Valentine’s Day 2027
Sunday 14 February 2027
Valentine’s Day is the day when people in the UK and around the world send cards, flowers and small gifts to the people they love.
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Dates and event details
Valentine’s Day 2027 is Sunday 14 February 2027. It falls on 14 February every year.
| Year | Date |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Saturday 14 February 2026 |
| 2027 | Sunday 14 February 2027 |
| 2028 | Monday 14 February 2028 |
| Where | UK, international, US and Australia |
|---|
About Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is the day when people in the UK and around the world send cards, flowers and small gifts to the people they love. It takes its name from Saint Valentine, a Roman priest martyred in the third century, whose feast the Catholic Church keeps on 14 February (see the Vatican News account of Saint Valentine). Nobody owns or organises the day. It is a folk custom that grew out of a church feast, which is why the date never moves.
Valentine’s Day 2026 is on Saturday 14 February 2026, and in 2027 it falls on a Sunday. It is not a bank holiday anywhere in the UK, so shops, schools and workplaces open as normal. The main things people do are send a card, give flowers or chocolates, and go out for a meal, which is why restaurants book up early in the years when 14 February lands on or next to a weekend.
How to take part
At home. A handwritten card still means more than anything bought. Keep plans simple: cook together, revisit the place you first met, or set a small budget so that the thought, not the price, is the point. If you are buying flowers, order early, because 14 February is the single busiest day of the year for florists.
In schools. Primary classes often make cards for parents, grandparents or carers rather than for classmates, which keeps the day inclusive. The history of the day works well as a short topic: Roman martyrs, Chaucer, the Penny Post and Victorian paper lace cover history, English and design in one lesson. Secondary schools sometimes use the week for PSHE sessions on healthy relationships and respect.
At work. Keep anything organised at work optional and low key. A charity bake sale, a thank-you card for a colleague who helped you this year, or pairing the day with Random Acts of Kindness Day on 17 February tends to land better than anything romantic.
If the day is hard. Valentine’s Day can be painful after a bereavement or a break-up, and it is fine to ignore it. Many people use the weekend to see friends or family instead, or treat it as a day to look after themselves.
What day of the week is Valentine’s Day?
Because the date is fixed, the weekday is certain years ahead. Valentine’s Day falls on:
- Saturday 14 February 2026
- Sunday 14 February 2027
- Monday 14 February 2028
- Wednesday 14 February 2029 (it skips a day because 2028 is a leap year)
- Thursday 14 February 2030
- Friday 14 February 2031
Two weekend Valentine’s Days in a row, in 2026 and 2027, are followed by a run of weekday dates. If you are planning a meal out, a weekend break or a school activity, that is worth knowing now. In 2027 the day is also close to Shrove Tuesday, which falls on 9 February 2027, so the second week of February will be a busy one.
Who was Saint Valentine?
The Roman Martyrology, the Catholic Church’s official list of saints, records two Valentines on 14 February: a priest of Rome and a bishop of Terni, a town about 60 miles north of Rome. According to Vatican News, many scholars now think the two accounts describe the same man. The priest Valentine was known for healing the sick and converting leading Roman families, and was beheaded on the Via Flaminia in Rome in about AD 270, during the reign of the emperor Claudius Gothicus. His followers carried his body to Terni and buried it just outside the city, where a basilica still bears his name. He is the patron saint of Terni and of lovers.
The romantic side of the day came much later. There is no record that Valentine secretly married soldiers or wrote a note signed “from your Valentine”; those are later legends. The link between 14 February and courtship first appears in England in the late 1300s, when Geoffrey Chaucer wrote that birds choose their mates “on Seynt Valentynes day”. By the 1400s the idea had spread through the courts of England and France, and the earliest surviving valentines, handwritten notes and poems, date from that century. One of the best known was written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orléans, a French prisoner held in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt, who addressed verses to his “very gentle Valentine”.
How Valentine’s cards became a British habit
For centuries valentines were handwritten. The Victoria and Albert Museum traces the change to the early 1800s, when cheap paper and new printing methods turned card-making into an industry. In 1834 Joseph Addenbrooke, working for the London stationer Dobbs, accidentally filed through an embossed sheet and discovered paper lace, which became the signature look of the Victorian valentine. The V&A estimates that up to 60,000 cards were sent in 1836, and the number rose sharply after the Penny Post arrived in 1840. The post also made anonymity easy, which is how the “vinegar valentine”, a cheap insulting card sent to someone the writer disliked, became a Victorian craze. At the other end of the market, men were known to spend a month’s wages on an elaborate card.
That anonymity is still part of the British version of the day. Many UK valentines are sent unsigned, or signed only with a question mark, a custom that puzzles visitors from countries where cards are openly exchanged between friends and classmates.
Valentine’s Day in the UK today
The UK sends more greeting cards per head than any other country, and Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest card-sending occasions after Christmas and Mother’s Day. The Greeting Card Association, the UK trade body for card publishers and retailers, reports that nearly 21 million Valentine’s cards were bought in the UK in 2024, a 2 per cent rise on the year before, worth £51 million at an average of £2.44 a card.
Beyond cards, the week is a peak for florists (red roses above all), chocolate makers, jewellers and restaurants, and supermarkets compete on dine-in meal deals for couples staying at home. Hotels and spas sell weekend breaks, and many venues run themed events on the nearest Friday and Saturday. Friendship versions of the day have grown too: “Galentine’s Day” on 13 February celebrates female friendship, and Singles Awareness Day on 15 February is a light-hearted answer for anyone not in a couple.
Frequently asked questions
When is Valentine’s Day 2026?
Valentine’s Day 2026 is on Saturday 14 February 2026. The date is the same every year.
What day is Valentine’s Day 2027?
Valentine’s Day 2027 is on a Sunday, 14 February 2027. It is on a Monday in 2028 and a Wednesday in 2029.
Is Valentine’s Day a bank holiday in the UK?
No. There are no bank holidays in February in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, as the gov.uk bank holiday list shows. Schools, shops and offices open as normal.
Why is Valentine’s Day on 14 February?
14 February is the feast day of Saint Valentine, a Roman priest martyred in about AD 270. The day became linked with love in medieval England, when Chaucer described it as the day birds choose their mates, and the custom of sending valentines grew from there.
Is Valentine’s Day different in the UK and the US?
The date is the same, but the customs differ a little. In the UK cards are often sent anonymously and mainly between partners, while in the US children commonly exchange cards with everyone in their class. Neither country treats it as a public holiday.
How many Valentine’s cards are sent in the UK?
According to the Greeting Card Association, nearly 21 million Valentine’s cards were bought in the UK in 2024, costing £51 million in total, or about £2.44 a card.
