Friday, February 05, 2010

February Giveaway

70% of Japanese women would rather Valentine's Day was not celebrated in Japan.

50% of Japanese men like Valentine's day. Why? It's all in the marketing. It seems that manufacturers knew that Japanese men would never go for "buying chocolate" for women "just because"....Valentine's Day was destined not to succeed. THEN....the marketing changed.

On Valentine's Day in Japan, the WOMEN buy chocolate for their husbands and loves. On the average they spend Y3000 for chocolate on Valentine's Day. They also buy "giri-choco" - obligation chocolate. According to Yahoo!Japan the average female spends Y760 on giri choco. She is expected to buy chocolate for the men at work etc.

HOWEVER - in 1978 a clever businessman introduced White Day in Japan. White Day, celebrated on 14 March, is spreading to other Asian countries (South Korea and Taiwan). On White Day, the MEN buy WHITE chocolate and WHITE marshmallows for the women who bought them chocolate on Valentine's Day.

Clever isn't it? Culture being what it is, a man may not think to go buy sweets for a lady, but he is SURE to obligated to give her a gift if she gives him one. Info for this comes from Kim (has lived here since 1995), Misawa Spouse Connection newsletter and Akiko (Japanese Citizen).

February's giveaway is going to center on Valentine's Day. Please share your best tips for celebrating Valentine's Day. One of my daughters calls Valentine's Day "National Single Awareness Day".....but really even singles can share in this giveaway. Leave a comment about how you celebrate or your favorite Valentine's day or tips for celebrating - with adults or kids - to be entered. YOU MUST LEAVE A COMMENT THAT RELATES in some way to the theme of the giveaway.

Below are the items I've picked up so far. I'm still looking for a few more items.
From 2010-02-10
If you win this month's giveaway you agree not to enter another giveaway for three months, Feb. 2010 winner won't enter until June 2010. A post or comment below will earn you an entry. If you blog about the giveaway and link to it, then post a link to your post here, you'll earn a second entry.We'll randomly choose a winner on or after noon 27 Feb JST. I hope to post a new giveaway in the first week of each month. . . grace ladies...show me grace. ::snort::

If you are selected as a winner, you will have one week to send me your home address. I will not store your address in any form. I cannot even find my personal address book since our move. ::snort::

You do not have to be a blogger to enter. Leave your thoughts in the comment section to earn an entry. I reserve the right to discontinue Giveaway or change the rules at any time.

Have fun!
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

11 comments:

Renee said...

What girl wouldn't enter a contest where the prize is chocolate.

Dh and I have celebrated Valentines Day the same way even starting before we were married - cornish game hens, wild rice and sauteed mushrooms.....
this year we will not :( because we will be in Atlanta over the holiday weekend

Anonymous said...

One of the best Valentine's Day that I've had was the year I sent flowers to a teaching colleague who was a widow. I sent them anonymously, of course. She had little family and I just wanted to let her know someone thought she was very special. It was such joy to see her face!

Wilma in WV

Anonymous said...

We have had to BEST VALENTINE DAYS.

1. The 1st best V-Day we have ever had was the day our 1st son was born. What a delight he has been to us for 44 years.

2. The 2nd best V-Day we have ever had was the day our daughter had a Christmas theme wedding on Feb. 14th giving us the best Son-in-law parents could ever have.

How's that ladies? 2 very best VALENTINE DAYS!!

love/prayers -- PJT's or Dad/Mom T.

Stephanie said...

We like to celebrate with our little girls, so we make it special. Last year, we decorated our little apartment kitchen with candles, glass goblets filled with sparkling cider, glass dishes, and candy hearts all over the table. I think we may have even done streamers... We ordered Outback to go and had a fancy dinner all together. The girls LOVED it. They giggled all day that day and could not contain their excitement to celebrate love with a fancy date all together!

Herding Grasshoppers said...

When our kids were pretty little, we started having a Valentine Party for our friends' kids.

The kids get dropped off around 5:30 and bring a "sack dinner". If it's a school/work night they sometimes come in their jammies.

I usually set up a room with some kind of craft - usually a card to give their parents, cookie decorating in the kitchen - some to eat and some to take home, and another room to just play. We usually watch the Peanuts Valentine Special (poor Charlie Brown!). We try to wear them out so they're tired when their folks come to pick them up around 8pm.

It's not long enough for the parents to get out for dinner and a movie, but it's long enough for a relaxing dinner somewhere nice.

By then we're exhausted, so we go out for our Valentine Dinner another day, when the restaurants aren't all swamped ;D

Julie

and - oh dear - my word verification is HYPER... which would describe the activity level at these parties if I don't plan well!

Jen said...

Julie, that is a great idea to have the party so the parents can go out.

I can't enter, but I will share one of our "unique" ways of celebrating. Our local White Castles restaurant does a Valentine's thing where they section off part of the restaurant and decorate it and with reservations, you can have a V-Day day complete with table service, etc. We have done this a few years much to dh's colleague's amusement. They can't believe he actually takes me there for V-day. But, hey he likes it and it's inexpensive. Of course THIS year, we are going to Melting Pot, so we aren't always cheap. LOL

ikkinlala said...

In general I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day, but I do have a favourite memory: one year when I was a really little kid my grandma made us some of those 'stained glass' cookies (with melted candy) and sent them in the mail. At that point the 'stained glass' was fascinating to me.

Cynthia said...

Fun giveaways!

Julia M. Reffner said...

I enjoyed reading the Japanese perspective of Valentine's Day. Since we have 2 preschoolers, it can be rough to find a babysitter so we usually go out the weekend before or after then celebrate a "family" day on Valentine's day. My daughter loves putting pink food coloring in all our food and drink that day and using heart-shaped cookie cutters to make sandwiches and cookies.
julesreffer at gmail dot com

Vicki said...

We have 5 littles and not much chance to go out, so I've made the week a celebration of love for the family. Lots of special little treats on the side, tissue paper flowers, hearts strung up on ribbon, and other little touches of sweet things around the house. It's fun to take a week to focus on loving each other in a special way. :) The kids worked on valentines for Grandma's and each other (with tissue paper of course!)

Anonymous said...

It differs every year, but I certainly like to bake for Valentines day. Yesterday I invited our neighbors and together we decorated cut out cookies! Fun....

Shelley in MA candslee@verizon.net