Sending Smiles ~

.... and just like that Christmas is over and 2018 is just around the corner. With the end of December comes doing inventory and a product flip of the shop.  In addition to our usual floral items, gifts, greeting cards, plush etc we have gone full into inspirational and metaphysical products. Blessing Bowls, Angels, Crystal, Pendulums and Inspirational Word Stones have been big sellers and we will be expanding this line in 2018. Facebook is a great place to look for new arrivals at www.facebook.com/localflorist   Have we mentioned that we completely rebuilt our website recently? It's up and running for just about a month and so far the feed back has been very positive. Hope on and let us know what you think at www.sendingsmiles.com   Just time for a New Year we will be adding more products to the mix so be sure to check back in a few weeks. Happy New Year everyone!! 

Posting a bit late but HAPPY HOLIDAYS! The shop has been very busy since the beginning of December and we are so grateful for all our customers who allow us to make a living doing what we love to do. As always we've been helping folks express their feelings and with this Winter season still comes birthday's, get well's and unfortunately sympathy's along with the festive occasions of Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It's always fun to see the holiday trends and this year traditional centerpieces were the best sellers such as this design created by our lead designer. We also had many folks choosing festive basket designs such as this Berries and Spices which included cinnamon sticks.  We even had some fun with Succulent plants by using fun Merry Christmas boxes as pots.  Although not as popular as previous years, we still made a fair amount of Boxwood trees. This one will be brightening someone's day when it's delivered on Christmas...

Can you believe that December 1st is this Friday? Well, the weather has turned a bit cooler but it still hard to believe that Christmas is less than 30 days away. Of course, as soon as Thanksgiving is over, our customers start requesting holiday and winter themed floral designs and we do not want to disappoint them! Lead Designer Alanna has added quite a few new designs to the offerings this year including the 2 designs below. This one is called Rudolph . Either of these adorable designs would make a perfect centerpiece for a party or for at home on a coffee table, right? The design below is called the Mosaic .  Which one is your favorite? In addition to new floral designs, we have brought in a wide selection of gourmet items for gift baskets, including some yummy chocolates . These are great grab bag or Secret Santa Gifts.  We have also brought in a few new gift lines such as Naked Bee which is a natural skincare line with nourishing ingredients and addictive s...

This is what happens when April Sette from New Jersey Buzz says she's coming to visit us at the shop!! We all shower, put on our best uniforms and do our hair and make up nice! Check out our Facebook Live interview here !! 

I've been in the flower and balloon business so long I sometimes forget how receiving one of our offerings can make someone feel. Just this morning I took an order from a woman who wanted to send a dear friend a big bouquet of Get Well and Thinking of You Balloons . Get Well Balloon Bouquet  She told me the story about how she felt when she received balloons when her son was born. She said she loved getting flowers but the balloons were so fun and festive and made her happy. I mentioned it was ironic that she and I were having this conversation because we are in the middle of a huge project of expanding our balloon bouquet offerings on our website. I guess it'a all about the timing. Here are a few new bouquets that just went live today!! Sweet 16 Balloon Bouquet  18th Birthday Balloon Bouquet  21st Birthday Balloon Bouquet 40th Birthday Balloon Bouquet  50th Birthday Balloon Bouquet 60th Birthday Balloon Bouquet

No, I'm not talking about the movie, I'm talking about flowers (as I've been known to do) and the color purple.  Ah, remember THE DRESS? You know, the one that some said was white and gold, while others said blue and black? That really brought it home how different people see color differently so that got me to thinking about one of the hardest colors to work with and that is the color purple. When you look at the flowers below, do they look purple to you? Some will say yes, while others say no but in the world of flowers, they are all considered purple. Some have more red undertones, while others have blue but if you asked me for purple flowers; any and all would be what we would send. Imagine working with this color when decorating a home or creating wedding flowers? Not easy! What is your favorite purple flower?

Looking for something nice to give to mom this Mother's Day ? Let's face it, a fresh floral arrangement is always a nice idea and most mom's adore flowers. Our designers have been creating some amazing arrangements this week, including this one designed in a black ceramic cube with assorted spring flowers in shades of pink and peaches with accents of greens. Why not let our designers created something for your Mother ?  Need an affordable gift option that will make Mom smile? Why not get her one of our   Wooster and Prince purse mirrors? They have inspiration sayings and a modern, creative design and only cost $5.99 each. Add a manicure set or emery boards of a similar style for a very chic gift idea that's super affordable.   A fun and colorful balloon is a great way to say "Happy Mother's Day" ! You can even have us deliver a whole bouquet of them!   This year we have some adorable gift sets which are a combination of sweet treats and ke...

Are you wondering what we charge for a dozen red roses in December, March or July? $74.99 Are you wondering what we are charging for a dozen red roses for Valentine's Day this year? $74.99 Yes, it's true. We are picking up all the extra cost charged to us by our wholesalers and farms. Why? Because honestly, it's not worth upsetting our customers and we want you to HAPPY!!  There you have it ~ you support us all year long and we support you on one of the busiest floral holidays of the year. www.sendingsmiles.com 

Well, it's $5 Flower Friday and today we have fresh sunflowers . Boy oh boy, they have been a huge hit with the phone starting to ring about 7:30 am with folks wanting to reserve some for the weekend. Did you know that you can receive a text every Friday morning telling you what the flower special is that day. Just text the word Friday to 555888 to be included. Sorry, no delivery, cash and carry only!  Lots of pretty summer blooms arrived today such as these daisies. Don't you just love daisies?  "They are such a friendly flowers, don't you think they are the friendliest flowers"- Trivia; do you know what movie that line is from?   In case you are not aware, these weekend we are having a plant event in the shop. Come anytime between 10 am and 2 pm with any plant material you have or buy some from us. We'll help you plant it, transplant it or design it! It's all about plants this weekend - August 4th.  Be sure to follow us on our Facebook page t...

Thank goodness it's Friday! Well, it's actually Saturday but when I thought I wanted to share what's going on in the shop today, I automatically thought of that old "office battle cry" because it absolutely does not have anything to do with working in a floral design shop in May. When Friday at 5 pm rolls around, it does not stop for us and as a matter of fact, things really heat up. Today we had many parties to set up, we're hot and heavy working on tomorrows 3 weddings (we had a small one today too) and I even got out to do a Floral Demonstration at D&R Greenway Land Trust for a couple of hours last night and this morning.  Here is designer is hard at work making Bridal Bouquets like this one for bride Jeri. Lavender and purple flowers hand tied ~ so elegant. We hope she loves it when she sees it tomorrow morning!    Roses, lisianthus, freesia, mini calla lilies... such an amazing combination for Spring.    Lots and lots of party floral cen...

Well, it's finally Friday again and we are gearing up for a big weekend of parties, weddings, you name it, we have it going on in the store this weekend. May is such a fun time here at our 2 flower shops but honestly quite exhausting too. What better way to recharge our batteries in time for the weekend than having Sunflowers for this weeks $5 Flower special.  Last weeks $5 Friday Flowers were violet plants and between our two stores we sold over 40 of them. This weeks sunflowers will most likely fly off the shelves (or out of the buckets) because Sunflowers are always so popular. Who wouldn't want a bouquet of these in time for the weekend? 

We love holidays here at the shop, not only because they can be a very busy time for us (which means business is good) but we love what our flowers "bring" to these special days. Even as florists we love having and sharing our floral designs with family over the holidays. Take my niece Mary Ann who absolutely adored this "bunny" floral arrangement. Not only did she carry it around but she was seen petting the "bunny" many times in the course of the Easter celebration. How gratifying it was for me to provide her with this first floral experience.  The holiday dinner table wouldn't be complete without a floral centerpiece and gauging by how many Easter centerpieces we sold this year, our customers felt that same way. Who says kids don't appreciate flowers? My nephew carefully staged this display which include not only the floral centerpiece but also his Transformer and his Enterprise model. :)    If you didn't have flowers on your din...