What German valentines traditions are there?

February 10, 2006 1:55 AM

I'm currently in a long distance relationship with a beautiful German woman (hooray). However, with Valentines day coming up is there anything I need to know?

Just looking for advice on any German valentines traditions or lack thereof which I should be aware of. Bonus points if anyone can suggest an affordable way of sending flowers from the UK to Germany.

posted by prentiz to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

Some German Valentines customs here.

And you can send flowers through Fleurop.
posted by essexjan at 2:37 AM on February 10, 2006

Best answer: Just to say that there is a strong cynicism in Germany about what they see as manufactured Hallmark Holidays, so whatever you end up doing acknowledge this and say "I know its a bit corny etc., but I just wanted any excuse to let you know...."
Secondly everyone loves flowers and there are a lot more interesting arrangements in Germany. I use Inteflora for my German relatives and delivery is usually next day.
AFAIK,There are no German traditions around Valentine's Day as it is a recent phonomenon, but this could be just me! My German husband is Aspergers so maybe it just went over his head!
Viel Spass!
posted by Wilder at 2:38 AM on February 10, 2006

Sorry that should of course read INTERFLORA. one day someone will teach me how to link within my answer!
posted by Wilder at 2:40 AM on February 10, 2006

Wilder: Do you see a little "link" button beneath the comment text box? If so, have you tried it?
posted by grouse at 4:10 AM on February 10, 2006

Thanks Grouse my problem is I don't know how to anchor it to a piece of text. For example, I clicked on the link, wrote i the website I wanted to link to but as I am typing this I get no visual to show me where the link is. On my posting box it is between Grouse and My, but in the preview it doesn't appear, if you get my drift.
Thanks for being patient, I know it must be hard with us webilliterates!!
posted by Wilder at 7:12 AM on February 10, 2006

You see, no one tells the webilliterates that you first have to highlight a piece of text before you hit the link button. Believe it or not it is not intuitive for some of us, so here it is
Interflora
posted by Wilder at 7:20 AM on February 10, 2006

As Wilder says, expect a bit of cynism about the holiday, but I don't think anyone would reject or dislike a nice present or flowers (well, I actually do dislike flowers, but I still would think it was very sweet if my boyfriend from the UK sent them to me - the fleurop site looks like a good deal). Just don't necessarily expect something from her, if you haven't talked about it in advance.
posted by davar at 9:45 AM on February 10, 2006