Hi, I'm David Ferrier in New Zealander accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.

Now I noticed something strange while buying groceries the other day.

I was trying to find some of my favorite cereal, fruity loops, but I found myself surrounded by aisles and aisles of packaged chocolates.

All packaged in the shape of a heart.

Driving past some florists on the way home, they seemed to mean more flowers out than usual.

Then the advertising started showing up in my mailbox, Valentine's Day.

America loves Valentine's Day.

And look, I'm not pretending we don't have it back in New Zealand, but in New Zealand we probably associate the word Valentine's more with an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant chain.

Valentine!

More bang for your buck!

If you're having any celebration large or small, Valentine's won't be beaten for value.

But here in America, Valentine's isn't a restaurant, it's a day. The third biggest spending day beaten only by Christmas and Mother's Day.

Americans fork out about $20 billion each Valentine's in an attempt to will or mate or prove their love to an existing one.

A couple of years ago the average American spent $165 on Valentine's Day.

But where did this day come from? And what do you meant to do on it?

How do you find a Valentine? And what do you get them?

So, grab a dozen red roses and hope to God someone else is doing the same for you.

Because this is the Valentine's Day episode.

I'm so curious about Valentine's Day because genuinely in New Zealand we don't really do it. It's there.

You can get cards and flowers and it's sort of advertised but nothing like the weirdness that you have here.

I'm actually impressed that it even made it to New Zealand because it's made up holiday.

I mean I guess all holidays are made up.

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