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Don’t Miss Out On Parent’s Day!

Parent’s Day is the fourth Sunday in July, and that means it’s just around the corner. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to honor the ones who raised you with a beautiful arrangement from your local florist!

Flowers of DistinctionPicturesque PosiesColors on Parade

What is Parent’s Day?

Parent’s Day was signed into existence by President Bill Clinton in 1994 to be a holiday that recognizes, uplifts and supports the role of parents.

Think of it as a combination of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day except that instead of lauding one member of the parenting team,you are celebrating them together as a team. A sort of exaltation of parenting in general.

Father’s Day or Mother’s Day can both be designated as a day to celebrate those physically responsible for bringing you into this world. But Parent’s Day celebrates those who made the hard sacrifices, stayed up late nights, and did everything possible to ensure you reached adulthood. In short, those merry folk who raised you. These may be the same people or not, but either way, they deserve some love.

Keep It Local

When you buy flowers this Parent’s Day, don’t forget the shop around the corner. Your local flower artist offers so much when it comes to finding the perfect flowers. Because you speak to them directly, you aren’t limited by a photographed list of available options. You tell the florist what YOU want, and they will do their best to help make that request a beautiful reality. And if you’re not sure what you want? That’s not a problem either!

Don’t forget that your local florist is also a flower artist. If you want something special and maybe a little different, don’t be afraid to set them free. The results are sure to be something really impressive.

So now that you have that perfect gift idea for Parent’s Day, don’t let another day go by without contacting your local florist!

 

Florists and Lawmakers Working For A Better Industry

On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., Flower Shop Network’s Brock and Loranne Atwill had the opportunity to visit with other florists as well as lawmakers to discuss issues facing the floral industry. Working with lawmakers to overcome those issues is an endeavor Brock and Loranne feel is important. To learn more about how FSN is working with lawmakers read SAF’s article SAF Members Host Fundraiser for Arkansas Senator.

Small_Photo_Pryor

Bold and Beautiful – FSN’s Pinterest Picks

Bold Beautiful Pinterest PicksHere’s what caught our eye on Pinterest recently. Big, bold and completely beautiful arrangements that feature some stunning blooms. These colorful creations all show traditional design principals that seek to inspire and command a presence.

Each work is far-reaching and open – inviting contemplation and appreciation of undeniable beauty.

It is designs like these you’ll find in the best sympathy arrangements as well as reception hall centerpieces and memorials. Enjoy the thematic color palettes and expert arranging from these talented florists! And let us know what you think in the comments below.

A New Beginning

A New Beginning – Moore, Oklahoma

“Patriotic spray”

City Flowers

City Flowers – New Buffalo, Michigan

“Just another day in the shop!”

Flemington Floral Company

Flemington, Floral Company and Greenhouse – Flemington, New Jersey

“tropical arrangement”

Follow us on Pinterest for more floral inspiration.

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FSN’s Pinterest Picks

Pinterest Picks Jan 21 2014 (4)

This week’s selection from Pinterest has us examining how florists create beautiful high points and cascading lows to add drama and movement in a floral piece.

While all 3 arrangements have different styles, colors and textures, the element that unites these 3 lovely works is engaging movement!

Take a look.

Kalmath Flower Shop - Brighton, MI

Klamath Flower Shop – Klamath Falls, OR
This fun bright arrangement features pink gladiolus and glitter picks for height with a few yellow pom surprises throughout. [Read more…]

Green Box Floral Visits FSN

Luke and Nathan Harwell, the owners of Greenbox Floral, paid a visit to Flower Shop Network headquarters this week. While they were here, we took the opportunity to learn about their upcoming product release.

Lauren, Brock, and the Brothers

From left to right: Loranne, Brock, Luke and Nathan.

Experience Before Technology

Luke Harwell chose to follow his father in the floral industry in 2002, attending the Benz School of Floral Design at Texas A&M and becoming a Texas Master Florist. He assumed the role of President of Baack’s Florists and Greenhouses in January of 2008. There is no doubt that he understands the floral industry and the challenges that retail florists face.

Greenbox floral believes in the local florist. They believe each local flower shop is unique and their success should be driven by their own creativity and quality. And they believe one of the key elements needed to grow an inarguably shrinking industry is an opportunity for each shop’s artists to showcase their impressive talents to the customer.

The Value of the Cooler

The Greenbox solution begins with your unique designs.

Luke and Nathan believe the cooler is prime marketing real-estate. It showcases your work, giving the customer who walks in your door the opportunity to see current examples of your unique designs. It also allows for immediate upselling.

A customer sees that perfect item in your cooler and knows she wants to make a purchase. And because she’s already seen it, she doesn’t have to wonder if the finished product will live up to her expectations.

Or perhaps she sees multiple examples of talent and creativity expressed in your unique designs. She is impressed, and now when she has need of a talented florist, she knows to come to you.

Making Online In-Person

They place cameras in your store which broadcast an ultra-low frame rate live stream. Using Greenbox’s proprietary software, the live stream is uploaded directly to your website. The result is a live feed, allowing customers who come to your site an opportunity to click on the designs in your live stream and purchase the exact item in real time, already made and ready to go.

With the proprietary software Greenbox has developed, you are able to price each item so customers can mouse over the arrangement and see a price pop up directly on their screen. Each individual arrangement is clickable so that customers can go straight to a purchasing screen for any floral arrangement they want.

Because online shopping is becoming more and more popular, many of your customers will never have a chance to see the inside of your shop. But due to the live, interactive display designed by Greenbox, the value of your cooler is translated to an online medium. The customer can see your creative designs, can be impressed with your individual work and can see exactly what she is purchasing when she purchases it. Brilliant!

We greatly enjoyed having Luke and Nathan stop by our offices this week. They not only gave us an opportunity to learn more about their product, they showed us the passion for the floral industry that fueled them to develop it. Click here if you would like more information on Greenbox Floral, or if you’d like to see the Greenbox Floral solution in action, visit Baack’s Florists and Greenhouses here.

Christmas Card Messages That’ll Have You Dancing Around The Tree

How do you celebrate Christmas? Is it around a fire with your sweetheart? Opening Christmas gifts around the tree with your children? Enjoying dinner with loved ones? Whatever your celebration, there is bound to be a Christmas gift involved.

The tradition in my household is to send flowers to the family members that are hard to shop for. It works well because flowers are beautiful, but finding the right card message is where we often go awry. In fact, a wry sense of humor is hard to match with some of the many Christmas card messages floating around. Instead of trying to come up with something witty for everyone’s card, I opted to figure out what other people are saying in their enclosure cards. After all, with as many wordsmiths as there are, someone has to have found a clever way to say what I feel.

Ever feel like the right Christmas message is on the tip of your tongue but you can’t seem to get it on the enclosure card? Local florists have the holiday spirit wrapped up. After seeing hundreds of Christmas card messages over the years, they have a pretty good handle on how to send the right message along with beautiful Christmas flowers. This is why the following list of Christmas enclosure card messages is the best of the best. Don’t stress this holiday season over finding the right message. Browse this list and enjoy peace of mind when sending Christmas gifts this year.

Celebrate This Year With The Top 20 Christmas Card Messages

1)       Wishing you a very merry Christmas.

2)       Wishing you the gift of faith, the blessing of hope and the peace of His love at Christmas and always.

3)       May the miracle of Christmas fill your heart with warmth and love.

4)       May this glorious day of our Savior’s birth resound with hope and peace on earth.

5)       Wishing you the love, peace, and joy that the true meaning of Christmas brings.

6)       Wishing your family peace and love at Christmas and always.

7)       May you have the spirit of Christmas which is peace, the gladness of Christmas which is hope and the heart of Christmas which is love.

8)       May the timeless message of Christmas fill your heart and home with joy today and throughout the coming year.

9)       (Funny) ‘Tis the season to put mistletoe on the handle of your purse so you can kiss your money good-bye! Hope your holiday is well spent.

10)   ‘Tis the season to be jolly – May your Christmas be filled with all the things that make you smile!

11)   (Funny) A Christmas Query – If we turn back our clocks one hour every October, why can’t we turn back our scales 20 lbs. every December? Have a Light-Hearted Christmas

12)   (Funny) A Christmas Reminder: Don’t try to borrow any money from elves – They’re always a little short! (Hope your Christmas joy lasts a long time!)

13)   When I count my blessings, I count you twice. Merry Christmas.

14)   Wishing you joy and love this holiday season. May your home and hearth be filled with warm and laughter. Merry Christmas.

15)   A Special Christmas Wish – May peace, hope, and love be this season’s gift to you!

16)   (Funny) A heartfelt Christmas Wish for you May all your Christmas lights come on the first time you plug them in! Have a Bright Christmas

17)   As you wrap each gift with loving hands and decorate the tree, may the beauty of this season make a lovely memory. Merry Christmas.

18)   At Christmas play and make good cheer for Christmas comes but once a year.

19)   Blessings of the season to you and yours.

20)   Celebrate the Season

That’s not all! View all enclosure card messages for Christmas. Brought to you by Flower Shop Network.

Black Friday? Cyber Monday? We Say Always Shop Local!

Shop Local!While plenty of Americans are gearing up for big Black Friday discounts at major retailers and online shoppers are browsing like crazy to get ready for Cyber Monday sales, we would like to remind holiday shoppers of the value of shopping local.

Shopping Local Benefits the Community

While everyone loves to get more for less, remember that small brick and mortar businesses in your community have great holiday sales too. And the best part of spending your hard-earned cash at these shops is that you are helping local families and their employees have a great holiday season as well. We can’t say it enough. Supporting local businesses helps build communities in a big way. So take part!

Local florists are stocked with beautiful seasonal flowers, wreaths, plants and trendy home decor that make beautiful gifts. Candles, gift baskets, picture frames, cards and so many unique items are waiting for customers this season. Be sure to head to your closest flower shop and check out all these potential presents!

With the success of the American Express campaign “Small Business Saturday”, more shoppers are seeking local establishments for gifts each year. So be part of the growing number of Americans who are choosing to invest their holiday dollars in their own towns. This means shopkeepers will have the revenue to grow their businesses, become involved with community organizations and even sponsor activities like baseball teams and senior services. Everyone wins when local businesses thrive.

So before you load up on midnight madness sale items from those big-box companies, think about where your money can have the most impact for your family and community.

After you survive Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, celebrate Treat Yourself Tuesday. It’s a great reward and the perfect way to guarantee you’re shopping local!

Gobble Up The Top 20 Thanksgiving Card Messages

“Happy gobble-gobble!” That’s the traditional way to say Happy Thanksgiving in my family. A table full of food is my favorite thing about Thanksgiving Day but there’s a lot to love about the holiday. Friends and family gather around to celebrate a day off of work, a really good football game, a feast of delicious food and the turkey coma that follows. What an incredible day!

What’s kind of sad is that the real meaning of the holiday is becoming lost in the muffled voices of people eating, so I’ve decided to reiterate a bit of it. We all know the story of how the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower to settle the colonies that would later become America. The winter was bleak and barren but the local Indians were kind enough to share their food as well as teach the pilgrims some survival tips for the next winter. We owed them a debt of gratitude for their hospitality, began saying thanks by dining together which formed a strong bond, and thus began the tradition of Thanksgiving.

Dining together still forms a wholesome bond between people, but sometimes celebrating Thanksgiving in this way isn’t possible. For this reason, many choose to send Thanksgiving flower arrangements or cornucopias. After all, everyone loves receiving a gift even if it is in lieu of the sender’s company. The hard part comes in finding the right card message to go along with the gift of flowers. To make it simpler, local florists have provided their favorite choices for Thanksgiving card messages. Enjoy!

Giving Thanks With The Top 20 Thanksgiving Card Messages:

1)       Among the Many Things We Give Thanks For Are Loyal Friends Like You Who Have Helped Make This Year A Success For Us

2)       Giving thanks for your friendship

3)       May your life be filled with good things to be thankful for as ours are filled with thankfulness for you

4)       Thanksgiving gives us the opportunity to tell you how very much your friendship means to us

5)       1. Me – 2. Your family – 3. Everyone who recognizes kindness, caring, and generosity of spirit. Just a short list of the people whose lives you’ve touched. Happy Thanksgiving.

6)       May your heart be glad and your home be happy at this joyful time of thanksgiving.

7)       When I count my blessings, I count you twice. Happy Thanksgiving.

8)       Our homes may be far apart, but our hearts are as close as always.

9)       Thinking of you and wishing you all the blessings of this beautiful season.

10)     Happy Turkey Day.

You’re only halfway through! View all Thanksgiving enclosure card messages. Brought to you by Flower Shop Network.

Enjoy These Frightfully Fun Halloween Card Messages

What do costumes, apples and ghouls have in common? Halloween. I know. I gave you that one. In any case, Halloween is a very festive time when even the most straight-laced folks get to let loose and enjoy the evening. It’s the only time of year when no one thinks twice about seeing Batman walk down the street beside an angel and a skeleton. Kind of creepy, yes, but Halloween is a popular holiday for a reason—the gifts! Halloween gifts range from gag gifts to Halloween flower arrangements. When boo-tiful blossoms are the gift of choice, the hard part becomes figuring out what clever lines to leave on the enclosure card. I’ll help you out again.

Local florists spend Halloween like everyone else except they get to deliver their best Halloween flower arrangements and watch how happy this type of celebration makes people. They are always coming across new and clever card messages to accompany their arrangements, so it seemed only natural to ask for some of their favorite Halloween card messages.

Top 10 Eerily Awesome Halloween Enclosure Card Messages:

1)       A happy Halloween wish just for grins!

2)       As the sky grows dark and the moon glows bright, as strange creatures and critters appear in the night, as the goblins growl and the werewolves whine, hope that Halloween sends a chill up your spine!

3)       At this special time of year when jack-o’-lanterns glow, it gives a welcome chance to send a warm “Hello!” Happy Halloween.

4)       This is no Trick just a Treat for a special someone. Happy Halloween.

5)       Time for shivers, scares, and thrills, for pumpkin grins in windowsills, for black cats in the full moon’s glow, and a happy Halloween hello!

6)       A Merry Halloween. Wishing you a Halloween filled with good old-fashioned fun.

7)       Hope your Halloween is so happy, it makes you glow inside.

Surprise! That’s only 7! Find all 10 Halloween enclosure card messages. Feel free to share this frighteningly funny list with your customers. Let us know who BOO!-hooed and who laughed hysterically. Brought to you by Flower Shop Network.

Forget A Birthday? Send Flowers With These Belated Birthday Card Messages

Oh no! You’ve missed the birthday! What to do, what to do? Send flowers. I know. It seems to be my answer for everything but trust me on this one. Short of an apology on bended knee and a round of sobbing, there isn’t a much better way to say “I’m sorry for forgetting the birthday of someone so special to me.” In lieu of the first option, belated birthday flowers seem like a much better idea.

While weeping and pleading are probably not right up there on everyone’s list, sending flowers is quick and easy. In other words, having a local florist deliver a belated birthday bouquet is the best way to humbly recognize a forgetful slip up while not having to spend all day groveling for mercy at the feet of the offended one.

Many people have a heard enough time finding the right birthday card message, let alone sifting through lists and lists to find belated birthday card messages that practically jump off of the page. Local florists, being all too familiar with the humble needs of forgetful loved ones, have contributed to this list of the best belated birthday card messages for just such an occasion.

15 Card Message Reminders That It’s Never To Late To Say Happy Birthday

1)       (Funny) 29 again? Talk about recycling! Happy Belated Birthday

2)       May God grant you a day filled with happiness, a year filled with joy.

3)       Today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. You deserve a lifetime of beautiful tomorrows. Happy Belated Birthday.

4)       (Funny) At birthday time, it’s good to remember our friends. Actually, it’s good to remember anything! Happy Belated Birthday

5)       Because you’re you I’m celebrating your birthday yesterday! Because I’m me, I’m celebrating it today! Happy Belated Birthday

6)       Count not your years by adding the days but with joy count the friends you’ve made on the way. Wishing you a year of joy and friendship.

7)       For your birthday, I wanted to get you the thing you need most but how do you gift-wrap a 25-hour day? Happy Belated Birthday

8)       Go ahead and have another birthday if you want to. But don’t expect me to keep up with you. Happy Belated Birthday.

9)       (Funny) Can you guess what I want to be when I grow up? As much fun as you! Happy Belated Birthday.

10)   (Funny) Happy Belated Birthday. You’ve got a great life, you look wonderful, and your health is good. How could a measly present from me compete with that?

11)   (Funny) Happy Belated Birthday to someone who still looks good. In fact, almost lifelike.

12)   Your birthday is truly an event worth celebrating! Happy Belated Birthday.

13)   (Funny) You should really celebrate on your birthday. Take TWO naps today.

14)   Wishing you birthday memories to hold close to your heart! Have a Beautiful Day.

15)   (Funny) Wanted to send you something really nice for your birthday but the machine just kept taking my quarters. Happy Belated Birthday.

Haven’t found the one you want yet? Follow this link for a printable list of all belated birthday enclosure card messages. Brought to you by Flower Shop Network.