Valentine's Day falls on February 14th every year. It's about celebrating a day of love with your partner, buying them presents and generally acknowledging their romantic presence in your life.
Since Club Penguin host parties and events for most other widely celebrated days of the year -- Halloween, the Holidays and (up until 2013) Easter -- it begs the question, do they ever celebrate Valentine's Day?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: They did. Once.
Today, I will be telling you about the first and last time Club Penguin celebrated Valentine's Day. If you follow me on Twitter, chances are you've seen this tweet that I posted today:
#HappyValentinesDay! On this day 10 years ago, Club Penguin held their first (and last) Valentine's Day Celebration pic.twitter.com/yMXyV4Oy9p— Dino Boy7 (@Dino_Boy7) February 14, 2016
But let's dig a little deeper than a simple screenshot. What exactly was the celebration like and why did it stop? Welcome to the eighth instalment of Club Penguin History.
It is speculated that Club Penguin held their "Valentine's Day Celebration" for one day only on February 14th, 2006, but a few other sources claim it was held from the 13th through to the 15th. As there is such little information known about the event as it was not officially a party, rather a small occasion.
Where did it all begin?
On Thursday, February 9th, 2006, Billybob, the now-retired owner of Club penguin made a post on the What's New blog entitled "More Updates Coming!" in which he revealed some information about new features that would be making an appearance in the coming weeks. At the bottom of the post, he mentioned that a Valentine's Day occasion will be happening, stating the following:
We will have some special decorations up for valentines day, but it won't be an official party like the luau. We decided to spend more time on all this other stuff instead so we hope you understand.
This confirms that the idea for the celebration was pre-conceived, but was not an actual party like the Winter Luau (as per Billybob's example), which is why it is not mentioned in the 2005-2006 Yearbook.
What was it like?
The Coffee Shop, Night Club and Town were decorated with pink balloons and a "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY" on the Coffee Shop window.
It was previously rumoured that two free items were given out during the Valentine's celebration: the Red Sunglasses and Black Bowtie - but this was proven to be false, despite stating that they were given out in the The Ultimate Guide to Club Penguin Volume 1... strange. In an email sent to Club Penguin Support querying about the party, more specifically the items, they responded with:
Please know that seeing how this was a short and small party, no free items were given away.
It was held in the Night Club, Town and Coffee Shop but the only remaining images are from the Night Club. Here is an image taken in the Night Club from an old Club Penguin blogger, sporting the Black Toque, Black Sunglasses and Bowtie, and standing next to the Penguin Band whilst they were playing:
In 2014, Polo Field, during a "Field Friday" event, brought back the party, by reallocating the room SWF to change it to that of the Valentine's Celebration in 2006:
Here is a GIF of what the Penguin Band's performance would've looked like:
