Americans totally pig out on special days, and Valentine’s Day is a biggie. Together we will send 190 million valentines, not counting the 15 million love emails and texts. Along with that, we will buy and eventually eat 58 million POUNDS of chocolate, much of it in the 36 million heart-shaped boxes we give. What would that look like all in one pile?!
Wee ones: Caramels are usually rectangle-shaped. How many sides does a rectangle have?
Little kids: If you get 3 Valentine cards and 2 more boxes of chocolate than that, how many boxes do you get? Bonus: If your family sends out 10 cards, and 3 go to kids while 1 goes to your dog, how many cards go to grown-ups?
Big kids: If a box of 15 candies has twice as many chocolates as nut chews, how many nut chews are in there? Bonus: If you eat one of those 14 chocolates every 5 minutes starting at 2:10 pm, will you finish the whole box by 3:30 pm?
The sky’s the limit: 58 million pounds of chocolate for 320 million people isn’t THAT much. Is it a whole 1/4 pound per person?
Answers:
Wee ones: 4 sides.
Little kids: 5 boxes of chocolate. Bonus: 6 cards.
Big kids: 5 nut chews. Each chew has 2 chocolates with it, so they’re in sets of 3, and there are 5 sets of 3 in 15. Bonus: Yes! After eating one at 2:10 pm, you’ll take 13 x 5 = 65 minutes to eat the rest, bringing you to 3:15 pm.
The sky’s the limit: It’s not even close. 1/4 pound per person for 320 million people would come to a whopping 80 million pounds. By the way, 1/4 pound is just 4 ounces, or two regular-sized candy bars.
