Some still searching for the perfect Valentine's Day gift

Some still searching for the perfect Valentine's Day gift


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Carole Mikita and Andrew Adams reporting There are many items you can put on your perfect Valentine gift list: a card, flowers, chocolates, or perhaps all three. How will you say "how do I love thee?" Whichever you choose, millions of people throughout the country are working overtime to create those sentiments.

Most people find a way to express their love on Valentine's Day, but a recent poll from Yahoo! reports that 95 percent of Americans say the thought is more important than the cost of the gift.

Cummings Chocolates is destination central for Valentine's Day. In business since 1924, employees can handle the orders from small bags of sweets to the big, decorative boxes.

"We have an 8-pound heart that we had three or four of and we just sold the last one," explained Marion Cummings, of Cummings Chocolates. "It's about $300."

But the biggest sellers, with thousands of orders, are the chocolate-covered raspberries and strawberries. "They're not for me," one man said. "I don't have a sweet tooth. I'm sweet enough already!"

A recent survey by Yahoo! and Decipher, Inc. found that 48 percent of Americans would rather have a home-cooked, candlelit dinner rather than a romantic dinner for two at a nice restaurant. More than half of respondents say that receiving an expensive gift wouldn't change the perception of how much their Valentine loves them.

As for gifts, 65 percent of women say they want flowers, 50 percent say jewelry, and 49 percent want chocolates.

Just about everyone wants a card. Valentine cards became the rage during the Victorian age, the mid- to late-1800s. You can see a collection of originals at BYU's Harold B. Lee Library in the exhibit titled "Sentiment and Satire."

During that period, people sent love notes and sarcastic, even insulting letters like, "Your beard and your face are both in disgrace," or "Mr. half-and-half measure, ‘tis plain you're no treasure."

If you have not planned ahead, you will still be able to buy cards, candy and flowers, you just might have wait in lines.

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