Love is in the 'h'air

OK I do love my very hairy and malting dog Vince. He is by far the most important ‘non-human’ in my life, but seriously do people really buy Valentines Day presents for their pets?

Apparently yes! Retailer, ‘Not on the High Street’ is selling no less than 106 items for pets on Valentines Day, ranging from a Heart Shaped Rope Dog Toy to a Dickie Valentine Bow Tie Collar.

Our hairy friends are lucky to have such luxuries and with people buying for their pets can this possibly mean they are not buying for their partners?

Not likely… Couples in the UK are estimated to spend nearly £1bn on gifts and going out this Valentines Day and, not to sound too much like The Generation Game, the top 10 list of presents people are buying include; a dinner service, fondue set, cuddly toy… no seriously, only the ‘Cuddly Toy’ appears on the list. 

It’s great to see in recent years that good old Yorkshire men have been included in the biggest spenders list, with Sheffield and York topping the average spend for Valentines Day (averaging over £60.00) 

It could be said, unsurprisingly, that Aberdeen topped the cities spending least on Valentines Day… love the Scots and their ‘wee’ sense of pocket over passion (on average men in Aberdeen spend only £5 on Valentines Day)

Admittedly I’m not a huge believer in spending all your hard earned money on Valentines Day. A day which generally sees the price of roses increase unreasonably, however, this year we note with interest that Lidl are selling 12 red roses for as little as £3, and with lots of competition in between, you could see a difference of £12 between Lidl and supermarkets near the top end that are selling 12 roses for £15.00.

I guess when you’re younger Valentines Day is an important day in the calendar and really does matter. It means a lot more than when you reach a certain age and your dog secretly does become the love of you life.

 NB: please don’t tell my partner...!