Cupid’s stopwatch keeps ticking

Area shoppers scurry at the eleventh hour to pick up the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for their sweethearts.Love was in the air Sunday as hundreds of shoppers rushed around Newport Beach and Costa Mesa looking for that perfect gift to give their special someone.

“I’m trying to buy something last-minute that isn’t obvious I bought it last-minute,” joked Anthony Santa Maria as he rushed into South Coast Plaza to get a Valentine’s Day gift for his wife. When asked what type of gifts his wife usually prefers, Santa Maria responded “something expensive.”

The warm winter day brought lots of sunshine and shoppers to Fashion Island, where streams of people came to purchase all sorts of gifts for their lovers.

“I think the strangest Valentine’s Day gift I ever received was a George Foreman grill,” said Angela Byers as she shopped at Hallmark gift cards with her friend Jessica Foulait. “Uh, real nice honey. I kept the grill and dumped the guy.”

Foulait could relate.

“One year a guy gave me a pocket knife with my name and his name engraved into [it]. At the time, I thought it was cute, in a weird, dorky kind of way,” she said.

Engraved gifts are a big item this year, said Anthony Tao of Yours Only, a personal engraving store in Fashion Island. Glasses, candle holders, jewelry, cigarette cases are popular with those who like to buy engraved gifts.

Business has picked up around the Valentine’s Day holiday, but Tao hasn’t seen a busy rush like years past, he said.

“I think people in Newport Beach just tend to plan these things out a little more,” he said. “A lot of families have a mom who doesn’t work, [and] that gives her more time to take care of the shopping. When both members work, they often have to scramble around to take care of everything.”

Shopper John Forsyth said he had the perfect formula for getting the buying done right -- bring your girlfriend with you. On his arm Sunday was Erin Cunningham, holding a Limited bag with the new outfit he just bought her.

“You see a lot of guys around here picking out clothes for their girlfriends,” he said. “But if I tried to do something like that, it just wouldn’t work out for me. I can’t even pick out my own clothes.”20060213iuloakncWENDI KAMINSKI / DAILY PILOT(LA) Shoppers browse around Newport’s Fashion Island on Sunday. Some shoppers were scurrying to find Valentine’s Day gifts for their sweethearts.