By GREG WRIGHT
Gannett News Service
Forget all the mushy talk about chocolates, flowers and Cupids.
Shopping for Valentine's Day can be hell.
Just ask Travis Fox, 18, a freshman at Bacone College in Oklahoma's Cherokee Indian country who is agonizing over what to buy his sweetheart.
"It's hard to do something original and still have a good message," Fox said. "Like everything has been played out."
Fox said he's going to consult the Internet for gift ideas. With a virtual cornucopia of Web sites offering one-of-a-kind gift ideas, he might find himself with too many choices about what to get his girlfriend.
Move over tired, old Teddy Bears. Think gifts such as a $99 pair of pewter glass Romeo and Juliet goblets from Perfect Present Picker
(www.presentpicker.com)
or a getaway weekend at the romantic Claremont Spa in the San Francisco Bay area
(www.claremnt.com).
And for those who are long on romance and short on cash, the Internet offers a variety of freebies, said Jeff Grossman, co-founder of
WebBuyingGuide.com
(www.webbuyingguide.com).
You can send free online Valentine's Day cards through American Greetings
(www.americangreetings.com),
a com-puter-generated kiss through
VirtualKiss.com
(www.virtualkiss. com) or an anonymous love note through
SecretAdmirer.com
(www.secretadmirer.com).
You also might send a loved one a card postmarked from a town with a romantic name. Try
www.loveland.org/valentine
to mail cards from Loveland, Co., or
www.heartcity.com
to mail one from Valentine, Neb.
The folks at Perfect Present Picker say it's important to choose a gift that's appropriate for your relationship with your Valentine — ranging from puppy love to clandestine affairs.
Other Web sites that offer Valentine's advice include Lovingyou. com
(www.lovingyou.com),
Time for Two
(www.timefortwo.com)
and
Valentines.com
(www.valentines.com).
WebBuyingGuide's Grossman said it's a good idea to shop early, even though many e-tailers offer overnight delivery. "There is a lot at stake for this holiday," he said.
WebBuyingGuide offers a list of Valentine's Day retailers that have good delivery track records, he said.
