Women don't want sexy underwear for Valentine's Day - just a kiss goodbye on the way to work and an unprompted 'I love you', research has found. A detailed study carried out among 5,000 adults found most would prefer a simple kiss goodbye rather than lingerie.
In fact as many as two thirds of women admitted they were 'turned off' by receiving underwear as a gift.
The survey also revealed that almost as many as one in five women have never been bought flowers by their partner.
The research, commissioned by AXA as part of their '
Little Things Mean A Lot' campaign, found one in ten men only buy gifts on Valentines because it's expected of them.
Psychologist Donna Dawson commented on the research:
"The statistics reveal that many of the little things that mean a lot to both men and women in a relationship are free.
''This means that we have no excuse for not hitting the mark this Valentine's Day, as it isn't expensive gifts that impress the most, but affectionate and caring gestures.
"Women's natures are constructed so as to make relationships and communication their top priorities, so hearing and receiving messages of affection will definitely strike a chord with them.
''Men, on the other hand, prefer actions to words, and eating a meal (especially one made for him) reminds him of being cared for and loved.
''Although there are differences between the sexes, what they share in common is even greater - the need to experience little, reassuring gestures of affection, given freely and thoughtfully, every day of their lives."
The research also found men are best advised to stick to roses over lingerie when it comes to Valentine's gifts - while 43% of men think buying lingerie for a partner is important, only 34% of women share the sentiment.
Nearly double the amount of women would rate a bunch of flowers higher (65%), even though 17% confess they have never been bought flowers by their partner.
Men may also want to consider ditching the traditional Valentine's card this year, as it appears a simple text will do.
Women value flirtatious texts more than men (63% vs 58%) and a playful text message (10th place) rates higher on the female checklist than a written love note (13th place).
Conversely, the results have proven the theory that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach - over four in five men (84%) value going out for dinner highly (2nd place) and nearly three quarters (73%) place having a meal cooked for them as a little thing that means a lot.
Being made breakfast in bed narrowly missed out on featuring in the male shortlist (12th place) with almost half of the men questioned appreciating it.
TOP TEN LITTLE THINGS THAT MEAN A LOT IN A RELATIONSHIP
MEN
Goodbye kiss in the morning
Going out for dinner
Unprompted declaration of love
Date night
Romantic weekend away
Romantic walk
Having your favourite meal cooked
for you
Being bought a gift for no reason
Flirtatious text or phone messages
Being bought flowers
WOMEN
Goodbye kiss in the morning
Unprompted declaration of love
Date night
Going out for dinner
Romantic walk
Being bought a gift for no reason
Romantic weekend away
Having your favourite meal cooked
for you
Being bought flowers
Flirtatious text or phone messages
