Spotlight On: Valentine’s Day

Heart Heart To

If the pandemic has taught us anything it’s to show and tell those we love how we feel about them.

Given that Valentine’s Day gifting includes family members buying each other gifts, and girls buying gifts for their closest female friends (Galentine’s Day), we asked some of the leading gift companies what’s trending.

Although Valentine’s Day will never be as big, or as important as Mother’s Day for gift retailers, the event continues to gain ground each year. Galentine’s Day, which came over from the US a couple of years ago, and takes places on February 13, is increasing in popularity, with women buying gifts for their closest female friends, as well as for their partners, while mums and dads enjoy giving gifts to their much loved offspring and vice-versa.

While there’s now a more contemporary twist to this special occasion, one thing that hasn’t changed is that hearts are still the No. 1 ‘go to’ when it comes to telling a loved one how much they’re adored.

“Customers love being able to use personalisation to give a unique and thoughtful gift, especially when it’s for a loved one,” says PMC’s Felicity Colbert. “We are embracing this with one of our most well-known licences, Me To You, with the addition of traditional hearts and a modern font to keep it feeling fresh.”

As Enesco’s marketing and product director Helen Cottrill puts it: “Valentine’s Day is one of the constants in our world, and one of the biggest gift giving occasions on our calendar, with traditional hearts, flowers and cute and truly romantic themes key to our collection.”

She continues: “Valentine gifts speak louder than words and

become a constant reminder of a loved one for years to come. Plus, post Covid, and given our eco responsibilities, consumers don’t want fast, throwaway products, preferring timeless quality which is much more important to them.” Also confirming that hearts are a permanent trend when it comes to Valentine’s Day is Joe Davies’ jewellery buyer and designer Mary Caputo, who adds that there’s no better way to portray our feelings for those we love than with a piece of jewellery. “Jewellery is a firm favourite for a Valentine’s Day gift, with our Equilibrium collection including a multitude of pieces featuring hearts in all styles,” she confirms. “The new Galantine trend, whereby girls buy Valentine gifts for friends and family, as well as partners, fits perfectly with heart jewellery, as a heart can convey our love in so many different ways.” Sarah Watmore, founder of Miss Milly, also emphasises the ongoing popularity of heart designs. “We always have a selection of heart jewellery in traditional reds and pinks, as well as in more unusual colours such as lime green, grey or turquoise,” she explains. “Our products also work for Galentine’s Day, such as our heart compact mirrors, enamelled animal and bird keyrings and bag charms.”

At Crumble & Core, director Louise Pike concurs that more and more people are now

Top: A Me To You hanging heart from PMC.

Above: Equilibrium heart jewellery from Joe Davies.

Left: Heartwood Creek by Jim

Shore: ‘Gnomebody Loves

You As Much As I Do’ from

Enesco.

Right: A heart pendant from Miss Milly.

using Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to show appreciation towards not only their partners but also their family and friends, with the company’s new Valentine’s designs printed on embellished greeting cards, jewellery cards and boxed candles.

“However, romance isn’t the only thing to celebrate on February 14, so we’ve kept the ‘with love’ text neutral, making the products a lovely Valentine’s gift for people wanting to show the important people in their lives some love,” continues Louise. “And with a lot of people choosing to celebrate Galantine’s Day, our earring cards make a lovely gift for celebrating female friendships.”

But it’s not only jewellery that will be reflecting that loving feeling in February. “Love is in the air, quite literally, with one of our newly rebranded Just Because, handmade Valentine’s Day candles, fragranced with our best selling Classic Cotton scent,” explains Vanessa Curry, managing director of Best Kept Secrets. “Each one has its own romantic sentiment such as Love You To The Moon and Back, Happy Valentine’s Day, You Light Up My World, I Love You, as well as our new Another Year Together candle, making the candles, which all have our signature sparkles on the top, perfect for all relationships. With 50 hours burn time, and lasting

Above: A heart earring card from Crumble and Core. Right: Among the Just Because Happy Valentine’s Day candles from Best Kept Secrets. Far right: Smaller, more thoughtful presents have become preferable to lavish displays of affection, say Wild Things. (Shown is a hanging crystal heart) Bottom right: A heart design for Valentine’s Day from Life Charms.

That Loving Feeling

At Joma Jewellery, founder Katie Loxton says that if there was ever a time to celebrate love it’s now. “After an uncertain couple of years, Joma Jewellery and Katie Loxton are celebrating the joy of togetherness this Valentine’s Day. It isn’t only about sending an ode of love to your significant other, it’s about sharing the love with your best friends, family and even your pets.”

Explains Katie: “Joma Jewellery holds sentiment and love at its heart. As well as a vast amount of heart charms - from intertwined, to oversized to mixed metal styles - so many charms signify togetherness, such as infinity symbols, clinking wine glasses and celestial icons. Thoughtful sentiments are seen through the use of poems that pair with each ‘A Little’ bracelet, with this year more than ever, customers looking for quality pieces to gift that will stand the test of time and remind the recipient how much they’re loved.” And as for muchloved pets, “since lockdown, the adoration of our pets has increased tenfold, reflected in our brand new Katie Loxton Pets collection,” highlights Katie.

Left: Joma Jewellery’s intertwined hearts reflect togetherness.

Showing You Care

A new home fragrancing range, featuring satin aroma lamps and humidifiers from Lesser & Pavey, highlight that hearts don’t always have to be about romance, but can still convey a feeling of warmth and love.

“We always see the sign of the heart being made when we refer to the NHS or sports stars that show their fans they welcome their appreciation with the hand sign of the heart,” says the company’s managing director Julian Hunt. “This range brings light and fragrant warmth into the home, with the aim of creating happiness, making it a lovely gift for someone you wish to tell that you care about/love.”

Above: Heart designs feature on Lesser & Pavey’s aroma lamps and humidifiers.

much longer than a bunch of flowers, they make a gift for that special someone,” continues Vanessa. “And contrary to popular belief, candle sales hold up very well in Spring which is the second most important selling season of the year. Therefore, Valentine’s Day, as well as Mothering Sunday and Easter, are all crucial.”

At Widdop & Co, the company’s Amore brand includes everything from photo frames and glassware to home fragrance and keepsakes, all with sentimental messages. “They’re ideal for putting into words the love you have for your partner and loved one,” says the company’s senior marketing executive Leoni Brown, who adds that Galantine’s Day celebrations are on the up. “It’s a special day dedicated to the friendship, love and laughter we share with our besties, and we have ranges of ladies gifts in our Amore, Love Story, Moments and Sophia collections covering everything that’s needed to say 'I love you' to your gal,” says Leoni. She adds that the wedding season is making a comeback with Valentine’s a popular day for weddings. “Shabby Chic barn style weddings are huge, with our Celebrations Love Story range featuring a number of beautiful sentimental gifts and decorations for the big day.” Mugs too, can also tell someone how much you love them, making an emotive gift that the recipient can enjoy using every day. For example, heart themed mugs sell extremely well all year around for Dunoon, with director Peter Smith highlighting that there’s always a massive uptake prior to Valentine’s Day. “Our Warm Hearts range appears on a variety of shapes, with a recent success being our Shetland shape tea infuser mug. Additionally, for both him and her, the With Love pair on our Orkney shape are consistent, regular performers.”

Gift soaps always make a much appreciated all year round gift - and can even tell someone you love them. “We’ve seen an increased demand for plastic-free Valentine’s options to gift to that special someone, with our Occasion soap bar collection including two brand new illustrative designed paper wraps featuring the message 'For The One I Love',” reveals Becky Knapp, brand and marketing manager at The English Soap company.

With Valentine’s Day spreading its wings and becoming a much wider occasion, showing love and appreciation for more than just a significant other is great news for the gift industry, with room for a more diverse range of products at an important time of the year. From a retailer perspective, it would seem that gifts to keep and eye out for predominantly feature heart designs, but many are more relaxed, while still reflecting the romantic theme of the occasion.

Left: Love Is In The Air from Widdop & Co’s Amore collection. Right: With Love mugs from Dunoon. Below: The English Soap Company’s gift soap can tell someone you love them.

Above: Candlelight’s rustic Spring range.

It Pays To Display

Valentine’s Day is always a great opportunity to give shop windows and in store displays a fresh new look and feel.

“Recently arrived at Candlelight in readiness for Spring, and in particular, for Valentine’s Day, are our rustic hanging wreaths, hand crafted from natural grasses and faux leaves,” says the company’s marketing manager Kate Winch. “They’re ideal to create the perfect Valentine’s Day window display, hung at varying lengths throughout the store. We also have a huge range of single stems, a huge favourite at the moment, with faux flowers the new everlasting alternative to fresh,” adds Kate.

Jewellery too, is easy to display. “It’s a retailer’s dream as it’s compact and doesn’t take up too much valuable space in store,” says Joe Davies’ Mary Caputo. “The addition of some red hearts and/or rose petals around the display is a perfect way to shout ‘Ideal Valentine’s Day gifts’ to customers and is sure to create an eye-catching display.”

Louise Pike at Crumble & Core says that the classic message of Valentine’s Dy never gets old. “By incorporating the traditional red and pink colours into a display, along with heart shapes, flowers and the imagery of love, gift retailers will be meeting the expectations that customers have when it comes to shopping for Valentine’s gifts.”