PRESS RELEASE: The pressure to find a date for Valentine’s Day causes millennials to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid being alone on the most romantic day of the year, according to new research released this week.
VoucherCodes.co.uk, the leading savings site, surveyed over 2,000 people across the country and discovered that half of millennials (45%) feel under pressure to have a date for Valentine’s Day, causing them to turn to friends to celebrate PALentine’s. Indeed, while three out of five (59%) spend Valentine’s Day with their partner, a fifth (21%) choose to instead be with their friends instead.
A quarter of millennials (24%) believe Valentine’s Day is the loneliest time of the year to be single. This is double the number who feel alone when they have no-one to kiss on New Year’s Eve (13%) and as a singleton on their birthday (12%), causing half (54%) to confess they will spend February chasing a last-minute date.
The research has found that millennials have been guilty of adopting a varying range of tactics in the past to make sure they have a date for February 14th, with varying degrees of success. The usual avenues are the most popular, with a quarter (27%) having gone on the hunt at a pub or bar and one in five (22%) pursuing someone on dating apps. More surprisingly, a fifth (20%) have even slid into a stranger’s DMs and 1 in 10 (9%) put out a request for a date on at least one of their social profile pages. It seems that millennials are also happy to overlook decisions and repeat past mistakes in the search for a Valentine, with a fifth (18%) returning to an ex and 1 in 6 (16%) calling on someone they had previously turned down advances from.
Millennials rebrand Valentine’s Day as PALentine’s Day
With the pressure not to spend Valentine’s alone mounting, millennials are increasingly likely to reject the traditional norm and rebuff social expectations. A quarter of millennials (23%) have been on a friend date and a third (34%) have exchanged Valentine’s gifts with a pal. The average millennial is prepared to spend £39.90 to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a friend – 30% more than they would be willing to spend on a partner if they had been together less than a year (£30.70).
The UK’s perfect Valentine’s Day celebrations
The UK is set to spend over £990m* celebrating Valentine’s Day this year and it can be a pressure-filled situation, as your ability to deliver a romantic experience and a special gift is often seen as a measure of how much you’re invested in the relationship. Indeed, a third (34%) admit that sentimental value is the factor they’re most looking for from their partner on Valentine’s Day, with a quarter insisting it has to be romantic (25%), a surprise (24%) or personal (23%). Very demanding, eh?!
When it comes to plans, the research has discovered that the tried-and-tested path is the way to go. A romantic meal (41%) was voted as the nation’s favourite way to spend Valentine’s Day, followed by a weekend away (36%).
Delia Dolor is an all-round media professional. She produces and presents television, radio and live shows. She is also a public speaker, magazine and print editor.
Delia has been credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication and to have influenced the way talk shows in the Caribbean can influence the lives of others.
