Valentine's Day gets knocked for being a manufactured holiday, but that's hardly stopping Americans from spending big bucks to celebrate it. While it's not as big as Black Friday or the December holiday rush, February 14th is a huge retail and e-commerce event, and a boost for stores and shipping companies early in the calendar year. With the help of the National Retail Federation, UPS and the American Express Spending & Saving Tracker survey, we've brought you Valentine's Day by the numbers.

$18.6 billion - How much U.S. consumers are expected to spend overall on Valentine's gifts

$4.4 billion - Is spent on diamonds, gold and silver; jewelry is the big-ticket item for gift-givers

$1.9 billion - Goes to flowers $1.6 billion - Dedicated to candy; 51% of those surveyed give sweets to their loved ones $1.5 billion - Total spent on gift cards; about 15% of gift-givers are buying them this year $815 million - Total Americans plan to spend on their pets

95 million - Number of flowers UPS ships for Valentine's Day, with the bulk coming from Latin America on UPS temperature-controlled aircraft from Ecuador and Colombia, big rose-growing countries

6 million - People are planning to make or to receive a proposal on Feb. 14; that number is up from 4 million in 2012 3,000 - Tons of flowers move through a massive refrigerated warehouse in Miami that UPS has set up to keep flowers fresh $130.97 - What the average U.S. consumer plans to spend on candy, cards, gifts and more, this year up from $126.03 last year

130 - Number of flight segments UPS adds to accommodate the spike in shipping due to lovebirds

$88.78 - How much the average woman is spending on Valentine's Day, which is less than half of what men are estimated to spend (an average of $175.61 on jewelry, flowers, a romantic evening out)

40.7% - Of smartphone owners are estimated to have used their handhelds to shop for gifts

26.3% - Of Valentine's gifts are found online, up from 19.3% last year

29% - Of those surveyed said they'd post sweet nothings on Facebook

7% - We saved the least romantic for last. This is the number of consumers who in a survey said they send their Valentine's message via Twitter in 140 characters or less.