Green Bay Reporter

If you typically buy sweets for your sweetie for Valentine’s Day, expect to dig deeper into your wallet.

The cost of chocolates has gone up heading into one of the busiest seasons of the year. But it’s not the candy that’ll cost you, it’s the packaging.

"They probably went up a dollar, two dollars on the boxes,” Mark Beerntsen, owner of Beerntsen’s Candies, told Fox11. “Like I said, the candy we've held the same prices we've had at the last year, $18.95 a pound. The other $9, $10 that's the cost of the box." 

Americans typically spend $1.8 billion on candy for Valentine’s Day, according to fortunly.com. 

The tradition of giving chocolates is not as old as the holiday itself. The origins of candy-giving date to the mid-1800s, when Richard Cadbury, a British chocolatier, started packaging it in elaborate boxes and marketing it for the celebration of love, according to history.com. 

That cost increase is across the board, whether you go for the heart-shaped box or the standby rectangular one.

Beerntsen’s has locations in Green Bay and Manitowoc.

Box aside, Beerntsen said he hasn't raised the prices of chocolate in their cases in over a year. 

Store owners also suggest you get the chocolates early, if possible, as certain varieties might sell out as the love-centric holiday approaches.

If you don’t want to pay for the box, buying loose candies is an option at many stores.