Americans to Spend a Record $6.4B on Jewelry Gifts for Valentine’s Day

US consumers are projected to spend a record $6.4 billion on jewelry gifts for Valentine’s Day 2024, outpacing last year's total by 16.3%, and up an amazing 64.1% compared to 2019, according to a survey just released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Jewelry topped all other categories for the 8th year in a row and is expected to account for 25 cents of every dollar spent on gifts for the holiday.

The jewelry category's gains come at the same time when overall Valentine gift sales are expected to be flat. Total spending for Cupid's Day, according the the NRF, is projected to tick down in 2024 from $25.9 billion to $25.8 billion.

The NRF also predicted new spending records for three other categories: "evening out" ($4.9 billion), "clothing" ($3 billion) and flowers ($2.6 billion) categories.

Another important finding is that spending dollars seem to be shifting towards "significant others" and away from "other family members," "friends," "children's classmates/teachers" and "co-workers."

The value of Valentine's Day gifts intended for significant others/spouses will see an increase of 5.2% in 2024 ($14.2 billion vs. $13.5 billion). Gift budgets allocated to significant others/spouses is expected to reach an all-time high of $101.84, while overall household spending for Valentine's Day is expected to be $185.81, down from $192.80 in 2023 and off the $196.31 peak set in 2020.

Exactly 57% of survey respondents intended to give candy in 2024, followed by greeting cards (40%), flowers (39%), an evening out (32%), jewelry (22%), clothing (21%) and gift cards (19%).

More than half of consumers (53%) plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, which is on par with the 52% tallied last year. Sixty-two percent of consumers ages 25-34 plan to celebrate this year, a higher proportion than any other age group.

According to the NRF, among those not celebrating Valentine’s Day, 29% still plan to mark the occasion in some way. Many will treat themselves to something special, while others will plan a get-together or evening out with their single friends or family members.

As the leading authority and voice for the retail industry, NRF provides data on consumer behavior and spending for key periods such as holidays throughout the year. The survey of 8,329 US adult consumers was conducted January 2-8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.

Credit: Image by BigStockPhoto.com.

Chewy Offers $1,000 to Couples Who Include Pets in Their Proposal Photos

Chewy, the online purveyor of pet supplies, is offering $1,000 eGift cards to 10 lucky couples who include their pets in their marriage proposal photos or videos.

At its official website, the company explains that pets are fur-children, first loves and sometimes "the favorite cuddle," but when its time to take the next steps in a romantic relationship, pets should be right there to share in the excitement.

The rules for the contest are simple. Couples planning to get married during 2024 or 2025 must tag their "pet-posal" photos or videos with @Chewy and use the hashtag #ChewyPetposals. The 10 best entries posted between January 10, 2024, and March 31, 2024, will win a $1,000 eGift card, and 100 couples will get a "special surprise gift."

Chewy explained that it really doesn't matter how the pet is framed in the photo.

"Whether it’s getting your pet’s permission, having them deliver the ring or even a photobomb happy accident, we’re here for it all," the Chewy website noted.

After popping the question, all attention shifts to the impending wedding, and according to a Chewy survey, 21% of married couples have included pets in their weddings.

Respondents said that their beloved pets were incorporated into the festivities in many ways, such as ring bearers (50%), flower girls (17%), page boys (13%). Pets were also included on wedding invitations and save-the-date cards, "first look" photos and cake toppers. Some couples even named a signature drink after their four-legged friends.

Notes Chewy on its website that it's no surprise that many couples want their pets to be a part of this major relationship milestone, especially when you consider these other survey stats...

95% believe their pet loves them unconditionally
93% are happier because of their pet
70% say they are obsessed with their pets

Credit: Photo by Katie Wallace on Unsplash

Music Friday: Gladys Knight Sings, 'You're Like a Diamond But She Treats You Like Glass'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you classic chart toppers with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Gladys Knight & the Pips tell a story of unrequited love in their 1970 hit single, “If I Were Your Woman.”

In the song, the protagonist is a young woman whose love interest continues to give her the cold shoulder. His attention is focused on a rival, despite the fact that she treats him so poorly. Songwriters Gloria Jones, Pamela Joan Sawyer and Clay McMurray use a diamond vs. glass comparison to describe how the two women value the same man.

Knight sings, “She tears you down darlin’, says you’re nothing at all / But, I’ll pick you up darling, when she lets you fall / You’re like a diamond but she treats you like glass / Yet you beg her to love you, but, me you don’t ask.”

According to music trivia website Songfacts.com, the song came together while Jones and Sawyer were having a discussion about gender issues during the infancy of the Women’s Liberation Movement. They were looking to compose a piece about how women could be committed in their relationships while remaining strong and independent.

“If I Were Your Woman” appears as the first track from Gladys Knight & the Pips’ album of the same name. The single zoomed all the way to #1 on the Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles chart and peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

The song has been covered by a number of top artists, including Stephanie Mills (1988) and Alicia Keys (2006). The Keys version received a nomination for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance at the 2006 Grammy Awards.

Established in Atlanta as The Pips in 1952, the group led by founding member Gladys Knight topped the music charts for more than three decades. Gladys Knight & the Pips are multiple Grammy and American Music Award winners and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

The group disbanded in 1989, but Knight went on to a successful solo career. Also known as The Empress of Soul, Knight continues to maintain an active touring schedule at the age of 79.

Please check out Gladys Knight & the Pips performing “If I Were Your Woman” on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1971. The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“If I Were Your Woman”
Written by Gloria Jones, Pamela Joan Sawyer and Clay McMurray. Performed by Gladys Knight & the Pips.

If I were your woman and you were my man,
you’d have no other woman, you’d be weak as a lamb.
If you had the strength to walk out that door,
My love would overrule my sense, and I’d call you back for more,
If I were your woman.
If I were your woman, and you were my man.

She tears you down darlin’, says you’re nothing at all.
But, I’ll pick you up darling, when she lets you fall.
You’re like a diamond but she treats you like glass.
Yet you beg her to love you, but, me you don’t ask.
If I were your woman, If I were your woman.
If I were your woman, here’s what I’d do,
I’d never, never, never stop loving you.

If I were your woman, here’s what I’d do,
I’d never, never, never stop loving you.
If I were your woman, the sweet lovin' woman
You'd need no other woman
If I were your woman, I'd be your only woman
You'd have no other woman

I'd never stop loving you…

Credit: Photo by Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sara Bareilles Replaces Placeholder Ring With Vintage Diamond Dazzler

Sara Bareilles, who is best known for starring in and composing the original score for the Broadway hit Waitress, just added photographer and hand model to her list of credits as she presented to 850,000 Instagram followers a photo montage featuring her vintage diamond engagement ring.

Spoofing the not-so-subtle way future brides show off their rings on social media, the three-time Tony winner posed with her new bauble while holding random items, such as a pen, avocado, scissors and wine bottle. The singer-songwriter-actress described the carousel of pics as “hand holding things” taken by me.

Bareilles, who currently stars with her fiancé, Joe Tippett, in the film adaptation of Waitress, noted that her new ring not only replaces the simple placeholder she's been wearing for more than a year, but also represents a "leap of faith."

Tippett, 41, had proposed to the “Love Song” singer, 44, with a simple gold ring they purchased while on holiday south of the border. They settled on a basic ring because the task of choosing the perfect ring became overwhelming.

"We bought the gold leaf [ring] at an arts fair in Mexico City last December because looking for a ring started to feel like it was distorting and eclipsing the beauty of choosing each other," Bareilles wrote on Instagram.

In the Instagram post, she explained how their recent visit to an Upstate New York antique store yielded her forever ring.

As they shopped, Bareilles looked at tiny lamp shades while Tippett gravitated to a vintage ring featuring an unusual center diamond flanked by two smaller diamonds.

(A jewelry-industry insider told The Jeweler Blog that the center stone appears to be an "Old Euro," or European Cut, which is characterized by a high crown and small table. The insider added that the Old Euro predates the modern round brilliant-cut by 40 years.)

"It didn’t fit my finger so I was scared to take the leap," she wrote. "I had been thinking I should go get something custom or really hunt for the ‘right ring’ so I balked at it."

On the drive back home, Bareilles and Tippett discussed the real meaning behind an engagement ring.

"That it is something he wants to give me, not just get for me," she explained. "That the leap of faith of not quite knowing if it was ‘the one’ is just that. A leap of faith. And isn’t that life?"

Bareilles and Tippett went back for the vintage ring the next day.

"I look at this ring and think of his big blue eyes and how sometimes they are pleading with me to let go and grow into something new with him. So I did," she wrote.

Bareilles got the ring sized and wears it proudly, as her Instagram selfies can attest.

"Now I just love that I see him when I look at it. I like looking at you @joetipps,” she concluded.

Bareilles and Tippett have yet to announce any wedding plans.

The singer had previously told People magazine that she and her fiancé are torn between two wedding options. The first is going down to City Hall and "just do the thing." The second is to have a great party with friends and family.

"And so I don't know," she said. "We're still figuring it out.”

Credits: Images via Instagram / sarabareilles.

French Visitor to Crater of Diamonds State Park Scores 7.46-Carat Sparkler

On his first visit to Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park, a French tourist plucked a 7.46-carat chocolate brown diamond from the surface of the park’s 37.5-acre search area. About the size of a candy gumdrop, the roundish diamond is the eighth-largest ever discovered at the only diamond site in the world that’s open to the general public.

The park was not on Julien Navas's original itinerary. The Paris native's first stop was Cape Canaveral, FL, where he witnessed the launch of the moon-bound Vulcan Centaur Rocket on January 8. A few days later, he extended his trip to explore New Orleans with some friends and was intrigued by their stories about a park in Arkansas that sits upon the exposed eroded surface of an ancient diamond-bearing kimberlite pipe.

Navas had previously enjoyed his experiences panning for gold and searching for ammonite fossils, so he decided to add to his US adventure a stop at the world-famous diamond park in Murfreesboro.

Outfitted with rented gear, Navas got to work early on Thursday, January 11. The park had recently received more than an inch of rain, making the terrain wet and muddy.

“I got to the park around 9 o’clock and started to dig,” he said. “That is back-breaking work, so by the afternoon I was mainly looking on top of the ground for anything that stood out."

That strategy was not a bad one, because many of the park's largest diamonds have been found on the surface, according to Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox.

“We periodically plow the search area to loosen the diamond-bearing soil and promote natural erosion,” he said. “As rain falls on the field, it washes away the dirt and uncovers heavy rocks, minerals and diamonds near the surface.”

After several hours of picking potential treasures, he carried his finds to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center. There he learned that one of his selections — a deep chocolate brown stone in the shape of a marble — was, indeed, a 7.46-carat diamond.

“I am so happy!" Navas exclaimed upon hearing the good news. "All I can think about is telling my fiancée what I found.”

In honor of his fiancée, he named his treasure the "Carine Diamond."

Navas told the park's administrators that he was planning to have the rough stone cut into two polished diamonds, one for his fiancée and one for his daughter. He also noted that he was planning to return to the park with his daughter once she's a bit older.

“It is always so exciting to see first time visitors find diamonds, especially large diamonds like this one,” said Park Interpreter Sarah Reap.

Navas called Crater of Diamonds State Park "a magical place, where the dream of finding a diamond can come true.”

The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed in Murfreesboro in 1924. Named the “Uncle Sam,” the white diamond with a pink cast weighed 40.23 carats. The site of that early mining operation became a state park in 1972.

Credits: Images courtesy of Arkansas State Parks.