Love has no price, except a box of chocolates, a bouquet of flowers and a nice dinner.

Valentine’s Day is the most overrated holiday of the entire year. The desire (or pressure) to buy your significant other an expensive gift to show love is not healthy.

The popularity of Valentine’s Day exploded since the 20th century, and as a result, American bank accounts are suffering. The average American spent $164.76 on Valentine’s Day in 2021, according to the National Retail Federation. In total, they have spent $21.8 billion on something that can supposedly be expressed for free.

People should not spend that much money on their significant others to gain their appreciation. There’s nothing wrong with treating your partner to something nice every once and a while, but having an entire holiday dedicated to overspending on them is excessive. Ironically, this overspending can actually do more harm than good.

Planning dinners on Valentine’s Day can be incredibly difficult, mainly because everyone else is trying to do the same thing. A lot of times you will have to reserve dinner months in advance. If you cannot get a reservation, you may be putting your entire relationship at risk.

On Valentine’s Day, people expect their partners to make their days perfect, which puts a lot of pressure on them. If they are disappointed, fighting and breakups may result. A study done in 2010 by CNN stated that more people break up with their partners after Valentine’s Day than any other time of the year.

Valentine’s Day is not only overrated, but also bad for society. People should learn other ways to express their love for one another without risking their bank accounts or worse, their entire relationship.