48 Fun Facts About Valentine's Day Trivia for Kids

On which date is Valentine's Day celebrated every year?

Valentine's Day falls on February 14 every year; church calendars have listed the Feast of Saint Valentine on that date since at least the 8th century.

Which winged Roman god, often shown with a bow and arrow, is a symbol of Valentine's Day?

Cupid, the winged Roman god of love, shoots arrows that make anyone they hit fall hopelessly in love, which is why he appears on so many Valentine cards.

The Roman god of love is usually described as the son of which goddess?

Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is usually named as the love god's mother, with Mars, the god of war, as his father.

What is Cupid's name in Greek mythology?

Eros is the Greek god of love and the counterpart of the Roman love god; the Greeks first drew him as a slender winged youth, and the chubby baby look came later.

Which flower is by far the most popular gift on Valentine's Day?

Roses, especially red ones, are the classic Valentine flower; in the US most of them are flown in on refrigerated planes from Colombia and Ecuador.

What do the little heart-shaped Sweethearts candies have printed on them?

Sweethearts carry short messages such as Be Mine and Kiss Me; printed conversation candies date from 1866, and the heart shape arrived in the early 1900s.

Roughly how many Sweethearts candies did the company Necco make every year?

Necco made about 8 billion Sweethearts a year, producing them for roughly eleven months to supply a six-week Valentine selling season, before the company closed in 2018.

Which chocolate company made the first heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's Day, in 1868?

Richard Cadbury's firm sold heart-shaped Fancy Boxes of chocolates in the 1860s, and people kept the decorated boxes long after the sweets were eaten.

The letters XOXO at the end of a note stand for what?

XOXO means hugs and kisses: each X stands for a kiss and each O for a hug, and X has signed off letters as a kiss since the 1700s.

Who first sold mass-produced Valentine cards in the United States, starting around 1847?

Esther Howland made them in Worcester, Massachusetts, from embossed paper lace, and the Greeting Card Association's award for greeting-card visionaries bears her name.

About how many valentines are sent in the US each year, per the Greeting Card Association?

The Greeting Card Association estimated about 190 million valentines are sent in the US each year, many of them to children and other relatives; adding classroom exchanges pushes the total near a billion.

The oldest surviving valentine was written in 1415 by a French duke held in which building?

Charles, Duke of Orléans, captured at Agincourt in 1415, wrote the poem to his wife while held in the Tower of London; it survives in the British Library.

What is Valentine's Day called in Finland?

Finns call the day Ystävänpäivä, meaning Friend's Day, and celebrate friends and classmates more than romance, much like a school Valentine party.

In Japan, a month after Valentine's Day, people give return gifts on a day named after which colour?

White Day, March 14, was launched in 1978 by Japan's confectionery industry so men could return the chocolates women gave them a month earlier.

Which English poet first linked Valentine's Day with romance in his 1382 poem Parliament of Fowls?

Geoffrey Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls, written around 1382, set its gathering of birds on Saint Valentine's Day and honoured the match of King Richard II and Anne of Bohemia.

Which pair of colourful little parrots is named after the way they cuddle up in pairs?

Lovebirds are small African parrots that form strong, lasting pair bonds and spend long stretches sitting pressed side by side, which earned them their name.

Which large white birds are famous symbols of love because they usually mate for life?

Trumpeter swans can pair up as young as 20 months old and live to 24.

Besides Valentine's Day, Saint Valentine is the patron saint of beekeepers and which town in Italy?

Saint Valentine of Terni was bishop of that Umbrian town and, by tradition, was martyred in Rome in 269; beekeepers also claim him as their patron.

What ancient Roman festival was held at the same time of year as today's Valentine's Day?

Lupercalia, a Roman purification and fertility festival, was held in mid-February; despite the timing, historians find no real evidence it turned into Valentine's Day.

'Roses are red, violets are blue' first appeared in a book of nursery rhymes in which year?

The rhyme was printed in Gammer Gurton's Garland, a 1784 collection of nursery rhymes; the idea goes back to Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene in 1590.

Which TV show invented Galentine's Day, celebrated the day before Valentine's Day?

Parks and Recreation's Leslie Knope threw the first Galentine's Day brunch in a 2010 episode, and the February 13 celebration of female friends caught on in real life.

Coins of ancient Cyrene show a heart shape depicting the seed of which plant?

Silphium, a plant prized in ancient Cyrene and long thought extinct, had a heart-shaped seed pod that appeared on the city's coins more than 2,000 years ago.

Which Greek goddess was closely linked with the rose?

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, had the rose as her sacred flower; one myth says its petals turned red when she pricked herself on a thorn.

In Western countries, which digit traditionally wears the wedding band?

The ring finger, next to the little finger, wears the wedding band because of an old belief that a vein of love, the vena amoris, ran straight from it to the heart.

Hershey's Kisses, a Valentine favourite, were first made in what year?

Hershey's Kisses were introduced in 1907 and wrapped by hand until 1921, when a machine took over and added the little paper plume.

In which year did the special Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown first air on TV?

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown first aired on CBS in January 1975; afterwards children across the US mailed valentines to Charlie Brown care of Charles Schulz.

The famous scene of two dogs kissing over a strand of spaghetti comes from which Disney film?

Lady and the Tramp (1955) has the spaghetti scene; Walt Disney thought it would look silly until animator Frank Thomas drew it and won him over.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the most famous love story ever written, is set in which Italian city?

Thousands of people still stick love notes to the wall of a house in the city known as Juliet's house.

Who answers the thousands of letters sent to Juliet in her Italian home city each year?

Local volunteers known as Juliet's secretaries, organised as the Club di Giulietta since 1972, answer thousands of letters a year from around the world.

The teddy bear, a classic Valentine gift, is named after which US president?

Theodore Roosevelt, nicknamed Teddy, refused to shoot a bear that had been tied to a tree on a 1902 Mississippi hunt; a cartoon of the scene inspired the toy's name.

Which bright red bird is the state bird of seven US states and often shows up on Valentine cards?

The northern cardinal is the state bird of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia; only the males are brilliant red, the females reddish olive.

What did 18th-century English people begin giving each other on Valentine's Day?

Flowers, sweets and cards became the custom in 18th-century England; handmade cards, known simply as valentines, gave way to printed ones in the 19th century.

Whose day do some Welsh people celebrate as a day of love on January 25?

Saint Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers; Dydd Santes Dwynwen on January 25 is marked with cards and gifts, and her ruined chapel stands on Llanddwyn Island, Anglesey.

On what date do South Koreans who received no Valentine's gifts mark Black Day?

Black Day falls on April 14, when singles eat jajangmyeon, noodles in black bean sauce; Korea marks a love-related day on the 14th of every month.

Which country celebrates its lovers' day, Dia dos Namorados, in June rather than around Valentine's Day?

Brazil's Dia dos Namorados is June 12, the eve of Saint Anthony's Day, the matchmaking saint; mid-February usually falls around Carnival there.

Which colour rose traditionally stands for friendship rather than romance?

Yellow traditionally stands for friendship and joy in the language of flowers, while red means true love and orange means passion.

Which Shakespeare character sadly sings about Saint Valentine's day in the play Hamlet?

Ophelia, driven mad in Act 4, sings 'To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day', showing the holiday was already well known in England around 1600.

Japanese chocolate companies make about what share of their yearly sales around Valentine's Day?

About half of Japanese chocolate makers' yearly sales come around Valentine's Day, when women give chocolate to men, colleagues and friends, and men return the favour a month later.

What material were fancy old-fashioned valentines decorated with before paper versions took over?

Fancy valentines were trimmed with real lace and ribbons until paper lace arrived in the mid-1800s and made decorated cards cheap enough for everyone.

Which name-drawing gift game is played at Valentine's time in the Dominican Republic and El Salvador?

Amigo secreto, 'secret friend', works like Secret Santa: everyone draws a name and secretly gives that person a gift around Valentine's Day.

Loveland, the 'Sweetheart City' famous for re-mailing valentines, is in which US state?

Loveland, Colorado, has re-mailed valentines with a hand-stamped verse and a special postmark since the late 1940s, handling well over 100,000 cards a year.

In Norfolk, England, who knocks on back doors leaving sweets for children on February 14?

Jack Valentine, also called Old Father Valentine, knocked and left sweets on Norfolk doorsteps; many children were frightened of the visitor who vanished before the door opened.

February 14 is the top wedding day in which country, where towns hold free mass ceremonies?

In the Philippines the day is Araw ng mga Puso, 'day of hearts'; local governments sponsor mass weddings of hundreds of couples, and red rose prices spike.

In an ancient tale, the little love god is stung by bees when he steals what from their hive?

In an ancient Greek poem attributed to Theocritus, the love god steals honey from a hive, is stung, and runs crying to his mother, who laughs that he too is tiny yet delivers a painful sting.

Which company took over making Sweethearts after Necco closed in 2018?

Spangler Candy of Bryan, Ohio, bought the Sweethearts and Necco Wafers brands in 2018 after Necco's Massachusetts plant shut, and brought the hearts back for Valentine's 2020.

In Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, what does the only candy heart Charlie Brown receives say?

Charlie Brown's lone candy heart reads 'Forget it, kid!'; he had turned up with a briefcase expecting a pile of cards, and the next day Violet hands him a reused valentine.

In the legend behind China's Qixi festival, what separates the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid?

The Milky Way, the 'Silver River' in Chinese, separates the lovers, who meet once a year across a bridge of magpies on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

A Slovenian proverb says that on Saint Valentine's Day, birds do what?

Slovenian folk belief says birds propose to each other, or marry, on Saint Valentine's Day; another proverb says the saint 'brings the keys of roots', and field work begins then.