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Most Richmond News readers planning for a quiet night in this Valentine's Day

Canadians are expected to spend an average of $64 this year on Valentine's Day
Kirsten Clarke
Kirsten Clarke
Valentines Day
A Richmond News poll found many are planning to spend a quiet night at home this Valentine's Day.Nodar Chernishev / Getty Images

Richmond News readers are in line with Canadians across the country who are planning a quieter, and cheaper, Valentine's Day celebration this year.

The News polled 562 Richmond News readers and asked: How are you celebrating Valentine's Day this year?

The poll ran from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8, and of the 562 votes, 132 are from within the community. 

The full results are as follows:

Traditional flower and dinner out 3.79 % local, 4.80 % total    
Going to try something new 3.03 % local, 4.27 % total    
Spend it with my friends 0.76 % local, 3.02 % total    
Quiet night in 51.52 % local, 49.47 % total    
Avoiding it like the plague 40.91 % local, 38.43 % total    
  Local   Total

These results are similar to those of a national survey by HelloSafe.ca that found 39 per cent of a total 764 respondents are planning a romantic dinner at home.

Canadians are also expected to spend an average of $64 this year -- down 13 per cent from 2021 and 31 per cent from 2020, according to HelloSafe. 

The HelloSafe study found 58.1 per cent of Canadians plan to spend less money on Valentine's Day this year, while 26.4 per cent plan to spend the same amount and a minority of 15.5 per cent plan to increase their budget.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still "weighing down consumer spending and restaurant attendance," according to HelloSafe. 

Furthermore, COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants mean attendance is down and dining out is a less popular way to celebrate Valentine's Day than before. 

The most popular physical gifts for Valentine's Day, according ot HelloSafe, are flowers or greeting cards at 36 per cent -- but this is also down from 2021.

However, at 49 per cent, more Canadians seem to be looking to "escape from their daily lives with ideas that are out of the ordinary...such as an overnight stay in an atypical place," said HelloSafe. 

Results of the Richmond News poll are based on an online study of adult Richmond News readers that are located in Vancouver. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 4.13%, 19 times out of 20.

Richmond News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.

The HelloSafe study was based on information from public and private sources, in particular, Statistics Canada, as well as a survey conducted by HelloSafe of 764 Canadians of all ages and from each province between Jan. 24 and Feb. 2.