The most favourite flower baskets on Valentine Day. Photo: H.Y

* New and unique/strange-looking…

Sale of Valentine gifts this year is up to customers’age. The gifts are classified on basis of their material such as wool, fabric, pottery, porcelain, iron, metal plate, crystal, glass and stone-like polymer plastic. Pupils, students, the youth prefer dolls, cute cuddly toys such as drowsy teddy bear or long-ear dogs, key holders, small souvenirs in shape of moon-and-star, sun or heart as decorative items on bags or cell phones. Those who have stable jobs like watches, belts, rings, necklaces, pen holders, name card holders, intelligent notebooks or good-looking souvenirs which can be display on desks at work or in private places at home.

Souvenir shops and candy shops in Binh Dinh Province are ready for this year’s Valentine Day with quite abundant stocks of new goods. Lovely images of pig, symbol of this Vietnamese Lunar New Year, appear on photograph frames, on lamps, clocks, wallets or cuddly toys, etc. Chocolate candy boxes with  “I LOVE YOU” words, hand-made paper roses and pretty ties on the top are sold like hot cakes.

* Personalize your gifts

If you are artfully minded, you may make your gifts unique among forest of Valentine gifts. Personalizing the Valentine gifts is becoming a popular trend. Many shops offers unique and fine products rather than sophisticated decoration.

Tinh Hoa Cream Cake Shop (at 68 Tran Cao Van Street) is the pioneer in making chocolate cakes as demands of the customers. “1 year ago, some customers in and out of Binh Dinh Province asked me to make chocolate cakes as their designs. I has taught myself and then created new cake moulds in various shapes of 12 animal designations (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare/Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep/Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig), of heart, of rose,etc.” said Ms. Mang Ngoc Diep, the shop owner. This new service is becoming favourite fashion of the youth because it can help them reveal their own love messages in tacful manner.

Others like to collect favourite Vietnamese and foreign love songs of their partners into a CD or VCD. Then, they offer the CD or VCD as unique gifts. All of video shops along Le Hong Phong Street, Phan Boi Chau Street, Tran Hung Dao Street, etc. offer service of recording selected songs with personal messages up to the customers’ requirement.

Valentine Day is an opportunity for lovers to be closer and closer, is a catalyst that naturally ignite  development of love fireworks. Each of the gifts bears its own love message. It may be very expensive or valueless but arouses great happiness and emotion of the receivers.

You probably find it easy to choose a Valentine gift but remember that ultimately important thing is your love, not the stuff that you give.

• Reported by Hai Yen
• Translated by To Uyen