Take a stroll through any drugstore and you’ll know what time of year it is. That’s right, ready or not, Valentine’s Day has arrived. As you open up your heart, or rather, your wallet this week, you may be wondering who’s bright idea it was to first gift a bunch of bite-sized chocolates stuffed into an anatomically-incorrect organ-shaped box. Or a bouquet of flowers that will be dead in a week. Or a teddy bear bigger than the partner you’re giving it to. Every cliche has to start somewhere, so let’s take a look at how these Valentine’s Day cliches came about.
BOX OF CHOCOLATES
It’s no surprise that the tradition of gifting your lover a box of chocolates has withstood the test of time. Who could be disappointed by an assortment of rectangular and oval chocolatey goodies? As you and your S.O. root around the raspberry creams and almond-packed pieces in search of the caramels, you should know there’s a method to this madness. The ancient Mayans may have been the first civilization to associate chocolate with love, as they used the sweet treat during wedding rituals to symbolize how “bitter-sweet” marriage was. So the ancient Mayans had annoying in-laws too? Neat!
Skip ahead to the mid-1800s, when a sales rep at his family’s British chocolate manufacturing company came up with the idea to use the excess cocoa butter to produce smaller pieces of chocolate that he’d package into handcrafted boxes adorned with cupids and flowers. His name? Richard Cadbury. Yeah, that Cadbury. And while Richard didn’t patent the heart-shaped box, it is believed that he invented the first one.
RED ROSES
As you read this, your local flower shop is undoubtedly stocking up on red roses for the barrage of Valentine’s Day shoppers headed their way. The tradition of forking over these floral-scented beauties dates back as recently as the Victorian Era, when open admissions of love were discouraged. People instead began delivering bouquets of flowers to their love interests, hoping they’d get the hint. This was the Victorian version of sliding into your crush’s DMs.
Why red roses though? In Greek mythology, the goddess of love, Aphrodite, had a situationship with the mortal Adonis. Okay, maybe they didn’t call it a situationship, but they were unmarried beaus in a love triangle with Aphrodite’s sister, Persephone. Adonis eventually died in Aphrodite’s arms after he was wounded by a wild boar (naturally). It is believed that Aphrodite’s tears and Adonis’ blood watered the soil beneath them, only to grow red roses. Thus, red roses became the symbol of “love until death.” But the real takeaway here should be that blood and tears make great fertilizer.
VALENTINE'S DAY GREETING CARDS
Ever wonder how many cumulative hours of your life have been spent looking for Valentine’s Day cards with a cute dog on the cover and a speech bubble that says something like “loving you is a TREAT”? Long before Hallmark took the reins on mass-producing these obligatory greeting cards for you to leave on your bae’s pillow, Charles the Duke of Orleans (what a mouthful) wrote a Valentine’s Day poem for his wife while imprisoned in the Tower of London circa 1415. In it he wrote, “I’m already wearied by love, my very sweet Valentine.” Aww!
Others point to the German tradition of exchanging Freundschaftskarten, or “friendship cards” on gifting occasions year-round, including birthdays and New Year’s. It was just a nice way of telling a friend you care about them. By the 18th century, Europeans and Americans added Valentine’s Day to this list of friendship card occasions. Over time, these friendship cards escalated to friends-with-benefits cards. In other words, cards for people in relationships.
TEDDY BEAR
Perhaps one of the more baffling Valentine’s Day cliche is when we gift a teddy bear to our full-grown adult partner. Yes, they’re soft. Yes, they’re cuddly. But they’re also toys. Teddy bears don’t have a long history, with the first one being invented in 1903 and named after then-president Teddy Roosevelt. Despite being a big game hunter, President Roosevelt couldn’t bring himself to shoot a bear on one particular hunting trip, leading to nationwide mockery for his apparent soft side. Naturally, the stuffed bears were, and continue to be, a hit among children. So how did they get their romantic association?
The simple answer: marketing. By the mid-20th century, toy brands started pushing their stuffed bears as the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for that special someone. Some toymakers even went as far as to collaborate with fashion designers to dress up teddy bears in satin evening gowns. But the bears really took off as a romantic gift with the implementation of pre-recorded messages like “I love you” and “Will you marry me?” That said, talking toys are also the inspiration for Chucky, so they’re not always romantic.
So as you stock up on cliche Valentine’s Day gifts, know that people have been stocking up on the same cliches since before you were born. Want to add a dose of humor to your gift? Visit pranko.com for hilarious prank gift boxes, cards, wine labels, puzzles, and more. Laughs are in the air!