Valentine’s Day is a major romantic moment, but what do you do if you’ve just started dating? Navigating the holiday when you’re in the early stages of getting to know someone can be a fraught experience filled with a lot of questions. How soon is too soon to organise a Valentine’s Day date? What if you decide against a present but they get you one? It’s enough to make anyone anxious.
When in doubt, it pays to look at the law of averages.
Research company YouGov recently polled over a thousand Australians about their attitudes to relationship milestones, including Valentine’s Day, meeting the parents, having sex and saying ‘I love you’. Here’s what they found.
How Soon Is Too Soon To Celebrate Valentine’s Day?
YouGov found that a quarter, 24 per cent, of Australians would be open to celebrate Valentine’s Day with someone they’d dated for less than a month.
See this as your go ahead to at least ask if your new paramour might be interested in celebrating the ‘big day’.
However, the majority sat in a slightly higher category, with 27 per cent saying they would want to celebrate within two and five months of dating.
What we take from this is that going out for a first date on Valentine’s Day might not be the way to go, but if things are going well, they may be open to the idea.
Despite this, it seems more and more Australians are indifferent to the day itself. 60 per cent of Australians said they would not be celebrating the occasion this year, whether or not they were partnered up. Has cupid lost his shine?
It seems that there is a correlation between age and wanting to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
In the run-up to Valentine’s Day last year, Tinder saw 17 per cent increase in matches amongst 18-25-year-old users globally. There was also an increase of 30 million likes sent per day on average with a massive 70 per cent of that increase coming from 18-25 year old users.
In YouGov’s study, Millennials and Gen Z were most interested in having a Valentine, at 42 per cent and 28 per cent respectively. While Gen X, Boomers and the Silent Generation lagged behind at 24 per cent, 16 per cent and 15 per cent.
It seems for Australians, there are a lot of other relationship milestones they’d rather reach than a date on Valentine’s Day. For instance, they’d be more inclined to have sex (34 per cent) and meet each other’s friends (28 per cent) than celebrate Valentine’s Day within one month of dating.
Do I Need To Buy My Partner A Valentine’s Day Present?
Maybe you’re going out for dinner or heading out for a post-work event to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Do you really need to offer a present as well?
According to Australians, it’s not that important to them. Almost half 47 per cent said they would not mind if their partner forgot to buy them a present. Just 28 per cent would be upset if their partner forgot.
In heterosexual relationships, men were more likely to want to exchange gifts than women, with 34 per cent saying it was important compared to just 20 per cent of women.
What Is The Best Timing For Relationship Milestones?
The research didn’t just look at Valentine’s Day, it also examined other key relationship milestones and how long on average Aussies expect to date before reaching them.
They are as follows:
- Having Sex: Aussies would like to do so within one month (24 per cent) or 2-5 months (27 per cent of dating)
- Saying ‘I Love You’: Aussies would like to say it within 2-5 months (34 per cent) or 6-11 months (24 per cent)
- Meeting Friends: Aussies would like to meet them within a month (28 per cent) or 2-5 months (44 per cent)
- Meeting Parents: Aussies would like to meet them within 2-5 months (37 per cent) or 6-11 months (29 per cent)
- Holidays: Aussies like a couples holiday within 2-5 months (24 per cent) or 6-11 months (34 per cent)
- Moving In: Aussies like to cohabitate within 1-3 years (30 per cent) or more than three years (32 per cent)
- Having A Child: Aussies like to become parents within three ranges: 1-3 years (28 per cent), more than 3 years (27 per cent) or need to be engaged/married (22 per cent)
- Getting Engaged: Aussies like to get engaged within 1-3 years on average (50 per cent)
- Getting Married: Aussies like to get married within 1-3 years (39 per cent) and more than three years (37 per cent)
