Ahead of St Valentine’s Day, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (Thursday 13 February 2025) calculated the changing cost of romance using the prices of some of the items we collect as part of our Consumer Price Index basket. These prices form part of the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation in Ireland.
Our analysis has found that the cost of a typical St Valentine’s Day gift or night out has increased over the last five years, based on a comparison of prices collected in February 2020 and December 2024 (See Editor’s Note below).
If you are looking to make a romantic gesture tomorrow, it will be more expensive this year than it was five years ago.
While a bottle of wine has gone up by just 0.9% over that period, a box of chocolates has risen by 1.6% and a bunch of flowers is now 12.1% higher.
For those planning on treating someone special to a night out and are thinking of going for a meal, or making a trip to the cinema or theatre, it’s going to set you back significantly more this year than five years ago.
If you are going to splash out on a meal in a restaurant, it’s worth noting that these costs have risen by 30.7% over the 58-month period. A trip to the cinema is up 3.1% and attending a theatre performance has risen by 14.6%.
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Editor's Note
December 2024 is the most up to date CPI data available, as January 2025 information will be published on 20 February 2025.
The change in prices for each product is calculated from their price indices. The price index tracks a wide range of prices for a variety of items within a product group every month. All of these items are part of the CPI, which measure inflation over time.