50 Fun Facts About Valentine's Day Trivia for Kids

On which date is Valentine's Day celebrated every year?

It has been marked on that day since at least the 8th century, when it was recorded as the Feast of Saint Valentine.

Which winged Roman god, often shown with a bow and arrow, is a symbol of Valentine's Day?

Anyone hit by one of his arrows was supposed to fall hopelessly in love.

Cupid is usually described as the son of which goddess of love?

His father is usually said to be Mars, the god of war, which is quite a combination.

What is Cupid's name in Greek mythology?

The Greeks first drew him as a slender winged youth; the chubby baby look came later.

Which flower is by far the most popular gift on Valentine's Day?

In the US most of them are flown in on refrigerated planes from Colombia and Ecuador.

What do the little heart-shaped Sweethearts candies have printed on them?

Sayings like Be Mine and Kiss Me have been printed on the candy since 1866.

Roughly how many Sweethearts candies did the company Necco make every year?

That is enough for everyone on Earth to get one, with plenty left over.

Which chocolate company made the first heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's Day, in 1868?

They were called Fancy Boxes, and people kept the pretty boxes long after the chocolates were gone.

The letters XOXO at the end of a note stand for what?

Nobody is quite sure how X came to mean a kiss, though it has been used that way for hundreds of years.

Who first sold mass-produced Valentine cards in the United States, starting around 1847?

She made them in Worcester, Massachusetts, out of embossed paper lace, and an award for greeting-card visionaries is named after her.

About how many valentines are sent in the US each year, per the Greeting Card Association?

That does not even count the millions of e-cards and text-message valentines.

The oldest surviving valentine was written in 1415 by a French duke held in which building?

Charles, Duke of Orléans, had been captured at the Battle of Agincourt and wrote it to his wife back home.

In Finland, Valentine's Day has a different name. What is it called?

Ystävänpäivä is more about friends and classmates than about romance, which makes it a lot like a school Valentine party.

In Japan, a month after Valentine's Day, people give return gifts on a day named after which colour?

White Day is March 14, and it was invented by candy makers in the 1980s.

Which English poet first linked Valentine's Day with romance, in a 1382 poem about birds choosing mates?

His Parliament of Fowls celebrated the engagement of two fifteen-year-olds, King Richard II and Anne of Bohemia.

Which pair of colourful little parrots is named after the way they cuddle up in pairs?

They form strong, lasting pair bonds and spend long stretches sitting side by side.

Which large white birds are famous symbols of love because they usually mate for life?

Trumpeter swans can pair up as young as 20 months old and live to 24.

Besides Valentine's Day, Saint Valentine is the patron saint of beekeepers and which town in Italy?

According to the town's diocese, Bishop Valentine was born there and was martyred in Rome in the year 269.

What ancient Roman festival was held at the same time of year as today's Valentine's Day?

Despite the timing, historians say there is no real evidence it turned into Valentine's Day.

'Roses are red, violets are blue' first appeared in a book of nursery rhymes in which year?

The idea goes back even further, to Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene in 1590.

Which TV show invented Galentine's Day, celebrated the day before Valentine's Day?

Leslie Knope threw the first one in a 2010 episode, and real people started celebrating it too.

In the ancient world, the heart shape represented the seed of which plant?

Coins from the city of Cyrene showed the shape more than 2,000 years ago.

Which Greek goddess of love was closely linked with the rose?

One old story says roses are red because she pricked herself on a thorn and her blood stained the petals.

In Western countries, which digit traditionally wears the wedding band?

An old belief held that a vein of love, the vena amoris, ran straight from that finger to the heart.

Hershey's Kisses, a Valentine favourite, were first made in what year?

They were wrapped by hand until 1921, when a machine took over and added the little paper plume.

In the special Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, who surprises Charlie Brown with a kiss at the end?

After it first aired in 1975, kids all over the country mailed Charlie Brown valentines care of Charles Schulz.

The famous scene of two dogs kissing over a strand of spaghetti comes from which Disney film?

The scene was almost cut; an animator found the discarded story reel and convinced Walt Disney to keep it.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the most famous love story ever written, is set in which Italian city?

Thousands of people still stick love notes to the wall of a house in the city known as Juliet's house.

Every year, thousands of letters addressed to Juliet arrive in her Italian home city. Who answers them?

The Juliet Club has been replying since the 1980s and gets more than 5,000 letters a year.

The teddy bear, a classic Valentine gift, is named after which US president?

It came from a 1902 hunting trip where he refused to shoot a bear that had been tied to a tree.

Which bright red bird is the state bird of seven US states and often shows up on Valentine cards?

Only the males are that brilliant red; the females are a reddish olive colour.

What did 18th-century English people begin giving each other on Valentine's Day?

Handmade cards, known simply as valentines, gave way to printed ones in the 19th century.

In Wales, some people celebrate their own day of love on January 25. Whose day is it?

Dydd Santes Dwynwen honours the Welsh patron saint of lovers.

In South Korea, people who got no Valentine's or White Day gifts eat black noodles on Black Day. When is it?

Korea marks a love-related day on the 14th of every month, from Candle Day in January to Hug Day in December.

Which country celebrates its lovers' day, Dia dos Namorados, in June rather than around Valentine's Day?

The usual date is too close to Carnival there, so the holiday moved to June 12.

Which colour rose traditionally stands for friendship rather than romance?

Red means true love, white means innocence and orange means passion, at least by tradition.

Which Shakespeare character sadly sings about Saint Valentine's day in the play Hamlet?

Her song shows the holiday was already well known in England around 1600.

Japanese chocolate companies make about what share of their yearly sales around Valentine's Day?

There, it is mostly women who give the chocolate, and men return the favour a month later.

What material were fancy old-fashioned valentines decorated with before paper versions took over?

Paper lace arrived in the mid-1800s and made the cards cheap enough for everyone.

What Secret Santa-like game is played at Valentine's time in the Dominican Republic and El Salvador?

Everyone draws a name and secretly gives that person a gift.

Loveland, the 'Sweetheart City' famous for re-mailing valentines, is in which US state?

The programme began in 1947 when the postmaster got about 30 requests for a romantic postmark. Today it re-mails more than 160,000 cards a year.

In Norfolk, England, who knocks on back doors leaving sweets for children on February 14?

Despite the treats, many Norfolk children were frightened of the mysterious visitor who vanished before the door opened.

February 14 is the top wedding day in which country, where towns hold free mass ceremonies?

There the day is called Araw ng mga Puso, and the price of red roses shoots up every year.

The Roman love god's golden arrow sparks love. What does his lead-tipped arrow cause?

Ovid tells how the god shot Apollo with gold and the nymph Daphne with lead, so she fled from him and was turned into a laurel tree.

In an ancient tale, the little love god is stung by bees when he steals what from their hive?

He runs crying to his mother, who laughs that he is also tiny yet delivers the painful sting of love.

Before they were hearts, early conversation candies with printed sayings were shaped like what?

The bigger shells had room for longer sayings; the heart shape only arrived in 1901.

Which two-word saying do fans ask conversation-heart makers to print more than any other?

The company got hundreds of suggestions a year; 'Fax Me' was retired in the 1990s and 'Text Me' took its place.

In Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, what does the only candy heart Charlie Brown receives say?

He had turned up with a briefcase expecting a pile of cards. The next day Violet hands him a reused valentine with her name rubbed out.

In the legend behind China's Qixi festival, what separates the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid?

They are allowed to cross the 'silvery river' and meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

A Slovenian proverb says that on Saint Valentine's Day, birds do what?

In Slovenia the saint is one of the saints of spring: another proverb says he 'brings the keys of roots', and field work traditionally begins that day.