Michigan Journal

Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Google Couples can celebrate Sweetest Day with simple gifts. Chocolate body paint is one of many sexy surprises perfect for your sweetie.

Branded as a "Hallmark holiday," couples constantly debate over whether or not to celebrate Sweetest Day.

Started in 1922, during the Great Depression, Sweetest Day was created by a candy store employee, Herbert Birch Kingston. Kingston decided that giving candy to orphans and other less-fortunate children was the perfect way to show them that the surrounding community cared for them. Originating in Cleveland, Sweetest Day has spread to many of the states surrounding Ohio, and is now celebrated annually on the third Saturday of October.

Once well-intentioned, Sweetest Day ceremonies have been dramatically transformed by today's capitalist economy. Many people now consider Sweetest Day, just as they do Valentine's Day, to be a Hallmark holiday. Conning consumers into supporting the candy and card craze two times a year proves to be quite a feat. So, considering the two holidays are so similar, should people buy into both?

Although it can be assured that couples just cannot wait to shell out sums of money twice a year to celebrate two days that are exactly the same, no one wants to conserve their cash and thus disappoint their special someone. Clearly, celebrating or not is quite a conundrum that is inevitably left up to individual couples.

Best advice: couples should discuss whether or not they would like to celebrate Sweetest Day. This ensures that neither person in the relationship will be disappointed by not receiving a gift on Oct. 20. For those couples who do decide to embrace the holiday, the extent to which each person plans to celebrate it should be discussed.

"I love Sweetest Day," exclaimed sophomore Madison Miller. "I get everything on Sweetest Day that I do on Valentine's Day."

Celebrating the holiday seems to depend on whether or not people believe it is a Hallmark holiday.

Agreeing with Miller, Karen Johnson, also a sophomore, explained "I don't think it is a Hallmark holiday. Although I haven't had the chance, I would definitely celebrate it if I had a special someone."

Conversely, Julian Edgar believes that Sweetest Day is a Hallmark holiday and therefore chooses not to celebrate it. Edgar supported his belief by explaining that Sweetest Day is not celebrated nationally and remains more of a local tradition among the Midwest.

Continued...

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