Happy Sweetheart Day!

Forget Valentines Day, in our house we celebrate Sweetheart Day (just kidding, I love Valentines Day)!   However, February 13th is a pretty special day around here.  It was on this day 11 years ago that Ryan proposed with a very special box of Sweethearts!
I thought it would be fun to look up some Sweetheart facts to go along with our theme for the day!

NECCO® manufactures eight billion Sweethearts® Conversation Hearts each year, the majority of which are sold during the six-week period between January 1 and Valentine’s Day; making Sweethearts the #1 selling non-chocolate Valentine’s Day candy.   Since the turn of the 20th century, more than 250 billion Sweethearts have rolled off the NECCO production lines. Sweethearts Conversation Hearts, originally called Motto Hearts, were created in 1866 by Daniel Chase, brother of NECCO founder, Oliver Chase.  Before World War I, Sweethearts Conversation Hearts were made in various shapes such as postcards, watches, baseballs or horseshoes, and the hearts were embossed with curlicues. If you placed the annual production of Sweethearts Conversation Hearts back to back across the United States they would stretch from New York to Los Angeles and back again.  That equals 5,924 miles! Got a special message for your sweetheart?  NECCO can custom imprint Sweethearts Conversation Hearts, if you’re willing to buy a full production run – approximately 3,500 pounds of the six-flavored candies or 1.6 million individual hearts. Each year, JEOPARDY! includes a Sweethearts Conversation Hearts trivia question on its show in celebration of Valentine’s Day. NECCO introduces 10 new Sweethearts Conversation Hearts sayings each year.  In 2005, NECCO introduced sayings inspired by the game of love including “#1 Fan,” “Fit for Love,” and “Dream Team.”  In 2006, the new Sweethearts sayings were inspired by the comforts of home including “Sweet Home,” ”Home Soon,” and “Call Home.”  This year, NECCO will introduce 10 new sayings that pay tribute to pet-loving ways with sayings that include “Cool Cat,” “Puppy Love,” “Love Bird,” and “My Pet.” According to Ryan, there is an average of just one "Marry Me" Sweetheart  per box, which means he went through like 20 boxes and several bags to find enough "Marry Me" hearts to fill an entire box!