Is National I Love You Day a public holiday?

No. It is an unofficial social-media-born observance, not a federal or public holiday, so banks, schools, and offices stay open.

How is it different from Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day on February 14 centers on romance. National I Love You Day deliberately covers all kinds of love, including friends, family, and anyone meaningful.

Is it the same as P.S. I Love You Day?

No. P.S. I Love You Day falls on the second Friday in February and is a suicide-prevention and anti-bullying campaign where people wear purple. It is a separate observance with a different cause and date.

Who started National I Love You Day?

It traces to a 2015 marketing hashtag for the Philippine film Everyday I Love You, which trended worldwide. No individual founder or formal record has been identified.

Who usually says 'I love you' first?

Research consistently finds men tend to say it first, by roughly three to one, and tend to think about saying it weeks earlier than women.

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National I Love You Day

An appreciation day on October 14 encouraging people to say I love you to partners, family, friends, and anyone meaningful, not just romantic love.

Wednesday

October 2026

Last updated March 18, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar Team

Have an update or spot an error?

YEARLY DATEOctober 14

OBSERVED INUnited States

CATEGORYRelationships

SUBCATEGORYRomance

ORIGIN

Media Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY

Star Cinema

FIRST OBSERVED

2015

“The name was a movie hashtag before it was a holiday.

HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A movie hashtag that outlived its movie

National I Love You Day grew out of marketing for the 2015 Philippine romance Everyday I Love You, whose hashtag #NATIONALILOVEYOUDAY trended worldwide. The theme detached from the film and settled on an annual October 14 date with no documented basis.

INTRO

How a rom-com hashtag pulled in Star Wars and became a holiday

PHOTO

The day was a marketing hashtag before anyone called it a holiday. In October 2015, a Philippine studio pushed the tag #NATIONALILOVEYOUDAY to sell a romance film. The phrase escaped the campaign almost immediately.

Within days it had jumped continents. The tag trended in a record 62 countries, and accounts that had nothing to do with the movie piled on. Star Wars joined. So did Harry Styles, MTV, and Antonio Banderas.

What stuck was not the film. It was the prompt: say the three words, and not only to the person you are dating. National I Love You Day now lands every October 14 as a nudge to tell parents, friends, and old roommates the thing people tend to leave unsaid.

ORIGINS

I Love You Day history

INTRODUCTION

Researchers keep finding the same odd pattern in who says it first. The popular assumption is that women lead with love and men hold back. The data says the opposite.

CHAPTER 01

Who actually says it first

In a 2011 study, psychologists Harrison and Shortall found that men declare love first at about a three-to-one rate. A separate 2011 study by Ackerman, Griskevicius, and Li found men start contemplating the confession roughly 42 days sooner than women, weeks before they say anything out loud.

A larger international study confirmed it. In 2022, Dr. Christopher Watkins of Abertay University surveyed more than 3,000 people across seven nations and saw the male-first pattern in six of them.

CHAPTER 02

Why the words carry weight

That research points to a quieter truth the day runs on. People feel love long before they voice it, and many never close the gap at all.

The sentiment sits unspoken: with a parent, an old friend, a sibling you assume already knows. National I Love You Day exists to make a person say it on an ordinary Tuesday, out loud, to someone who is not waiting for a card.

CHAPTER 03

The hashtag that became a date

The observance itself has a thinner paper trail. It traces to the 2015 Philippine film Everyday I Love You, a Star Cinema release whose promotional hashtag #NATIONALILOVEYOUDAY went global. The campaign sold tickets, but the slogan had a longer life than the movie.

No founder filed it, and no group registered it. Why it settled on October 14 rather than the late-October date the hashtag actually trended is not documented. The day exists the way a lot of internet observances do: a phrase that found a date and stuck.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National I Love You Day

HEALTH

The benefit reaches the speaker, not just the listener.

Research links spoken affection, not the private feeling, to lower stress hormones, lower blood pressure, and stronger immunity. The benefit reaches the person saying it as much as the person hearing it.

SCOPE

It is not Valentine's Day

The day deliberately stretches love past romance to friends, family, and anyone who matters. That wider aim is the whole point, and it is what sets the date apart from the couples-only holidays around it.

CONNECTION

One voice can lift a whole relationship

A 2026 study found a relationship's total amount of affectionate communication predicts satisfaction and trust more than whether both partners express it equally. One consistent communicator can raise the floor for both people.

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about National I Love You Day

People wait about three months

In the 2022 international study, people on average did not say it for roughly three to four months into a relationship. Asked when it should happen, participants landed on two to three months as the right window.

Affection shows up in your bloodstream

Floyd's work points to a mechanism: people with more affection in their lives release more oxytocin during moments of stress than people with little. The hormone appears to blunt the body's stress reaction.

An affectionate letter beat meditation

In Kory Floyd's research, sitting down to write an affectionate letter returned people's stress levels to normal faster than meditation, journaling, or simply reflecting on a calm scene.

Total affection matters more than balance

A 2026 study found a couple's overall amount of affectionate communication predicts satisfaction better than whether both partners express it equally. One steady communicator helps both people.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

How to Celebrate National I Love You Day

Tell someone why

Add the specific reason after the words, not just the phrase itself. Naming what you appreciate makes the sentiment land as something real rather than a reflex.

Say it to someone who is not your partner

Call a parent, a sibling, or an old friend and say the words plainly. The day's entire premise is that love is not only romantic.

Write an affectionate letter

Put it on paper for one person you appreciate. In one study, writing an affectionate letter lowered stress faster than meditation or journaling.

Make the call you keep postponing

Pick the person you mean to reach out to and never do. A short voice message counts more than a perfect one.

Say it first

Be the one who declares it instead of waiting to hear it back. Going first takes the pressure off the other person to guess where you stand.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National I Love You?

1 / 6

What was #NATIONALILOVEYOUDAY originally created to promote?

Answer

It is observed every year on October 14 in the United States. No source documents why that exact date was chosen.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

7sources

3primary records

5independently dated

Primary records

Abertay University2022

International research reveals men say 'I love you' first

Dr. Christopher Watkins's seven-nation study on who confesses love first and how long couples wait.

View source

Arizona State University News

Study: Expressing love can improve your health

Kory Floyd's finding that voicing affection lowers stress hormones and blood pressure for speaker and listener.

View source

Marist University2024

Alumna Starts National Movement with 'P.S. I Love You Day'

Profile of P.S. I Love You Day, a separate February suicide-prevention observance founded by Brooke DiPalma.

View source

Additional coverage

Wikipedia

Everyday I Love You (film)

The 2015 Star Cinema film whose hashtag #NATIONALILOVEYOUDAY trended in 62 countries with 3 million-plus tweets.

View source

Psychology Today2016-03

Who Says 'I Love You' First (and Why)?

Two 2011 studies showing men declare love first about three to one and contemplate it 42 days sooner.

View source

International Business Times2022-10-14

National I Love You Day: History Of The Occasion

Newsroom feature on the October 14 day, its film-hashtag roots, and its love-beyond-romance framing.

View source

phys.org2026-01

One affectionate communicator can help both partners feel relationship satisfaction

Study finding that total affectionate communication predicts satisfaction more than equal expression.

View source

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