. Either convey the same message: I was thinking about you when I saw this. You’re always on my mind.” In that sense, Williams explains that the true meaning of gift giving is not extravagance, it’s sentimentality.””
Wendy Rose Gould: What the Receiving Gifts Love Language Means for a Relationship, Very Well Mind.
Giving gifts can also positively affect the mental, emotional and social wellbeing of a person. It makes us feel good, triggering a release of the love hormone/chemical Oxytocin. Anyone who receives a gift also receives a boost of confidence and self-esteem, as well as longevity in a relationship.
Here are some extravagant and not so extravagant examples of gift giving:
- In 1917, Morton Plank, a New York banker gifted his wife a pearl necklace worth $1million – worth 20 million today. He even had to exchange his mansion to afford this lavish gift for her.
- Jay-Z gifted Beyonce an island off the coast of Florida for her 29th birthday.
- Richard Burton gifted Elizabeth Taylor a 68-carat diamond worth $1million – worth 15 million today. It is the most expensive piece of jewelry brought publicly in the world.
- German photographer Gunter Sachs, in his pursuit of Brigitte Bardot, organised a helicopter to fly over her home, dropping hundreds of roses over it. It worked and they married in 1966.
- A boyfriend, knowing that his girlfriend was missing the stars from the mountains when she used to live there: projected the night sky on to the ceiling of his parents’ boat while” they ate dinner for their first valentine’s day.
- “Recreated our favourite scene from our favourite movie film Legend and threw lemon sherbets at my window and cited how much he loved me.”
- “Bought me a “the night sky” frame for Valentine’s Day with the date and location we first met and fell in love, it has the stars that were in the sky over the location we were.”
These examples were taken from two articles:
Hattie Gladwell, People share the most romantic things their partners have ever done for them The Metro UK
Scarlett Evens, The grandest gestures made in the name of love, Verdict