The reinvention of Saint Valentine's Day in the 1840s has been traced by Leigh Eric Schmidt. As a writer in Graham's American Monthly observed in 1849, "Saint Valentine's Day... is becoming, nay it has become, a national holyday." In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland (1828-1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father operated a large book and stationery store, but Howland took her inspiration from an English valentine she had received, so clearly the practice of sending Valentine's cards had existed in England before it became popular in North America. The English practice of sending Valentine's cards appears in Elizabeth Gaskell's Mr. Harrison's Confessions (published 1851). Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary." The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The mid-nineteenth century Valentine's Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialisation

In Chinese culture, there is an observance older than Valentines Day related to lovers. It is called "The Night of Sevens" . According to the legend, the Cowherd star and the Weaver Maid star are normally separated by the milky way (river) but are allowed to meet by crossing it on the 7th day of the 7th month of the Chinese calendar.

An observance on the same day in Korea is called Chilseok, but its association with romance has long faded.

In Japan, a slightly different version is called Tanabata, which is said to mean "a weaver for a god" is celebrated, on July 7 on the Gregorian calendar. However, it is never regarded that the celebration is even remotely related with the St. Valentine's Day or lovers giving gifts to each other.

In Iranian culture, Sepandarmazgan is a day for love, which is on 29 Bahman in the Jalali solar calendar of Iran. The corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar is February 17. Valentine's day is currently celebrated in Iran despite some restrictions made by government; young Iranian boys and girls are seen on this day going out and buying gifts and celebrating.

In Saudi Arabia in 2008, religious police banned the sale of all Valentine's Day items, telling shop workers to remove any red items, as the day is considered an un-Islamic holiday. This ban created a black market of roses and wrapping paper.