Data Tells Us The Cheapest Date To Celebrate Valentine's Day

A dedicated, special time each year to celebrate the love in your life is a fantastic idea, but do we all need to do it on the same day? We are not only pressured into purchasing particular, "appropriate" gifts for Valentine's Day but we're gamed into paying much more for them. Last February, the National Retail Federation reported Valentine's Day estimated spending averages were up 20% from 2008, setting a new record of nearly $20 billion. The 2016 LPL Financial Valentine's Day Index Report noted, for example, that a romantic night out had experienced a 3:1 average *annual* *increase *over the last 15 years. This data suggests 34.6% of survey respondents willingly spent as much as three times more at a restaurant than they may have any other day of the year.

It is clear that February 14th has proven to be nothing but a big money pit designed for retailers to capitalize on your natural-born instinct to give and to love. If you want to show someone the love with all the bells and whistles but don't want to throw money away, is that doable? Yes: Celebrate Frugal Valentine's Day on August 2nd, the date when all of the standard Valentine's Day stuff is the cheapest.

Roses

Best times to buy: August and September

While many popular commodities experience price hikes every February for no other purpose than to take advantage of you, there is at least a reasonable explanation for the higher cost of red roses. The price can rise anywhere from 30-100% around Valentine's day due to many factors mostly tied to the age-old concept of supply and demand. The average number of roses grown each year sits around 200 million. Growers are forced to work around the inconvenient realities of winter such as short daylight hours, cold temperatures and inclement weather. Energy costs, the hiring of temporary labor and delivery/transport all contribute to the undeniable rise in both wholesale and retail prices.

If you're determined to give your Valentine a beautiful bouquet of roses but refuse to pay the inflated price, you have options. Our internal cost tracking, corroborated by data from sites like Brad's Deals suggests the best time to order is between August 1st and September 5th based on the last year of observation. For example, a dozen roses from ProFlowers around February 8th will cost you at least $34.99 versus $19.99 in August; FTD charges $49.99 for a dozen roses in February compared to $19.99 in August. These costs don't even take the $15-20 service and delivery charges into account which often incur an additional Valentine's Day fee of $4-5. One thing is for sure, paying for roses in February is asking to pay anywhere from $3 to $8 a stem. While some big flower sites like Teleflora remain steady at $60 year-round, you can still save as much as 58% just by switching the time of year you choose to celebrate Valentine's Day!

If you insist...

...on keeping your day of love in February, be sure to stop into your local florist on or around February 15th and ask about discounts. The demand can be unpredictable from year to year, and smaller operations often find themselves inundated with more than they were able to sell. The potential of hefty price cuts is high and is worth exploring.

Fine Jewelry

Best times to buy: March, July

The trick to getting the best price for a beautiful piece of gold jewelry is pretty straightforward: buy when the general demand is low and when the incentive to buy is high. There will always be a sizable price tag attached to luxury, but research tells us there are better times of the year to visit the jeweler than others.

In 2014, Casey Research released a report that tracked the value of gold over the course of almost 40 years, revealing an interesting trend. On average March has been the best time to buy gold due to its recurring low performance in all markets. While this isn't ideal for anyone *selling* gold, the buyer has a little more power than usual if making an educated case for paying a lower price. The gold market isn't the only thing to consider when in search of the lowest possible price for high-quality jewelry. Diamonds have always been expensive, and they likely always will be; the demand continues to rise as diamond mining declines. In 2014, diamond jewelry made up 38% of all jewelry sales according to a survey from Jewelers of America. This is amazing considering between 2005-2015, the cost of diamonds rose 32% averaging a 4% increase each year. It's hard to believe prices are predicted to increase nearly 6% more each year through to 2020! However, diamonds aren't invincible. In 2008, due to the financial market collapse, the price of diamonds fell as low as 12% from January to August. Costs can be extremely sensitive to overall market health and trends.

All that said, proper timing of your purchase can make a huge difference on the bottom line. For brick and mortar jewelers, the seasonal demands, or lack thereof, often make or break desirable negotiations. Big holidays like Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day bring huge waves of fine jewelry sales. Specialty jewelers made 44% of their annual sales in *four* months: February, May, November and December in 2013. Jewelers feel less inclined to settle for lower prices during times of high demand because they know people will pay more if they feel like they have to.

Visit a jewelry store in July, however, and you may get a different experience. With all the big holidays far away, graduation season behind, there's a higher chance a jeweler will come down on a price just to move inventory. Macy's hosted a huge sale on jewelry this past July, with $400 diamond rings down to $100, 10k gold bangles slashed to $159 from $750, and $99 freshwater pearls (once $450). Even the boxed jewelry was priced down by 50%! Other stores offered similar savings during the same time frame, supporting our internal data that July is an optimal time to treat a loved one.

If you insist...

...on surprising your sweetheart with something shiny on Valentine's Day on a budget, department stores like Kohls, Wal-Mart and Target offer more reasonable pricing for lovely pieces year-round. Alternatively, you can shop online and take advantage of sales on Amazon, Blue Nile, Claire's before the big day.

Chocolate

Best time to buy: February, November

In 1955 a Hershey bar was just 5 cents but compared to today, they run $1.10 and up! The price of chocolate, like everything else, has been steadily rising over the last 60 years with inflation only partly to blame. For chocoholics, planning to buy after big gift-giving holidays will be essential to securing the best prices despite the many factors that contribute to cost fluctuations year to year.

Of the entire confectionery industry, chocolate makes up most of the $34.5 billion spent on candy every year. The cost of chocolate is mostly driven by the largest global producers of cocoa, Africa's Ivory Coast, and Ghana. They supply ~70% of the world's cocoa but sometimes fluctuate in production depending on social and political unrest or poor weather conditions. Even though the price of cocoa doesn't necessarily move up or down over the course of one year as quickly as a bouquet of flowers may, there are still smarter times to buy than others.

The general rule of thumb is to search for chocolate immediately after a candy-rich Holiday like Halloween, Valentine's Day, and Easter. Special themed packaging makes for guaranteed discounts following each occasion because they are no longer a selling point and face shelf-removal by default.

Themed boxes and bags of chocolates in all varieties are almost always half price especially in places like CVS, Rite-Aid, Wal-greens, and Wal-Mart. A significant other with a sense of humor is sure to enjoy the gesture of love whether there's a monster, Easter egg or a heart on the wrapper. Not interested in the cheap stuff? You can still plan to hand your sweetheart a heart-shaped box full of gourmet chocolate in February, just hold off until right after Valentine's day. Prices are known to drop as much as 50% within the week to follow. In 2014, Godiva cut up to 40% off some of their specialty chocolates after Valentine's Day. That means the $50+ Satin Embroidered Box could be as low as $30 on February 15th!

If you insist...

...on giving sweets to your sweet on February 14th, you're in luck. Godiva now features $25 and under specials to make their gourmet product more accessible to all.

Lingerie

Best Times to Buy: January and June

Many love-themed gifts like roses and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate quickly lose their allure, full retail price and overall demand after Valentine's day. The same cannot be said for luxurious lingerie since beautiful red lace, and pink satin carries appeal year-round. When shopping with your love in mind, it's easy to look past the hefty prices on high-end slips and bodysuits. However, it is quite clear that waiting a few months could get you much more for your money.

In 2013, Victoria's Secret was dubbed the most popular brand in the world according to BrandIndex.com. Holding at least 15% of the entire lingerie market, Victoria's Secret's consumers are naturally drawn to stores with the help of very effective marketing. There aren't very many well-known, brick and mortar chains that actively compete with Victoria's Secret leaving a sense of "price tag acceptance" among their shoppers.

Although Victoria's Secret is no stranger to sales, you won't find any significant discounts on their Valentine's Day collections leading up to February 14th. Instead, you can expect to pay anywhere from $35 to $250 on a single piece of lingerie. The trick is to watch out for the semi-annual sales that typically occur in January and June every year. The last two sales featured 50% off lingerie as well as $10 bras, $4 panties, and 40-60% off clothing/pajamas. The popular $48 black satin and lace low back slip could drop down to just $24 in June or next January. These are highly anticipated sales and the earliest shoppers could walk away with two pieces for less than the price of one in February. Why spend more for less? The most important point to make about the Victoria's Secret Semi-Annual sales is that they are not alone. Other known brands like Aerie by American Eagle, Soma Intimates, as well as retailers including Macy's, have been known to host their own slew of similar, significant savings in January *and* June.

If you insist...

...on giving an intimate gift this Valentine's Day plan ahead! take advantage of the many online lingerie sites like Yandy.com, known for featuring heavily discounted pieces. Keep in mind that the price tag often reflects the quality and buying online can be very deceptive when it comes to texture and sizing.

While there are no guarantees, you may also come across appealing and wallet-friendly options at department stores like Kohls and Wal-mart.

A Fancy Meal

Best Times To Chow: It's all about the same

Although eating out costs more around any holiday, the prices are relatively static throughout the year. Going out for a nice lunch will save you about 30% on the cost versus dinner but, of course, the portion size will also be smaller.

Keep reading with: Why These After Christmas Sale Items Can't be Ignored