By: Ismael Duran

Entertainment Editor

Chocolate, flowers, candy, Teddy bears, and romantic notes – what’s not to love about Valentine’s Day?

Plenty, according to some students.

“It’s a commercialized holiday,” said junior Sebastian Sanchez. “It’s made to rack up money.” 

Valentine’s Day alone brings in $1.9 billion in revenue for flower companies and another $1.8 billion for candy companies, according to Fox Business.

Valentine’s Day has long held a role in our lives, being a day of gift-giving for couples and friends. Named after St. Valentine, the patron saint of love, engaged couples, and happy marriages.

Junior Hannah Grimes is in a relationship now, but even when she wasn’t, the holiday didn’t faze her much.

“It’s not cute,” she said, adding that it’s a cheesy holiday during which couples publicly act “lovey-dovey” and celebrate being together for practically no reason. “I don’t think you should treat your significant other any more special than you would any other day. You should show them that all the time.” 

And since Valentine’s Day should be about the love people show each other everyday, maybe it shouldn’t be exclusive to only romantic relationships.

“I don’t think it has to be something romantic,” Grimes said. “I know a lot of fathers get their daughters flowers, and that’s a sweet thing.” 

For many people, Valentine’s Day holds more meaning than a simple romantic holiday. Many people have their own traditions within their family which also give the holiday more value in these families.

“I feel like Valentine’s Day is targeted towards couples, and it shouldn’t be, because friends should also be able to celebrate,” said junior Madelyn Santana.

Recently, there’s been more interest in friends celebrating “Galentine’s Day” where they give gifts to each other instead of feeling that they can only celebrate if they have a partner

“I think Valentine’s Day should include more forms of love,” Sanchez said. “It should be more about loving yourself.” 

Sanchez said he feels Valentine’s day needs to be more inclusive of the other forms of love within society. Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be exclusively romantic, he added, but instead be a celebration of all forms of love people may have for each other whether romantic, platonic, familial, or the love you have for yourself.