Valentine’s Day in Saskatchewan

It’s Valentine’s Day in Saskatchewan and Insightrix wants to know how Saskatchewan residents will be celebrating their Valentine’s Day.

So, between February 5–8, we asked 805 Saskatchewan residents from all over the province how they feel about the holiday and how they plan to spend it.

Commercial… or?

It turns out residents in Saskatchewan think Valentine’s Day is a commercial holiday.

While 18% love Valentine’s Day because it lets them show how much they care, the bulk of those we surveyed were undecided, with 62% saying that the holiday of love is, “OK, I guess”.

Valentine’s Day is declining in popularity slightly, though, compared to a couple of years ago. In 2016, 15% of residents polled stated it was a commercial holiday, 25% said they loved it and 59% were undecided.

Interesting to note:

It turns out that Valentine’s Day is more popular in Saskatoon than it is in Regina.

When we asked residents of Regina what they think about the holiday, 30% stated they thought it was a commercial holiday – a greater number than the residents of Saskatoon (16%). Residents of Saskatoon (22%), when asked the same question, stated they love Valentine’s more often than residents of Regina (11%).

Who’s in love (or at least working at it…)?

Love is in the air in Saskatchewan!

Nearly 3 in 4 Saskatchewan residents (74%) talk about being in romantic relationship in 2018.

That said, compared to 2016, the number of those in a romantic relationship has declined slightly, down from the 76% who stated they were in a relationship in that year.

If you’re unattached, it pays to have friends!

We asked residents who are in a romantic relationship how they met their significant other and the most common answer was through friends (39%).

Other ways included meeting online (14%), at a party or a bar (13%), at work (13%), at church (2%), and many other places too (19%).

Like many kinds of birds, Saskatchewan residents may mate for life…

We asked respondents who are currently in a romantic relationship how long they’d been together, and more than a third (36%) reported they’ve been with their significant other for 20 years or more!

Enough talking! Make with the presents!

More people we surveyed say they are not planning on buying Valentine’s Day presents (55%) than those who said they are (45%). Most people we spoke with who plan on buying a gift said they plan on spending $100 or more (39%) on gifts for their significant other – talk about big spenders!

Another 27% said they plan on spending between $50 to just under $100, and 28% said they plan on spending between $20 to just under $50.

The remaining 6% may be sleeping on the couch this Valentine’s Evening, as they confess they plan on spending below $20. And they say romance is dead…

This is all pretty good news for significant others this year, as expectations are much lower than reality.

More than one half (56%) of those who plan of celebrating Valentine’s Day this year don’t even expect a present! So, good news if you decided to skip on the flowers and chocolate this year.

And since we’re matching expectations & reality…

Of those that plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day, more than 3 in 10 (32%) of the Saskatchewan residents said they expect to make it past third base just because it is Valentine’s Day. Sixty-eight percent (68%) think otherwise…

Talk about shattered expectations…

What are they going to get for Valentine’s Day in Saskatchewan?

If you think you’re getting a Valentine from your sweet babboo, we hope you’re hungry!

A good portion of the people who said they plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Saskatchewan said they planned on giving the gift of grub this year, with 37% saying they plan on taking their significant other out for a romantic meal and another 34% planning to give candy or chocolates.

Other folks may be sending their significant others out to the doghouse though, with 27% of respondents saying they plan on giving greeting cards (either physical or as an e-card) and another 13% stating they plan on proving their undying love with a giftcard.*

Good luck, folks!

Only the lonely…

Valentine’s Day in Saskatchewan isn’t just for lovers! Well, maybe it is…

We asked those residents we surveyed who don’t have a special someone in their life if they still planned on going out to celebrate the holiday and it turns out that they are staying home in droves.

Almost three quarters (71%) of these folks say they plan to stay in. That said, some courageous singles (29%) still plan on venturing out into the cold, winter night.

These bold singles say they plan on spending the holiday with relatives (45%), friends or co-workers (33%), their parents (8%), a sibling (6%) or someone else entirely (18%). Conveniently, Family Day follows Valentine’s Day, so Saskatchewan residents are taking this week to spend time with family and friends.

Time machine’s here! Everyone pile in!

To round out our Valentine’s Day survey, we asked the Saskatchewan residents we surveyed that if they could, would they rather be dating now (in 2018), or in the 1980s or 1990s.

A fair proportion wish they could meet Doc Brown for a Dolorian ride at 88 mph. Almost one third (28%) wish they could be dating in the 1980s and another 20% wish they were hitting the romantic scene in the 1990s.

Other folks are glad they are back in good old 2018. Sixteen percent (16%) of those we surveyed stated they are glad to be dating today. A lot of respondents (35%) weren’t sure for one reason or the other (weren’t born yet, married at the time, etc.).

Why this is the case is complicated, as many Saskatchewan residents give different reasons for why they feel this way. Technology is a large determiner, as was the social climate at the time. Below are quotes straight from SaskWatch members themselves!

In their own words:

“I have been part of the dating world for the past 4 years. Smartphones/social media and online dating makes dating difficult. People are not themselves – hiding behind their phone/computer screens. They tend to be braver. But when it comes to actually meeting – they become cowardly.”

“Dating is different nowadays because nowadays both parties pay for the meal. 20 or 30 years ago, usually it was always the guy that paid for the date.”

“In many ways dating is much less formal than it used to be. There don’t seem to be as many rules which makes it hard to know what to expect sometimes, but also is a lot more freeing.”

“Dating is hugely different than it was 20-30 years ago due to social media and smartphones. There is less and less personal organic interactions. Communication has changed, and in some ways people aren’t as accountable when hiding behind a screen than if they were face to face. There can seem to be many negative changes, but a positive would be that technology allows people to meet faster (in an instant) than requiring them to actually be physically face to face.”

Check out the rest of the infographic below!

*Totals do not sum to 100% due to rounding.

Research Details

A total of 805 randomly selected SaskWatch Research® panel members participated in the online research study on February 5 through February 8, 2018. Quotas were set by age, gender and region to match the general population of the province. Since the research is conducted online, it is a non-probability proportion sample; therefore, margins of error are not applicable.

About SaskWatch Research

Insightrix began developing its SaskWatch Research® online market research panel in October 2007, using high quality techniques, including telephone recruitment and referrals from existing panel members. Presently, there are over 18,000 active panel members representing all regions of the province and distributions of the general population. The panel membership closely matches the 2011 Census based on age, gender, household composition, household income and education. For more information, please visit SaskWatch.ca.