For florists, Valentines day begins with a countdown that begins the day after Christmas. Here is a backstage look into what goes into the biggest day in a Florists calendar!
1. November
Venders, Warehouses, Growers, and Other floral/decor companies begin calling, mailing, and visiting us with Valentine flower choices, Ribbon, Vases, and gift-ware. We must then make our choices and order everything we need for the upcoming Valentines Day. Many companies, especially growers, hike prices up for this holiday, so ordering early is essential to get the lowest prices. We can then offer lower prices to customers, which is appreciated. It is helpful to have records from the previous year as to what we all sold, and what supplies we currently have in stock, so we know what to order. That gives us a base to start with. We also begin research as to what might be popular in the next year. Large Online floral companies, such as Teleflora and FTD carry specific bouquets with specific flowers and vases. It is vital that we estimate the most popular trends because if we pre-order a certain type of vase or flower that no one orders, we will be left with a pile of flowers, and if we underestimate the vases and flowers that become popular, we will run out too early and have to turn people away. A great example of this is that in 2014, the most popular arrangement that we sold on Valentines day was a bouquet in a lavender custom vase with lavender roses and purple/white stock. We sold out. Thankfully, many of our customers were just fine with substituting the vase and using other lavender flowers. So this is a very important step in the planning of Valentines Day.
2. End of December/ January
For most of December, we are preoccupied with Christmas. However, at the end of the month we turn our focus to Valentines Day. The slow task of unpacking all of our previous year's supplies begins. Immediately after New Years, our Valentine's Supplies begin arriving. It is a lot of fun to open up the boxes and see the shiny new red and pink vases, as well as some of the designer vases from FTD, which boasts quite a few designs from Better Homes & Gardens. We also unpack all of the new Ribbon, Red, Pink and white baskets, Stuffed animals, and greeting cards! It is time or us to slowly turn our shop over from a winter wonderland, into a Romantic-themed atmosphere! Much of this happens after hours, so that we are not inconveniencing our customers. We also start pre-making and organizing as much as we can. Valentine picks get separated into containers, vases and ribbon get stocked onto shelves so they are handy, and ribbon bows get made and placed onto special holders so they don't get smushed. We also bring out boxes of balloons and set them up in our balloon room. By mid January, most of our giftware and supplies are set up and organized!
It is in Mid-January that we also hold our annual "VALENTINES STAFF MEETING" where we discuss the role of every employee and designer. That way, each florist has a game-plan and knows what to expect on the big day. For Valentines Day, We have designated designers to create bouquets, front desk florists to assist walk-in customers and answer the phone that won't stop ringing, and delivery drivers to bring the beautiful bouquets all over Hutchinson and the surrounding area! We discuss all of our morning routes to schools, businesses, and special early A.M. requests. Our designated "Front Desk" florists are briefed on all of the new items we have available this year, the most popular bouquets, and the names of all of the online bouquets, (Because we get a lot of men asking for specific bouquets, and aint NOBODY got time to be lookin that up on Valentines)!
January is the perfect time to begin letting all of our customers know about the new exciting vases and giftware we have available! Our hope for this is that men will enjoy getting creative when it comes to choosing their Valentine's gifts, and start planning early. It is so much fun to see guys taking the time to tell us about what makes their girlfriend or wife special to them! We learn about their personality, favorite colors, flowers, and whether they like to go "big and blingy" or "sweet and simple". At Crow River Floral, we love adding a personal touch to your floral needs, so the more unique we can make it, the better! We let people know what we have available through our advertising and social media and our plans for this begin in early January, once we have a solid idea of what we all have to offer. Our advertising is primarily done by broadcasting through local radio stations such as KDUZ, and also through visual ads printed in the Hutchinson Leader. Planning our ads is fun because we get to share all of the new, creative things we have to offer!
3. February 1st-7th:
By February, our ads are all out, and the shop is completely ready for Valentine's Day! By Feb. 1st, We have already received several orders for Feb 13th & 14th. We encourage pre-ordering in our ads because they do stack up, and we create bouquets, and deliver them first come, first serve. When we receive an order, we immediately reserve the vase and other giftware that go with it. That really helps to keep things organized on the big day! By the 7th, we have a large pile of orders to fill! We also use this time to do all the last-minute organizing and making sure that we have enough boxes, bags, and cards for everyone.
4. February 8th-12th:
Our orders really start pouring in! A large portion of our custom vases are reserved for pre-orders. By the 12th we have received the bulk of our greenery and flowers. We do receive a lot more on the 13th and a special delivery early on the 14th to help us not run out. It takes all day to process the huge floral delivery on the 12th. Every spare container is used to put flowers in, and every square inch of our coolers are packed full! All of the stems on the flowers are full of leaves (and some thorns!) so it takes a lot of time to strip the foliage off of all the stems. It is important to do so, because when leaves sit in water, bacteria can grow. By the end of the day, our hands are scratched and raw, but the coolers are a beautiful sight to see after it is all finished!
Many people assume that the 14th is the only crazy day for florists when working for this holiday. However, the 12th-14th are all very busy days. We usually stay up late (11pm-12am) on the 12th creating bouquets for the 13th, as many many customers request delivery the day before the holiday. We usually go shopping for a personal stash of chocolates, candy, pop, and other snacks to munch on during these days, because meal breaks just don't happen!
February 13th:
The 13th is a very long day for every florist in the world! The day starts very early for us as we begin delivering flowers for everyone who has requested delivery for the day before. We usually receive such a high volume, that deliveries continue well past our store-closing hours. Our phones are also busy, ringing non-stop all day and into the night. By this time, the marjority of our custom vases are sold out, along with the most popular flowers for those particular designs. A team of designers also comes in to focus soley on the next day.
By 5:00pm closing time, we begin our "PRE-VALENTINE FLORIST PARTY" which starts out fun. Pizza is ordered, Caffiene flows freely, and some of the chocolate boxes get cracked open. Our goal for the 13th is to create all of the orders for the next morning, so that the first couple delivery runs go smoothly. Once that is completed, we begin on all of the other orders. By 9:30pm, it is usually suggested half-jokingly, that the phones get unplugged, since they have continued to ring non-stop. In 2014, we recieved so many orders for Valentine morning, that all we did on the 13th was create orders for the morning runs! Slowly, huge portions of flowers dissappear from our coolers and are replaced by finished designs. Our pizza is gone, and the caffeine is starting to wear off. We usually work until 2-3am. Do we get tired? Yes. Do we get delusional? Yes. Do some florists spend the night at the shop? Yeah..... Do we enjoy it? Absolutely!
Valentines Day:
The morning begins with taking a deep breath. Here we go! Running on low levels of sleep, and high levels of caffeine, we are ready to tackle the day! All hands are on deck by 7-7:30am getting things ready to be delivered asap! We open at 8:00am on Valentines day, so it is nice to get the delivery people on their way before customers start pouring in. Our designers dig in to the pile left from the night before and continue throughout the day. Some work on orders that get faxed to us through the internet, some work on regular orders, and some work on designing for walk-in customers. The front desk florists have their hands full with answering the phone and assisting walk-in customers. Because of all the pre-organizing, things go pretty smoothly, but we do get very very busy! It is an endless stream of designing throughout the day! This is also a fun day, because it is a treat to see a lot of guys walk in, and be able to help them choose the best arrangement to communicate their love and appreciation. Sometimes, it is something as classical as a dozen red roses, and sometimes we get special requests for unique bouquets!
A wonderful friend of ours brings in some food for us, but the volume of walk-in customers is so high that we usually don't get a break until 4pm. Instead, we graze on leftover assorted chocolate boxes and coffee from the night before. (It's still good, right?) It is all worth it though, to see our customers happy, and enjoying the process of personalizing their floral arrangements! Much of our floral supply and vases are running low by the end of the night, and deliveries usually wrap up an hour or two after we have closed. Every customer has been helped, and gone home with a beautiful bouquet! A lot of hard work has been spent on this holiday, but we wouldn't trade this crazy day for anything else, and it is always a privilege to be able to play such an important part in celebrating love!
