Sending Smiles ~

Our designers always love Sunflower season because let's face it, they are such a happy flower, right? Check out these new designs using local sunflowers. Our best selling Sunflower/Summer design is   Sunny Shores . This design just screams summer. Deep blue delphinium, vibrantly yellow roses, light blue hydrangea, yellow alstromeria, beachy grasses and fresh locally grown sunflowers are arranged in a clear glass grace vase with real sea shells on the bottom. This design has been our best seller on our website at   www.sendingsmiles.com  We've sold more  Sunny Shores  on our website than any other new design so far this July but a close second is our new and updated  Sunny's Charm . This design is super affordable at only $34.99 and includes sweet baby's breath, white daisies and 3 gorgeous sunflowers arranged in the cutest little mason jar tied with a raffia bow. not only are local sunflowers pretty because because they are grown locally, they have a very...

  Our Retail Shop is Back Open for In Store Shopping Our retail shop is back open for in store shopping!! Yay! We have finally re-opened our retail store to in-store shopping after more than 5 months of doing Curbside Pick and Delivery Only. It's felt good to welcome folks back into our pretty little store. During the Pandemic, we brought in tons of new items which we highlighted mostly on our website but now you can see them in person. We have majorly expanded our line of food items to include things such as spice rubs and hot sauces, along with healthy snacks such as veggie chips and Super Food cookies. During the pandemic folks have been wanting to send gifts that pamper and support and so we have brought in more items such as spa sets, soaps and lotions, more healing crystals and even items such as sanitizing sprays and face masks. Many of these items have been added as either their own product on our website available for delivery or as "add on" items that can make y...

Intimate Weddings During Covid-19 ~ What a mess this year has been for couples trying to have a beautiful wedding here in New Jersey. Even my own cousin was affected, changing their date twice and moving locations to accommodate an outdoor setting. Most, if not all our  weddings  for 2020 have been either postponed to 2021 or are being downsized. A few are holding smaller  intimate weddings  for family and friends in their back yards and next year will hold the larger receptions with a vow renewal for family and friends. Here in NJ, we are allowed outdoor events with up to 250 guests but most of our weddings are seem to be less than 100 people. Social distancing and masks will be the norm with couples providing both sanitizer and mask. A few of our brides have even asked for a for floral arrangement for the Mask Table. Who thought that we would need that? Yikes!!  If you are having to have your wedding during this time, we do have a few suggestions for you....

With many folks working from home during this epidemic (go away bad virus) it's been so nice to see companies thanking their staff. We always love making gift baskets and we really had fun making these for one of our corporate accounts. These snack baskets were delivered all over our local area and included fun and healthy snack food like nuts, chips, cookies and chocolate. We event tucked in an inspiration stone, chapstick and a candle. We especially loved the card message that read "And you don't even need to share with your co-workers". Is there someone out there working hard at home for your company? Why not show your appreciation with a delivery of fresh flowers, food or even a plant? We're here to help with No Contact Delivery 7 days a week!!

Fresh Flowers Have Arrived! The world has gone a bit crazy but  flowers  spreading good cheer still remains the same. The Governor has said that we are allowed to continue doing No-Contact flower deliveries and that's what we intend to do. Our customers have been so grateful that we are able to  send  their loved ones a pretty bouquet on their birthday or let them know that someone is thinking of them while they are sick or grieving.  Look at all these gorgeous flowers that just arrived. Here's a list of what just came in!! Rainbow Spray Roses Purple Statice Cremone and Spider Mums in all colors Gorgeous Full Size Carnations Rainbow Alstroemeria Pom Pon Daisies Hypericum Berries Blue Thistle Dianthus Flowers Solidago Asters Full Size Roses Tulips Just name a few! Isn't that amazing? We are also grateful to all our wholesalers and suppliers for all their help getting this product to our shop during this difficult time. Do you know someone ...

Why are flowers more expensive on Valentine’s Day ? Many people are getting flowers for their loved ones for Valentine's Day, but they may wonder why the price tag on them is suddenly increased. Here are 4 reasons to help explain the reason! 1. Roses need to grow quicker It takes 14 weeks to grow a rose. If you do the math you will soon realize that there aren’t 14 weeks between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. The timescale between those two peaks isn’t big enough for the roses to grow at their natural pace. To encourage the flowers to grow, the flowers need extra heat and light which costs more money! 2 The Roses have to be cut quicker More demand for red roses equals less time to cut all the roses . This means that the flowers have to be cut in a very small window of time. To keep up with the demand growers need to invest in extra labor and overtime, which of course costs money! 3 More Roses have to be transported Because everyone wants their roses at the same ti...

Valentine's Day is February 14th - See what we have to offer this year Choosing a Valentine's Day gift can be a bit confusing because there are so many options. Our specialty is being able to deliver the gift for you. Imagine their face when a gift is delivered right to the job!! Although  Red Roses  is the traditional gift of love during the Valentine's Day holiday, we offer so many other options for you. Although red roses can get pretty pricey during the month of February, you are in luck because we have many options to choose from that won't break the bank. Here's just a few to help you decide!! We have to start off with a dozen (12) long stem red roses because it is tradition. These gorgeous blooms are going to be arranged in a 10" tall red glass keepsake vase this year. Although they are one of our highest priced items at $124.99, they are also one of the most dramatic designs we will be delivering. These are called our Valentine's Day Red R...

January ~ a time for social and corporate events? You bet! You would think that during the month of January, there would not be too many corporate or social events happening but it is the furthest from the truth. We have been hard at work creating flower centerpiece after flower centerpiece. This week has had us creating floral centerpieces for Executive Board Meetings (like the photo below) and other corporate events. Believe it or not we even have an order for Holiday themed c enterpieces . Why, you might ask? Because if you are in the restaurant business and you want to throw a holiday party for your staff, you certainly can't do it in December, so January is the perfect time!  Add a non-profit installation dinner, a 100th birthday party and a few other events and you have a very busy schedule of parties. Our flower designing staff have been hard at working making flower centerpieces of all sizes, shapes and colors. With the centerpiece designs below, the client reque...

THE NEWEST ADDITION TO OUR PRINCETON COLLECTION ALEXANDER The newest Addition to Our  Princeton Collection   Alexander  ~ we always love creating new flower arrangement designs but sometimes it can be hard to come up with a name. Not when we created this new design being added to our Selection called the Princeton Collection. Most of the designs in this collection have somewhat of an Orange and Black Theme because they are inspired by Princeton University. You may not be aware that we not only deliver to the University for the students, faculty and employees but the University is a wonderful client for us as well. We have provided many, many floral and balloon decor events for them over the last 30 years. It's always black and orange season when Princeton University is in session! This new design was inspired by and named after one of the most gorgeous buildings on the Campus Called Alexander Hall. We love this photo we found online because it truly shows how gorgeo...

MEMORIAL LUNCHEON AND DINNER FLOWERS ~ A TREND IN FUNERALS Memorial luncheon and dinner flowers are the latest trend in funerals allowing people a chance to grieve and celebrate a life well lived.  How like the flower business to go from one blog post that talks about wedding trends to sympathy trends. Although honoring the life of a loved one during wakes and viewings is important, many families are opting to host larger events such as luncheons and dinners. For example, the pieces below are for a luncheon being held in honor or a wonderful man who spent many years of his life as an artist. The family believes he really would have enjoyed both the vibrant tones and the unique blooms. 4 of these designs shown below will be for small cocktail tables and include exotic flowers such as bird of paradise, protea and orchids. The host venue is going to be Grounds for Sculpture out in Hamilton/Trenton. If you have never been there, it's an amazing setting and these flowers will re...

July 1st is just around the corner and with the change of the month comes the brand new "American Grown Flower Month". In 2017, congress passed a resolution declaring July " American Grown Flowers Month", recognizing the economic and cultural impact of America's cut flower and greens farmers. To help spread this important recognition and awareness, Certified American Grown is working with farmers and retailers across the country to help consumers identify and celebrate our homegrown blooms all month long! Will you celebrate July with American Grown Flowers for your home? We hope so! 

When sending flowers as a gift, we'll sometimes ask you if you would like for us to arrange the flowers or perhaps wrap them. It might sound confusing but it's just the difference between having us provide a "container" for the floral gift or wrapping the bouquet so that the person receiving the flowers can add them to their own vase. Even if the bouquet is just wrapped in pretty paper, it's still arranged in a way that makes it easy to put right into a vase. If you know the recipient would like to "arrange" their own flowers, we can wrap the flowers presentation style and they can have fun designing their own creations! Below is an example of a hand tied bouquet of fresh flowers. When sending flowers to a private home, this might be the way to go as many folks have plenty of vases to choose from in their kitchen cabinets. This also allows us to put as much money as possible into the value of the flowers.  When sending a gift to a nursing home, hosp...

You can't be located near a prestigious University like Princeton without adding a few things to your website for Students and Faculty. With PU everything is about the colors black and orange and so we had to create at least a few designs that have the Princeton aesthetic! Check out our whole Princeton collection Here !

It's that time of year again ~ the holiday shopping season has begun and judging by the mall parking lots on Black Friday, it's going to be a busy one. Have you considered where you shop ? If you haven't you should. Here's a few stats to show how you can play an important role in your community by shopping small independently owned businesses!  I know you've heard it before but shopping at locally owned small businesses really can make a difference in your community. You might ask how and this photo below shows the story. Consider a small business like mine. When I need to get something printed, I used my local printer Ed at Document Depot. When I need to get one of my 4 delivery vans fixed, I use a local garage ~ Fowlers in Princeton - Gary is the best! When I buy my yummy chapsticks that we give out to our customers, I use Jim at Browndog Marketing. Each of the business has employees who work for them, so my purchases help keep people employed. So you get the...

Wedding Season 2018 is here and the trends are emerging. Blush tones, organic bouquets with lots of loose foliage are in demand. Flowers such as Garden Roses, Hydrangea, Sweet Pea and Eucalyptus are helping to create dream bouquets. Flower budgets appear to be on the rise as couples want their special designs to be created by a professionals and the trend to stay away from anything DIY (do it yourself) helps couples enjoying the week leading up to their wedding instead of processing flowers and stressing over flower design and set up. We will post more trends as the year goes on! To see some of our past designs be sure to check out our wedding website !

Gone are the days of tightly compacted flower bouquets for the bride and her maids. Today's couples are looking for organic, messy bouquets and we are happy to comply.  Soft blushes such as light beige, pale pink and very soft peaches seem to be what most bride's are asking for. I admit that I might miss the vibrant colors of Spring Weddings past but blush and ivory tones are timeless, thus they never go out of style.  Cut succulents and garden variety flowers in bouquets look formal but unplanned. You can almost imagine a designer walking around a garden clippers in hand cutting gorgeous flowers and arranging them into these stunning bouquets .  When working with your florist it's important to give them a creative freedom to look for the most gorgeous flowers available in your colors and season. The bouquet above is a case in point. At least three elements used where found at the last minute to round out the bouquet and finish the look - resulting in ...

We love red roses but let's face it, they are very expensive during the Valentine's Day season. Although  we do NOT raise our prices for the holiday, the rose quality is not as good as other times of the year so here are a few other options we think they will love! Take our Classic English Blooms - this design is Stunning with a capital S! The floral design is lush, elegant and full. Blue hydrangea, pink lilies and purple stock arranged in a 12" tall classic ming vase. Another sweet design and very affordable is our Puffy Heart Mug filled with pink roses, white daisies and lavender waxflowers and white monte casino accents. Add a teddy bear and a balloon and you have a adorable gift that will cost you 1/2 of what a dozen red roses would be.  Last but not least, instead of sending traditional roses, why not send an amazing "heart" anthurium plant garden? This "Wow" gift is not only unique but long lasting. Choose between sending a set of 2 or j...

I admit that Cascade Bridal Bouquets have not made the big comeback that I expected a few years ago but every now and then we get to create one. Last weekend we were able to design this beauty with a topical theme for our bride Angela. The story behind this bouquet (and there is always a story behind a bridal bouquet) is that Angela and her true love Keehan are actually getting married in the Bahamas. With lots of family, friends and fellow church members, they felt compelled to have a ceremony in New Jersey, hence the tropical theme. Angela's bridal bouquet was created by our Lead Floral Stylist Alanna and consisted of Starfighter lilies, dendrobium orchids, bird of paradise, mini calla lilies flowers along with lily grass, spiral and silver dollar  eucalytpus, ruscus and podocarpus foliages! The bouquet turned out stunning and we think, ever prettier than the inspiration photo provided by Angela and her sister Donchell (who is a wedding planner we work with on occasion)....

It's always an honor to be included in an industry magazine and that's exactly what happened in the April/May issue of Floral Management magazine. Our shop was shown in all it's glory in a column called Shop Snapshot. I think it's looking rather amazing if I do say so myself!! Our Lead Designer Alanna even made the Employee Spotlight where she talks about her love for the industry, what it's like working at Monday Morning Flowers and where she sees the future of floral shops going. She's always saying she wants to be famous so I think is a pretty good start. Congratulations Alanna on some fabulous coverage!  Lastly there was some coverage of yours truly. Yikes - bad hair day for sure! In case you were wondering, the whole cover story is not about MMF, it features many other great florists such as Timpton & Hurst, Memorial Florists & Greenhouses and  Gallo & Son's Florist  And of course, we can't forget Kevin!   And here are a few sh...