Most Americans make Valentine’s Day buying decisions at the last minute, and new data suggests this behavior is not an exception, but the norm.
The findings come from a Valentine’s Day flower ordering study conducted by Ode à la Rose, a flower delivery service, which analyzed Valentine’s Day flower orders delivered across over 1,000 U.S. cities. The study examined how far in advance consumers place Valentine’s Day orders and how those patterns repeat across locations. The results show a clear national divide between cities that plan early and cities that consistently wait until the last minute.
Across major U.S. cities, the analysis found that 35-50% of Valentine’s Day flower orders are placed within the final 48 hours before delivery. In some dense urban areas, up to 20% of orders are delivered the same day they are placed during Valentine’s Day week. The data suggests that waiting until the final days is not unusual behavior, but rather a common and recurring pattern.
Early Awareness Does Not Lead to Early Action
Despite the concentration of last-minute orders, Valentine’s Day is not a forgotten holiday. Search behavior indicates that awareness begins building well before February. Interest in Valentine’s Day gifts and flower delivery starts to rise in January, suggesting that many people are thinking about the holiday weeks in advance.
However, early awareness does not translate into early purchasing. Instead of placing orders steadily over time, consumers tend to delay action until the deadline approaches. This creates a compressed decision window in the days immediately leading up to Valentine’s Day.
The result is a predictable cycle: people know the date, intend to plan ahead, and still end up making shopping decisions close to February 14.
While ordering timelines vary slightly by city, last-minute behavior appears consistently across the country.
Cities That Plan Valentine’s Day the Earliest
The study found that some cities consistently place orders well in advance of delivery, averaging nearly a week. These locations show strong early planning patterns, with meaningful shares of orders placed more than 10 days before Valentine’s Day.
Among the most prepared cities:
- Key Biscayne, FL – average 7.2 days in advance
- Las Vegas, NV – 7.0 days
- Seattle, WA – 6.3 days
- Fort Lauderdale, FL – 6.1 days
- Jersey City, NJ – 6.1 days
A second group of cities shows steady mid-range planning, typically ordering four to six days ahead:
- Washington, D.C. – 5.3 days
- Austin, TX – 5.2 days
- Houston, TX – 5.2 days
- Chicago, IL – 4.8 days
- Los Angeles, CA – 4.7 days
These cities still experience last-minute spikes, but the overall timeline shows more distributed ordering and less reliance on same-day delivery.
Cities That Wait Until the Last Minute
At the opposite end of the spectrum are cities where ordering is heavily concentrated in the final days before Valentine’s Day. In these locations, same-day delivery and short-notice purchasing make up a significant share of total orders.
The last-minute markets include:
- The Bronx, NY – average 2.7 days in advance
- Miami Beach, FL – 3.0 days
- Brooklyn, NY – 3.2 days
- Miami, FL – 3.5 days
- Philadelphia, PA – 3.5 days
- New York City, NY – 3.7 days
- Boston, MA – 3.9 days
In some of these areas, nearly half of all orders are placed within two days of delivery. Same-day fulfillment represents a substantial portion of total volume.
A Consistent National Pattern
Despite regional differences, the overall structure of Valentine’s Day behavior is remarkably stable.
Early planners exist in every region. So do last-minute buyers. But across the country, a large share of decisions consistently occur close to February 14.
The pattern follows the same sequence each year:
- Awareness begins early
- Research builds gradually
- Purchases cluster near the deadline
This timing appears to be driven not by forgetfulness but by the holiday’s emotional nature. Choosing a meaningful gift often requires personal consideration, which delays decision-making until urgency sets in.
Infrastructure and Lifestyle Influence Timing
The study also found that city characteristics appear to influence ordering behavior.
Dense urban areas with strong same-day delivery infrastructure show higher levels of last-minute purchasing. When fast fulfillment is widely available, delaying a decision carries less risk.
Cities with more distributed delivery networks or different work patterns tend to order earlier on average.
Population size also plays a role. Smaller cities generally order 1 to 2 days earlier than major metropolitan areas, suggesting that expectations about delivery availability may shape planning behavior.
What the Findings Suggest
Taken together, the data points to a stable annual cycle rather than a changing trend.
Valentine’s Day awareness builds weeks in advance, but purchasing behavior compresses near the deadline. This pattern repeats across regions, industries, and delivery markets.
Rather than reflecting poor planning, last-minute Valentine’s Day shopping appears to function as a widely accepted behavioral norm.
As long as Valentine’s Day remains a fixed and emotionally significant date, this timing pattern is likely to persist.
About the Study
The analysis examined anonymized Valentine’s Day flower orders delivered across more than 1,000 U.S. cities. Researchers measured the number of days between order placement and delivery date, then compared patterns across geographic markets.
The study also incorporated search trend data and seasonal search volume data to understand how consumer awareness and purchasing behavior align over time.
Full findings and methodology are available in the published report.
About Ode à la Rose
Founded in New York, Ode à la Rose is a flower delivery service specializing in hand-tied arrangements that are unmistakably French. They offer same-day delivery to 6 major cities where they have a local atelier & next-day delivery to the rest of the US. The company analyzed anonymized order data to better understand seasonal and consumer gifting trends,
