A pet portrait for Valentine's Day: a gift for the couple and their pet

Valentine's Day is usually a gift between two people, and for many couples a third member of the household is the dog or cat on the sofa between them. This page covers a royal portrait of that shared pet as a Valentine's gift: where the custom of valentines came from, why a sentimental gift suits a partner, how to choose a style or a matching pair for two pets, and how to keep lilies, chocolate and ribbon away from the animal on the day. For the steps every portrait gift shares, start with the guide to pet portrait gifts.

Where valentines came from

Valentine's Day falls on February 14 every year. The National Endowment for the Humanities, a United States federal agency that funds history research, says the holiday has roots in the ancient Roman fertility celebration of Lupercalia and in the early Christian feast day of St. Valentine. It was a popular folk celebration in Britain for many years. In the United States it caught on only in the 1840s, when businesses saw the chance to sell romantic cards.

The agency credits one woman with the American valentine. Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, created it in 1849. She was inspired by an English valentine she had received, edged with lace and flowers and with a tiny pocket for a message on the front. Her father was a stationer who planned to import valentines from England, but Esther designed her own from lace paper, coloured paper and paper flowers. Her brother, a travelling salesman for the family business, returned from a trip with 5,000 dollars in orders, against the 100 dollars her father had expected. The family started its own valentine factory.

Valentines shaped other cards too. The Victoria and Albert Museum says early Christmas cards were influenced by the valentines that were already popular, and copied their "paper lace" (embossed and pierced paper) and their layers that opened to reveal flowers.

Not every 19th century valentine was sweet. The agency says Americans also bought comic valentines, many of them mean-spirited. Shops advertised them under names such as "Fault Finders" and "Sharp Darts", next to lace valentines called "Gems of Love". In 1900 a store in Marshalltown, Iowa, advertised valentines "for those you love" and "for those you don't love so well".

A portrait of a couple's pet belongs to the first kind: a picture made to show affection, with the family's own animal at the centre.

Why a sentimental gift suits a partner

Gift research gives a reason to choose the portrait over a safer gift. Julian Givi and Jeff Galak of Carnegie Mellon University tested what romantic partners give each other. In one experiment, reported by the Society for Consumer Psychology in 2017, partners could give either a gift card to their loved one's favourite store or a sentimental gift, such as a photo of the couple with their initials carved in the frame. As in their other experiments with friends, recipients did not receive the sentimental gift as often as they wished.

The researchers traced the gap to fear. Givers were unsure a sentimental gift would be liked, and confident about a gift that matched known likes. In a later experiment, people who first wrote about a risk that had paid off chose the sentimental gift more often. Givi said his team was also finding that people feel closer to givers when they receive sentimental gifts.

A portrait of the pet a couple shares is sentimental by its nature. It shows the animal that is part of their daily life together, and it is a gift nobody else could give in the same form.

A surprise, or a choice made together

A partner is the one person whose home you already know well, which makes a surprise easier to get right. Research on gifts between spouses gives a second option.

In five experiments reported by Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2011, Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School and Frank Flynn of Stanford tested requested and unrequested gifts. In one, people imagined giving a birthday present to a spouse who had handed them a list of options, or being the spouse with the list. Recipients appreciated gifts from their own list more, and saw them as more thoughtful. Givers expected the opposite. A fourth study found that givers read a request most accurately when the recipient named one particular gift.

For a Valentine's portrait, that points to two good paths. If your partner has ever said they would love a picture of the dog or the cat, a surprise portrait answers that wish. If not, you can make the style choice together: show your partner the gallery, agree on a style for the pet, and keep only the finished portrait as the surprise. Either way, the gift is one your partner has asked for.

Choosing a style for a Valentine's portrait

Purrealism offers 15 portrait styles, nine from Indian royal courts and six from European history. For Valentine's Day, three approaches work well.

One pet, one portrait

For a couple with one pet, pick the style that fits the animal and the room where the couple spend their evenings. A cat that sleeps on the pillow may suit the Maharani. A dog that guards the door may suit the Rajput Warrior. The Purrspectives guide to choosing a royal portrait style covers coat colour and character in more depth.

Two pets, a matching pair

For a couple with two pets, a pair of portraits in related styles makes a set. The gallery shows two styles that make a natural pair:

A king and a queen for a dog and a cat is a simple idea that suits Valentine's Day. Two portraits of the same print size, in matching frames, can hang side by side. The framing and hanging guide covers how to space two frames on one wall.

A pet the couple adopted together

If the couple adopted their pet together, the portrait marks their shared history as well as the day. The page on adoption anniversary portraits covers how to find the exact date the pet came home.

Keeping the pet safe on Valentine's Day

The ASPCA says its poison control centre sees a rise in cases around February 14 every year, many involving chocolate or lilies. The flowers and sweets that come with Valentine's Day can harm the pet in the portrait.

Lilies. The ASPCA says all species of lily are potentially fatal to cats. For any home with a cat, choose a bouquet with no lilies. The Purrspectives list of gifts for cat lovers suggests cat-safe flowers.

Roses. The ASPCA warns that rose stems with thorns can hurt a pet that bites, steps on or swallows them, and can lead to an infection.

Chocolate. The ASPCA says all types of chocolate are potentially life-threatening to pets. Chocolate contains caffeine-like stimulants that can cause vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, seizures and a fast heart rate. It adds that the high fat in lighter chocolates can cause a life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas. The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association says unsweetened, dark, bittersweet and baking chocolate are the most toxic kinds.

Sugar-free sweets. The ASPCA says candies and gums sweetened with xylitol are unsafe, and even deadly, for dogs.

Wine and candles. The ASPCA says even a small amount of alcohol can make a pet seriously ill, and that pets can burn themselves or start a fire by knocking over a candle left burning.

Wrapping. The ASPCA says to gather up tape, ribbons, bows, wrapping paper, cellophane and balloons after presents are opened, because pets can choke on them or vomit.

If a pet eats something toxic, the ASPCA says to contact a veterinarian or its poison control line at once.

Giving the portrait on the day

February 14 falls on a Sunday in 2027 and on a Monday in 2028. The date never moves, so the gift can be planned well ahead.

Give the portrait at home, where the pet is. Hand it over first, before the flowers and chocolate come out, and with the pet in another room while the paper comes off. Then bring the pet in and hold the portrait beside it. The page on presenting a portrait gift covers wrapping and what to write in the card. If the portrait is a surprise for a partner you live with, the page on getting a full-size photo for a surprise portrait explains how to collect a good photo without them noticing.