Welcome to Day 18 of the ‘How to run a Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign’ workshop.  This workshop runs between 27th January to 17th February 2010.  Designed specifically for Zen Cart store owners, each day we will focus on one task to guide you as you run a Valentine’s Day promotion campaign.

Up till now we have had daily tasks throughout this workshop with some days requiring a significant amount of work.  Today we are now going to take it easy.

Jump to today’s task – Relax with fun Valentine’s Day facts and figures

Did you know …

	It is said that 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day.
	Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts. Children ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine’s cards with teachers, classmates, and family members.
	About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.
	The first recorded Valentine sent in 1415.  It was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife. At the time, the duke was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.
	In the middle Ages, people believed that the first unmarried person of the opposite sex you met on the morning of St. Valentine’s Day would become your spouse.
	According to the condom company Durex, condom sales are highest around Valentine’s Day, which are 20 percent to 30 percent higher than usual.
	In the United States, 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine’s Day with their sweethearts.
	Valentine’s Day is believed to have it’s roots in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. Sometime around 496, Pope Gelasius I renamed this pagan festival Valentine’s Day and moved it to February 14.
	Shakespeare refers to Valentine’s Day in Hamlet (Act 4, Scene 5) when Ophelia sings: To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day, All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window, To be your Valentine. Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes, And dupp’d the chamber-door; Let in the maid, that out a maid Never departed more.
	According to the Ipsos-Insight for the American Floral Endowment’s Consumer Tracking Study (2004), of roses purchased on Valentine’s Day, 69% are red, 6% pink, 6% peach/salmon, 5% yellow, 4% white, 7% mixed colours and 4% other.
	NECCO added ten new sayings to their Sweethearts Conversations Hearts for Valentine’s Day, 2004. The new sayings were: 3 Wishes Ever After New You Magic Dream Charm Me Start Now New Love M Me I ? You
	The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentine cards are sent world-wide each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.
	Sweden is the only country that does not celebrate Valentine’s Day.
	Elton John-Renate Blauel, Meg Ryan-Dennis Quaid, Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee and Sharon Stone-Phil Bronstein are couples who chose to get married on 14th February.
	Valentine’s Day was originally associated with the mating season of birds.
	Americans spend $655 million each Valentine’s Day on candy, making it the fourth biggest holiday of the year for confectionery purchases, after Halloween, Christmas and Easter (in that order).
	During Victorian times, it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine’s Day card.
	110 million roses, mostly red ones, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.
	According to a nationwide survey conducted by Bruskin/Goldring Research for the Society of American Florists, 61 percent of men of all ages say they would like to receive flowers from a woman for Valentine’s Day.
	Until the mid-1800′s, the cost of sending mail was too expensive for the average person.  Until the penny post, most valentine cards were hand delivered.

Today’s Task

Grab your beverage of choice. Put feet up. Relax!

See you tomorrow for Valentine’s Day.  We will be sending a Valentine’s Day card to our customers.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.