Be my anti-Valentine

from yahoo

By Olivia Barker, USA TODAY

This Valentine's Day, retailers are thumbing their noses at hearts and redirecting arrows at Cupid himself.

Traditionally sweet symbols and sayings are getting tweaked in the card and gift aisles, resulting in teddy bears that are more wry than warm and fuzzy and candies that are more sarcastic than saccharine.

It's a reflection of the anti-Valentine sentiment that's been streaking through the holiday for the past few years, with singletons asserting their solidarity in Feb. 14 parties that champion camaraderie over coupling.

After all, divorces, prenuptial agreements and annulments historically spike around Valentine's Day - 36%, 28% and 21% respectively in 2005, according to LegalMatch.com - so why not archly acknowledge the holiday's less-romantic side with a T-shirt that proclaims "Cupid can't aim"?

"People are tired of the pressure, of making it so commercial," says Ana Weber, a dating and relationship coach based in Newport Beach, Calif. (In 2005, Unity Marketing found that Valentine's is the third-biggest gift-giving holiday, behind Christmas and Mother's Day; celebrators spend $126 on average.) "Romance and passion and love should be something more spontaneous. This is not a business deal."

AG Interactive, the online arm of American Greetings, says more customers are asking for skewed (and skewering) Valentines. The company's collection numbers nearly a dozen. AG Interactive's Sally Babcock says she gave her sister a paper card this year featuring perfume bottles and the message "Valentine's Day stinks," and she "loved it." At shopping comparison site Shopping.com, lonely hearts can trawl for down-with-love loot. Valentine's Day "traditionally felt really exclusionary if you didn't have someone in your life," says Shannon Clouston, the site's chief shopper. Now, "everyone's owning a piece of it."