Sending Smiles ~

Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a day  dedicated to supporting small businesses nationwide. Last year,  over one hundred million people* came together to Shop Small® in  their communities on Small Business Saturday®. Small Business Saturday is a day for everyone — from the business owners who create jobs to the customers who buy locally — to support small businesses that invigorate the economy and keep communities thriving. It began in 2010 when American Express founded Small Business Saturday to help small businesses get more exposure during one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. Last year, over 100 million people came out to shop at independently-owned small businesses on the day. Now, in its third year,  Small Business Saturday  will be even bigger.  This November 26th, support the small businesses in your community! 

 Have you met Tara? She works in our Yardley shop on Saturdays (she's student) and has been a great addition to our team. Today she helped out in the shop to assist our Thanksgiving Customers!  Driver Donna is part time and such a wonderful team member. See that smile? She's always eager to help and always with a smile! Yesterday and Today she helped deliver smiles in Mercer, Middlesex and Lower Bucks Country. Meet Jeff. Wonder what he does here at the shop? Well he is certainly very multifaceted ~ have you seen any of our online or printed graphics? If so, they were designed by Jeff. Have you ever gone into our Yardley shop on a Thursday or Friday? Yup, you've seen Jeff running the store, processing flowers and creating bouquets for customers. Or perhaps you have opened your door to his smiling face as he makes a deliver to you. See, we told you he was multifaceted!   The Dynamic Duo!! Alexis and Alanna ~ or should I say the A Team. Posing for me betwe...

It's that time of year when the locally grown New Jersey Flowers arrive. These beauties arrived to the store this week and aren't they amazing? Cocks comb, sunflowers, hydrangea, amaranthus and mountain mint, just name a few are fresh and plentiful.  Want to see all our new arrivals? Make sure to look for us on instagram as  @Mondayflowers

The Mother's Day Rush ~ and boy what a rush it is. The busiest week of the year for us, even busier than Valentine's Day. Look at just a few of our favorite designs from the week so far! This arrangement is called Spring Time in Paris . don't you love the vibrant colors? Tulips, viburnum, roses, carnations, dianthus and more.  This was a custom; one of a kind designs. This arrangement included peony, roses, orchids, clematis and lilacs.   This arrangement is called Vineyard Jubilee and includes green hydrangeas, mini calla lilies, succulents and roses.  Why not call us to send your mother a beautiful arrangement from our store? 

I'm not going to lie, sometimes working in a flower shop is no "tip toe through the tulips". Really, it's no "walk in the park" and it certainly isn't for the faint of heart. I'll bet you'd never think that working in a floral shop is fast paced and stressful, but at times, it can be. When those phones get to ringing and the door bell jingles with a walk in customer and the driver is waiting for you to finish that floral design on your station that you started 30 minutes ago... well, let's just say being surrounded by absolute beauty make the day a bit more bearable.  One minute you are helping someone grieve the loss of a friend or family member and the next call could have you talking to someone who wants to wish their 90 year old grandmother a very happy birthday. Or perhaps your brother just made you an Aunt! Going from one emotional extreme to another can take it's toll but knowing that what we create and the personal attention we g...

We have Trenton Thunder tickets for you!!  When you place orders online , over the phone, or in the shop , use promo code " Thunder " and be entered to win a family four pack of tickets to the game! We are excited to provide our customers with a fun, family activity for the summer - on us!  Give us a call today, send a gorgeous floral gift to someone special and you may be on your way to the ball park . 609-520-2005 | 215-493-1400

Want to try your hand at being a floral designer? Need an arrangement for a special occasion that you want create and call your own? Did you know we have a D.I.Y. Design Bench? That's right, a DIY Design Bench. You can come in anytime during business hours and create your own arrangement. We'll show you around the shop and then you get to pick the flowers , containers and extra goodies. We'll provide the work space, tools and a helpful hand if you want. See what it's like in the production room and give it a shot to create your own arrangement! Available at our Princeton New Jersey flower shop only. Located in the Princeton Forrestal Village just behind the Westin hotel.

This week’s fall flower of the week is the unique and funky pincushion protea!  This flower has incredible texture and adds a special element of beauty to any arrangement.  Protea comes in red, orange and yellow, and is normally used in tropical style arrangements.  As you can see here, it looks gorgeous in Fall arrangements as well (which is why I picked it to be the flower of the week!)  With its completely original look, the protea is always appreciated for its funky style.  Its tones are perfect for autumn, and it makes a beautiful gift for the less traditional flower lover.            Stop in today to pick up an arrangement to include the gorgeous protea we have in the store , or send to someone you care about.  Call us today at 609-520-2005 or search “protea” on our website to see some of our online arrangements.

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! 

Don't you love the Internet? We do but with the invent of the internet came a very bad thing for florists ~ The dreaded Order Gatherer. What is an Order Gatherer you ask? It's a business who sometimes claims to be a physical floral store, located in a town where they really are not located. How do they stay in business? By acting like they are a real florist , they "gather" orders and then turn around and send them via a floral network such as Teleflora or FTD back to real florists who then fill them.  Why is this bad?  First off, it's bad for the florist, because the orders are "stolen" away from them and then often resent back to them at a lower price than the consumer pays.  Second, this is bad for the consumer because they are often paying a high fee almost $20 in some cases, that goes to the "order gatherer" directly and not into their floral gift. Some even do what we call skimming, which means they pay the florist even less than...

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?

Do you know that Stock is the name of an amazing flower? If you have read my blogs in the past, you may have seen it mentioned a time or two.  We use it all the time in our daily designs as well as our event and wedding work. Today we had the pleasure of being shown around Ocean View Farms in Lompac, Ca.  by Dan Vordale, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Dan was kind of enough to take time out of his day to show us around the farms!  I wanted to share some photos of the stock fields. Because I'm on vacation (I'm told I should do something other than talk or write about flowers) I'll be sure to  write a  more complete blog of what Kevin and I saw and learned at this amazing California Flower Farm but for now, I'll show you the Stock Farms!! What an amazing sight to see, rows and rows of this fragrant flower blowing in the breeze! Dan told us that although white is the best seller, all shades of purple are next in demand.  Dan explains to Ke...

  We all love fresh cut flowers! Well, you do, don't you? I love talking about flowers, writing about flowers, educating folks about flowers - all things floral - yup that's me. This week, we were excited when one of our photos was used in a National Floral Blog written by Flower Shop Network. To see that blog follow this LINK and thanks to them, I'm sharing a tidbit of information on how best to care for your fresh cut flowers.  Tips for Extending The Life of Your Flowers Avoid Extremes. Keep fresh flowers away from drafts and extreme temperatures, which can quickly dry out the flowers and cause wilting. Avoid The Sun. Avoid placing flower arrangements in windowsills and other areas with full sun where flowers can wilt due to overheating. Keep Cool. Most flowers will last longer under cool conditions. Keep it Filled. All flower and foliage stems should be submerged. Flowers stay fresher, longer when they can get a drink! Remove Wilted Flowers. Immediat...

 I always love talking about how flowers are an artform. I think folks sometimes forget that each and everyone is made, made care by a talented foral designer. Here our designer makes spring wedding bouquets for bride Katie. This huge glass bowl was filled with many fresh stems of imported Dutch Tulips, lily grasses and fatsia leaves. Designer Norman always has fun with designs like this and we are sure it made for a big impact when this amazing arrangement was received! Sometimes we are matching an arrangement on our website but the most favorite thing for our designers to do is create something custom, like this arrangement. At this time of year the tulips are plentiful but their season is just about over. We also bring tulips in from California, Canada and Virginia. I think they are one of the most beloved flowers we work with in Spring. Folks like Shop Coordinator Sheryl and your truly help out during busy time. Sheryl especially loves doing Gourmet Baskets and ...

Well, this photos is quite alarming isn't it. The roses on the right were delivered by a local florist. The one on the left, however was shipped in a box. Below is the wording posted, along with this photo, on the Facebook Page of my floral wholesaler. And I quote them: "TowersFlowers vs "Online Flowers" - this is a picture everyone should post on their personal pages so friends and family can understand why they need to purchase flowers from a retail shop this Valentine's Day.   The "arrangement" on the left, purchased from a well known online order gatherer, ended up costing $82.95...$28 UPS charge, $10 "long stem" upgrade, and $4.99 vase upgrade. Don't let your customers, friends, and family be disappointed this Valentine's Day…they deserve better!" Obviously, someone who works there did a test order. One from a local florist who hand delivered the roses on the right and the second one from a well known online webs...

Isn't January the perfect time to Reorganize and Refresh? If you are in retail, it really is! This January has been no exception for us. This year, right after new years, we did a complete reorganization of our Floral Design area. Not only was it our chance to really do a good cleaning but also look to at our space from a production point of view. We've always had space for 6 designers to work at one time but it was a bit more disjointed than I would have liked. Moving our storage units and flipping the design benches, now all 6 designers can work near each other, sharing flowers, design recipe books and other materials in a more efficient manner. Now the designers are all only steps away from the flower cooler, the sinks and everything else they need to complete their designs quickly. Did you know that at our Princeton location that we have 2 large coolers - one that measures 12 feet by 15 feet and another that is 12 feet by 9 feet? Having the flowers stored and orga...

Those times, they are a changin'. Is that a song? I can hear the melody in my head but I don't remember the exact words. But wow, if that is not the truth these days, I don't know what is. Years ago, if you owned a retail floral shop, you prepped your flowers, made them into pretty arrangements in your display coolers and lined up buckets and buckets of loose flowers for customers to choose from. The phone rang and you talked to customers about their needs and hung up by telling them you'd make  pretty arrangement and have it delivered in a jiffy. Then supermarkets started adding floral departments, making it less likely that you'd pick up flowers for your home at your local florist. Need flowers delivered? Yup, the florist is the best for that as most supermarkets don't deliver and so you started to gravitate towards floral services and retailers that had websites. It was important to be able to shop online and see what you were sending....

If you've read my blog before you know how I feel about funeral flowers. Yes, those obituaries sometimes say "In Lieu of Flowers" and you all know, that it does not mean not to send flowers. It merely means if you want to make a donation, yadda, yadda. You know that floral tributes not only express your sympathy for the grieving but don't you think the funeral home looks very sad if there were no flowers there? Sending flowers for funerals is a tradition that goes back ages and the reason is that it helps folks know you care, flowers make them feel loved, make it known the person who has passed was loved. It helps make the funeral more bearable. This blog is not about that. It's about NOT sending flowers that arrive to the funeral home in a box! We are not against ProFlowers, who just happens to be pictured here. They are not the only ones that sell flowers delivered in the mail. FTD and 1800flowers sell those, among others.  This blog aims...

Anyone that knows me knows that I just love Social Media. I'm a social person at heart but generally speaking my "career" really keeps me from getting out much. I meet brides and spend tons of time with my employees as well as husband (as he works here too) but that can be the extent of my days, weeks and months. And so, my social media has been a way for me to stay in touch with friends, family, past brides, customers and other florists. I love posting photos. Pics of the shops, the staff, our wedding flowers but I also have a fascination with taking photos of food. It always cracks me up to think that I might post a picture of an exquisite bridal bouquet and get a thumbs up or 2 and maybe a comment here or there but when I post photos of what I have made for Kevin and I for dinner, it's shocking what happens! The photo above left was Cod Loin from just this past Saturday and I guess it looked so good to some that they asked for my recipe. The photo above right, is...

After the long winter we've just had, thank goodness for Spring! Easter is Sunday and today begins Passover. Here at the shop we are busy dressing up Easter Lilies with bright colored ribbon bows and making goodies baskets with chocolate bunnys, peeps and dried fruit. Can't be with family for the holiday? Why not send them a pretty basket of spring flowers like this one? To see more of our Easter, Passover and Spring arrangements check out our website at http://www.sendingsmiles.com/ and use promotion code APR to save $5 all month long!