February Insights: Black History Month celebrations, tattoos for all ages, and top V-Day gift & dessert ideas

Tattooed woman

Happy leap year! This lengthy February, Pinners are turning to Pinterest to celebrate Black History Month, find reverse proposals ideas, and discover the best Valentine’s Day gifts, decor, and desserts. Plus, we’re giving you some ink-spiration with the latest tattoo trends. Read on for more!

Celebrate Black History Month with Pinterest

Every year, there are more and more searches for Black History Month on Pinterest. In fact, searches for “Black History Month” increased 42% in February 2019 compared to February 2016. Searches include inspiring quotes, art, and activites for Black History month. Parents and teachers also turn to Pinterest to educate kids about this important history (there have been hundreds of millions of searches for lesson plans or classroom activities). Read on to see the top trends and Pins for Black History Month, and be sure to check out our newsroom post to see inspiring Black and African American creators on Pinterest.

 

Art of black jazz players and singers on wall

Ink-spiration 2020: Tattoo tips and top trends

There have been more than 2 billion searches for tattoo ideas on Pinterest, with “body art tattoos'' trending for all different age groups (+321% for those in their 20’s, +372% for those in their 30’s, +253% for those in their 40’s, +213% for those in their 50’s, and +145% for those in their 60’s), everyone can find art to inspire their next tattoo. 

Read on to find out tips and tricks for how to use the wealth of art on pinterest for your next tattoo idea, plus top trending tattoos by generation and gender.

  • Expand beyond tattoo images and draw inspiration from drawings too (badass tattoo drawings +1222%). 

  • Know you want a mandala design, but not sure what style or where on your body? Once you find a style you like, scroll down to see similar styles and different body placements. 

  • See a tattoo on a friend you like, but want to add your own personal twist? Snap a photo using Lens to see similar images.

  • Use more ideas on your tattoo board for unlimited inspiration, and send the Pins to your artist as a starting point. 

Once you get the tattoo of your dreams, use home feed controls to turn off tattoo recommendations — until you’re ready for your next one.

tattooed man

Overall trends

Faves for those who identify as women

Faves for those who identify as men

Gen Z Picks 

Millennial Picks

Baby boomer tattoos

Shop for Valentine’s Day gifts, decor and fashion plus new dessert ideas

This year, searches for Valentine’s Day gift ideas are outpacing searches for Valentine’s crafts or decor (even while these categories continue to rise too, see below). Since 2019, there have been 2.7X as many searches for Valentine’s Day gift ideas than there have been for Valentine’s Day decor and 2.2X as many searches for gifts than crafts. Check out our shoppable Gift Guide for top gift ideas for all the loves in your life!

Of course, Pinterest is popular for a multitude of uses come V-Day, including photo ideas for a Valentine mini session (+293%), new dessert recipes, and the best decor and outfits to shop. Read on for more!

Valentine's Dessert

Back to decor, searches for “Valentine’s Day decorations” up 2481%. rending products include:

Pinners are shopping for Valentine’s Day outfit inspiration, with searches for “Valentine’s Day Outfit” up 321%. You can find your fave brands on Pinterest to help you discover new fashion. See below for some trending shoppable Pins for this year’s latest Vday outfit styles: 

What’s Valentine’s Day without dessert? Searches for “Valentine’s Day dessert” are up 392%. Check out these top trending Valentine’s Day desserts to add something sweet to your life:

 

Women continue turning the tables on proposals

The trend of women proposing to men continues, as first shared in our December 2018 Newsletter. This month, we’ve seen an increase in a variety of searches for reverse or same sex proposals— a 245% increase in “proposal quotes for him,” a 121% increase in “lesbian proposal”, and a 42% increase in “boyfriend proposal ideas,” and a 31% increase in “proposal ideas for him.”

During the month of Valentine’s Day in 2019, there was a 113% increase in searches for “how to propose a boy” and a 217% increase in searches for “girl proposing boy” from Valentine’s Day the prior year. 

Chances are, there will be a lot more women dropping down on one knee for Valentine’s Day 2020!

proposal

Methodology: Unless indicated otherwise, trends are calculated using normalized searches from Dec ‘18 to Dec ‘19. Searches are restricted to demographic group when indicated.