Sending Smiles ~

One year ago we introduced our new "3 for $20" bunch program into the shop. 7 days a week you can come in to choose the prettiest fresh flowers ~ one bunch for $10 or three bunches for $20. Mixing and matching is super easy and we have almost as much fun seeing what the customer put together as they do!  Once the customer decides on their flower choices, one of our designers hand ties the bouquet together, wraps in pretty paper and adds a delicate ribbon bow.  Sunflowers, orange carnations and white daisies. Don't you love the combo?  White daisy, green hydrangea and pink alstroemeria. 

Did you know that when someone orders from our shop we send them a survey? One of the questions we ask is "other than our shop where do you buy flowers" and the number one answer we hear is "From the Supermarket". Now we know we can't compete on convenience because most folks hit the supermarket several times per month but we can compete on freshness, price and selection. Announcing our "Buy the Bunch" program. Here's how it works. Stop in our shop to see our amazing selection of flowers by the bunch. Choose 1 fresh flower bunch for $10 or choose 3 for only $20. These bunches are not only super fresh but also a very good flower deal  with a savings as high as 50% off our "by the stem" prices.  For example this week we have by the bunch.... Roses Spray Roses Bells of Ireland Alstroemeria Ranunculus Carnations Daisies Thistle Veronica Bupleurum Jumbo Asters Gladiolus Dianthus Tulips Dendrobium Orchids and more! ...

What's in season ? Tulips! They are coming from Farms in NJ, Virginia & Holland. An interesting fact about tulips is that they continue to grow after being cut, up to an inch or more & they are “phototropic” which means they bend towards the light! Do you follow our shop on Facebook ? Each Saturday we share a new flower that has recently come into season. We'd love for you to follow us and share!  Spring is around the corner!

Have you ever tried to order flowers, done a Google searched, used a "floral company" only to find out they farmed the order out to a "Real Florist" and charged you a huge fee to do so? Well, then you are not alone. This is happening more in more in many industries, one of which is in the floral trade. As florists, we are often "Impersonated" with unethical Order Gatherers acting as if they are us, only to the collect the order and charge a high fee. It hurts our business so whenever we can we try to educate the public any way we can! When you send flowers out of your area, the best way to do it, is to be sure the florist you are calling is local or to let your "Real Local Florist" that you know and trust handle it for you. Did you know that we handle out of town flower orders? We not only find a "Real Local Florist" to create and deliver your flowers but we also confirm the order was delivered by contacting them directly. We then ...

A thank you to our customers and what is new for 2014!

Here's some fun little information about one of our favorite flowers called Alstroemeria .  Did you know that they are native to South America, specifically Brazil and Chile but we often buy them grown in Canada and California.  They are sometimes called Peruvian Lilies and each stem has a cluster of 3 to 6 blooms.  They come in colors such as red, orange, lavender, white, pink, green and even yellow like these shown here. We buy them by the case full and they are a staple for the Floral Industry . These cut flowers are very long lasting and with a fresh cut and a water change ever other day, they can last up to 2 weeks if not longer!  Many of the arrangements featured on our website www.sendingsmiles.com include this very lovely flower. They are especially wonderful because we can get them all year round and often use them in all 4 seasons of floral design. We often feature them as our $5 Friday Flower and they often sell out.  Why not visit...

Last weeks $5 Flower Friday was a huge hit and we sold just over 50 bouquets of fresh roses. Today's special flower deal are these vibrant and colorful Asiatic Lilies and they are sure to be a hit with our local customers as well. Did you know that Asiatic Lilies mostly have no fragrance and many have 3 to 5 big blooms. As one bloom dies off, the next one opens continuing all the way up the stem. What we love about them is they come in such vibrant colors - yellow, pink, orange and white and can give 2 weeks of viewing pleasure. To buy one of these beauties today, visit our shop at the Princeton Forrestal Village in Princeton/Plainsboro, NJ or at 45 E. Afton Avenue, Yardley, PA. Have a great weekend all! 

It's that day of the week and we have a fun one for tomorrow ~ May 24th. Fresh bouquets of colorful roses for only $5.  Roses are always a favorite for $5 Friday and today's selection is especially pretty. We have colors from corals to oranges, pinks to lavenders and everything in between. What a fun bouquet to bring home for Memorial Day, don't you think?  Stop by either store ~ Princeton Forrestal Village  or 45 E. Afton Avenue, Yardley, PA. We have limited amounts so feel free to call us to reserve. 609.520.2005. We hope to see you! 

Ever wonder what it's like to work in a flower shop during Mother's Day Week? You might be surprised to know that this holiday is larger than any other floral holiday, including Valentine's Day. At our shop it becomes a fun filled (yes, we do have fun), mad dash of assisting customers with their floral buying decisions, flower processing, floral designing and then the last ~ delivery.   Here are a few fun things you might not know about the holiday:  Our staff blossoms from 20 to almost 30 during the week of Mother's Day It takes 14 drivers to get all the deliveries done We rent at least 6 additional vans/trucks for the holiday Over 800 deliveries will be made in a few short days Our average amount our customers spend on this holiday is $77 and the customer that has spent the most on his Mother this year has purchased a $350 floral design We will sell over 3,000 roses and 2,000 carnations during Mother's Day Next to roses, the next most popular flowe...

Have you ever seen a flower like this? This is a pincushion protea and the variety of this one is called Tango. Imagine including this in a Bridal Bouquet or a High Style Floral Design? Orange is a popular color for event design and even many of our daily designs are showcasing orange flowers.  I especially love the combination of roses, berries and protea, like this arrangement that we recently added to our website. A great floral gift for man, don't you think?  To see this and more of  our floral designs, visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com - we have so many floral gift ideas and we are always adding more! We want to be your local florist! 

Roses for $5? You got it, each Friday at both our flower stores located in  - Princeton, NJ and Yardley, PA we have what we call $5 Flower Fridays. Each week we offer a great fresh flower deal and today's special are rose bouquets. You don't get flowers this fresh at the Super Market and our goal is to bring you fresh product at a great price so that you can treat yourself. We think everyone should have fresh flowers in the house and we would love to sell them to you!  Our Princeton shop is open until 7 PM and Yardley until 6 PM. We'd love to see you and remember, Shop Local! 

Flower Power!  We all know that flowers are pretty but did you know that studies have shown that flowers are a very potent mood enhancer? Well, a study done by Rutgers University by Jeannette Haviland-Jones Professor of Psychology and her husband Terry McGuire, Professor of Genetics offer convincing evidence that flowers may be  potent mood elevators. I know my opinion might be suspect because I'm surrounded with beautiful flowers every day but it's fun knowing that the product that I petal, that provides my livelihood can be so powerful in making folks so happy ! Quoted from a Rutgers Blog called "Flower Power" this is what they found out during the study! "In the first of several double-blind studies performed in 2005, Haviland-Jones and her team presented participants with one of three gifts—a decorative candle, a fruit basket, and a floral bouquet—­supposedly as a thank-you for taking part in a study on mood. The delivery people were really out to...

Need a reason to use a local florist for your Valentine's Day floral gift delivery? Well, here you go!!  We deliver 7 days a week to over 70 zip codes in all of Mercer and parts of Somerset, Middlesex and Hunterdon County - New Jersey and Lower Bucks, Pennsylvania. Visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com to shop our holiday selection! 

We've all seen those commercials with the little kids talking about how "Bigger is Better" right? Don't they make you laugh? Those kids are so funny. Well, imagine this arriving to your door? Here at the Flower Shop it is our job to help folks choose the perfect floral gift.  Because most orders come to us via the phone, we use descriptions such as "desk sized or coffee table sized" to help them visualize how large the arrangement we create can be.  Next we discuss particular flowers, colors and style. It's not as easy as you might think. With beauty in the eye of the beholder and everyone on tight budgets, it's hard to be sure we are both on the same page. It's the main reason our Website has become such an important tool for us. The hardest part of our job is to try to understand what the sender is expecting and making sure that the moon, stars and sun align with their budget. So is Bigger Better? A consumer that owns and drives a Be...

This design might not be for everyone but our designers spent some time being creative and having fun. Bird of paradise, tulips, lucky bamboo and horse tail combine to make for one fun and funky floral design! What do you think? Would you want someone to send this to you?

 At our shop, both Thanksgiving and Christmas are quite busy times for us with folks wanting to send and receive floral centerpieces for their dinner tables. When I talk to other shops from around the country, some are busier than us while others say that no one in their area is interested in having flowers for their home during the holiday season. What camp do you fall under? Do you like to have flowers on your table? What about sending flowers to family and friends that you are not able to share the holiday with?  As you can see by the photo of Kevin above, our shop was quite busy during the Thanksgiving holiday and this photo was taken on Wednesday and although it was not all the deliveries that we made, just the first round of deliveries for the 4 drivers working that day.  For me, I can't imagine not having something fresh on my dining room table and that goes back to long before I was in the floral business. Marking special moments in our lives is so impo...

It's officially fall here at the shop. Some folks think we rush it but as soon as we put out the fall products and merchandise our website with fall arrangements, they start selling. Take this dramatic floral arrangement for example:  It's one of our brand new designs for fall 2012. It's named   Autumn Expressions  and retails for only $42.95. The orange  cube vase makes such a nice keepsake and these rich autumnal colors really pop. Imagine this being delivered to you at work or home? We especially love the assortment of flowers and the dried wheat! Folks have also been starting to buy our Halloween and Thanksgiving table top pieces such as chip and dips, salt and pepper shakers, dried wreaths, wine glasses, pitchers, cookies jars and more. To see some of our new arrivals, check out this video on YouTube . Don't forget about our $5 flower specials and be sure to check out Facebook Page to find out what flower we have each week.

This past week since returning from my California trip has been a whirl wind of bridal activity. Over the last few days alone I have booked on more 2012 wedding and 3 for 2013. What I have found interesting, is the demand for purple flowers for these weddings still seems to be quite high. Almost 50% of the new brides I'm meeting with are using purple in one way or another in their wedding flowers and decor. Many are choosing a shade of green for the maids or even deep lapis seems to be a favorite among current couples.  Thought I'd share this lovely centerpiece we made for bride Lori and her husband Steve. This floral design was create on to of our 24" tall candle holder. Inside the vase were twirls of purple callas and the cascading floral designing on top was made using green hydrangeas, purple roses, phaelanopsis orchids, calla lilies - both Picasso and Purple and light touches of a deep plum colored carnation. They were truly lovely in person.  I especially...

Have you ever wondered how they grow those amazingly huge gerbera daisies that you get from our shop? Well, this week we were lucky enough to visit one of the farms that grows them for us - Ever-Bloom Farms in California. Ever-Bloom has over 14 acres of these amazing flowers - all under the protection of very sophisticated green houses.  According to Sue, the Director of Sales at Ever-Bloom, they grow over 120 varieties of gerbera and gerbera mini's in all shades from white, red, pink, orange and even one that is almost purple. Sue says that hot pink is the color in highest demand. The amazing plants are putting out flowers each and ever day, requiring they be harvested 6 days a week. Sue says the workers walk through each row picking them by hand and sorting them right out in the green house where they are added to these very cool carts by variety.  Minutes after being harvested, they are cut and placed into a special water solution to allow them to continuing ...

 Each week we try  to bring in a few new floral varieties that we have never seen before like this very cool green and blue hydrangea above. The heads are huge and we loved the ruffly nature of the petals.  The celosia this week are amazing. The colors are so vibrant and shocking! They really look so cool in the arrangements.  Oh my goodness!! What can you say about this beautiful Banksia above. Wow, wow, wow, the texture and colors of these flowers is just super cool. How fun!  Mocha sunflowers, locally grown and very brown, how fun is that? We love the yellow ones but these really add an interesting touch to a summer arrangement. Have you ever seen our bud vases? Each vase is a different shape and very artfully holds a single flower. Who says you need multiple flowers to make a statement? Not with these sweet vases. There you have it, our floral favorites from this past week - 7/22/12. Check back to see what next week holds in store for o...