Maine College of Art & Design student Kayla Brouillard shows off the Valentine’s cards she made for a Valentine’s pop-up shop. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Seventeen-year-olds Micki Palumbo and Alyx Gallagher were picking up bubble teas last week from Portland cafe Uncharted — the same place they were about a year ago, when Gallagher gave Palumbo a letter he wrote, asking her to be his Valentine.

It was the Baxter Academy students’ first Valentine’s Day as a couple. They went to Pai Men Miyake for dinner. “And we got boba, of course,” Gallagher said.

This year, he presented her with a stack of Pokemon cards when he asked her to be his Valentine. Though he’s leaving for a family vacation on the actual holiday — this Friday, Feb. 14 — they planned to celebrate beforehand with dinner at Portland Italian restaurant Via Vecchia.

“It’s never too eventful, but it’s fun. It’s sweet,” Palumbo said.

Micki Palumbo and Alyx Gallagher, both 17, at Uncharted in Portland, where he asked her to be his Valentine last year. Leslie Bridgers/Portland Press Herald

Pokemon aside, their date doesn’t sound much different than that of a couple from decades prior. Indeed, Gen Z Mainers interviewed around Portland last week said they’re carrying on many of the holiday’s longtime traditions, including giving cards, candy and flowers, as well as the more recent Galentine’s Day get-togethers of female friends, introduced by TV show “Parks & Recreation” in 2010 — before some members of this generation, now ages 13-28, were even born.

While there’s some anti-Valentine’s sentiment among members of the younger generations who reject it for being overly consumerist or harmful to those who are unattached, a survey by the National Retail Federation showed that 60% of people ages 18-24 planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year — compared to 56% of all adults, itself an uptick from recent years.

Valentine’s Day spending this year is expected to reach an all-time high of $27.5 billion, just edging out the previous record set in 2020, according to the retail trade association. While the most money is expended on significant others, Gen Z is the group most likely to get gifts for friends as well.

FOCUS ON FRIENDS

Friends and fellow University of Southern Maine students Leona Oak, left, and Destinie Vor. Leslie Bridgers/Portland Press Herald

Leona Oak, 19, of Westbrook, loves the tradition of giving out treats for Valentine’s Day and plans to make the TikTok-famous Dubai chocolate for her co-workers at Big Fin Poke.

“Valentine’s Day really is just a day to spread love,” she said.

Last week, she was still hoping she’d be asked to be someone’s Valentine, but if it didn’t happen, she said, she’d probably make dinner plans with friends that night.

Regardless, she could count on getting a gift from her friend and fellow University of Southern Maine student Destinie Vor, 18, who’d already bought cards and candy for friends and family and even had her nails painted with tiny hearts for the holiday.

About a third of all consumers buy gifts for their friends, the National Retail Federation said, but among 18- to 24-year-olds, it’s more than half.

Kit Kim-Dyer, 19, who lives in the Brunswick area, knows how lonely people can feel around Valentine’s Day. So, even though she’ll probably go on a movie date with her girlfriend that day, she’ll also make sure to spend time with friends, maybe bake them mochi cakes.

Juno Lallo, 19, of Portland, usually asks someone to be her Valentine, but she’s seeing a few different people right now, so she probably won’t do that this year. She sees the holiday as a time to recognize all types of love between people, not just the romantic kind.

“I’ll spend as much time as I can with the people I care about,” she said.

LOVE AND/OR MONEY

Dana Wilson, 26, is getting a couple’s massage with her partner for Valentine’s Day. Leslie Bridgers/Portland Press Herald

Dana Wilson, 26, has a partner for the first time in several years, and they’re going all-out for Valentine’s Day. They booked a room at a hotel with a spa and are getting a couple’s massage.

When they get back home, he’ll cook her dinner, and she’ll give him the “boo basket” she’s putting together — a Halloween gift trend that she’s adapting for Valentine’s Day — with candy, socks and maybe a sweater or jewelry.

“It’s not so much about the holiday itself but finally having someone I truly, deeply love to celebrate it with,” she said.

Wilson, who lives in the Augusta area, knows that some of her peers don’t like the capitalistic nature of Valentine’s Day, but, she said, they could still mark the occasion among like-minded people.

“You don’t have to spend money to celebrate the holiday, but it’s also really nice to do something special,” she said.

Maine College of Art & Design student Noah DeMeis, 22, said he and his girlfriend don’t feel pressured to do anything on Valentine’s Day because they celebrate their love every day. Plus, he knows it can have negative connotations for single people.

“It doesn’t make me feel good to celebrate something designed to make some people feel bad,” he said.

Maine college of Art & Design student Noah DeMeis with the dinosaurs he made for a Valentine’s pop-up shop. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Still, at the encouragement of his instructor, he did re-color two paper dinosaurs he made last semester in red and pink to sell at the Valentine’s pop-up shop MECA&D students were holding during the February First Friday Art Walk, one of a few events happening on campus in the week leading up to the holiday, along with a “Palentine’s” craft and movie night celebrating platonic love.

Other student artists took the various motivations of Valentine’s gift-givers to heart when crafting their creations. Camden Crocker, 22, made cards depicting two characters from his graphic novel playing video games. Adelle Smith, 20, put a princess and a knight on the cover of her cards but intentionally left the inside blank, so they could be filled with any sort of expression.

Although Kayla Brouillard, 22, who is in a long-distance relationship, said she considers Valentine’s Day “a pretty serious holiday,” the cards she made are more lighthearted and meant to appeal to a range of shoppers. There are illustrations of a seagull with a silly headband and of candy hearts, some with more traditional messages, like “I love you.”

But for that sector of the anti-Valentine’s crowd that still might appreciate receiving a card, there’s one that simply says: “I’d rather not.”