2023 Valentine’s Day Trends

For 2023 an alternative take on the traditional Valentine’s gift and greetings trends lifts the lid on tired clichés and offers up a chance to do something a bit differently for Valentine’s Day.

First forecast in 2021, our Future of Celebration 2023 trend ‘Recover Together’ is all about finding strength in sensitivity. As we continue to navigate our way through a period of recovery, a new-found positivity and carefree attitude to celebration and occasion emerge, inspiring an alternative attitude for Valentine’s Day trends.

Recover Together

As individuals rally together to tackle taboos and normalise the conversations surrounding mental health accepting and celebrating our true authentic selves comes to the fore. This fuels an ‘anti-perfectionist’ mindset and replaces toxic positivity with a more honest, frank and clumsy portrayal of what it means to be human. A conscious recognition of taking small steps forward and the little everyday wins become more important than ever. We’ll see these behavioural shifts emerge across the seasons and occasions with gifts and greetings adopting a less traditional attitude for Valentine’s Day.

Non-romantic sends

Valentine’s Day break-ups become a source of empowerment, as individuals celebrate the end of bad relationships – from toxic friendships to destructive family ties. Divorce and break-up parties, complete with cake, offer a way to gather support networks and celebrate the strength in walking away. Gift and greetings use humour to affirm and encourage each other, with breakup boxes that focus on indulging in self.

Made with Love

A conscious recognition of taking small steps forward and the little everyday wins become more important than ever, reflecting the anti-perfect, frivolous aesthetic in this story.

This inspires a joyfully naive and handcrafted aesthetic, elevating charming design quirks as decorative features. Simple hand drawn doodles, drawings and patterns add a naive and childlike feel to cards, stationery, packaging and print. Lovingly imperfect and novel decor and gifting, fuelled by the crafting boom, become a key area of opportunity for Valentines occasions.

Elevating the everyday

This Valentine’s Day consumers will respond to retailers who put people at the heart of celebrations, prioritising time spent with loved ones over solely gifting material possessions. Partners, friends, and even families will look to elevate everyday moments, getting creative with tablescaping for a takeaway for two or decorating living spaces for the ultimate date night Netflix binge. These elevated at-home experiences will centre around building connections, finding joy and spending quality time with loved ones.

For the Love of Dogs

After many missed celebrations due to the pandemic, a need for optimism and light-hearted silliness arises. As the pet boom combines with luxury pet market growth, ‘pawties’ and pet gifting are set to become even bigger and bolder than before. With pet spending showing no signs of slowing down and the rise in influencer pet culture booming, we see a greater emphasis on better design, better ingredients and ‘grammable qualities when it comes to gifting our fur babies on Valentine’s Day.

What does this mean for the future of Valentine’s?

There are many ways to show loved ones how much you care beyond the tradition of red roses and luxurious chocolates. Acknowledging the ‘messiness’ of relationships and portraying the honest experiences of dating will appeal to modern-day consumers. Consider tongue-in-cheek messaging and light-hearted humour to empower individuals.

Our Future of Celebration report for 2024 will help you understand what’s driving the consumer mood as a new generation of non-conformists are deliberately ditching tradition to celebrate however and whatever they want. This will ignite a rebellious and unapologetically indulgent approach to Valentine’s Day trends for celebrations and occasions in 2024. For a glimpse of how this will unfold download a free demo of our 2024 forecast.