Teleflora, the world’s leading flower wire service, recently announced its plans for the 10th anniversary of Teleflora’s Make Someone Smile® Week, starting from Sunday, July 18 through Saturday, July 24. Thousands of Teleflora memnber florists and community volunteers will deliver bouquets in the company’s keepsake gift Be Happy® Mug, to those most in need of a smile — such as hospital patients, senior citizens living in nursing homes and assisted living homes. In honor of the 10th anniversary, Teleflora will also award 10 lucky member units a check for $1,000 to be given to a charity of their choice.

Teleflora plans to donate more than 50,000 of their Be Happy® Mugs to its member florists, who will work with local wholesalers and growers to secure donated flowers. Local Teleflora florists will use these donations to design cheerful Be Happy® Bouquets, full of roses and daisies, and deliver them to residents in their local communities.

Since its launch 10 years ago, Make Someone Smile® Week has become the floral industry’s most successful charitable program. In 10 years, more than 22,000 florists in the U.S. and Canada have donated their time. Teleflora’s program has delivered more than 200,000 bouquets to those most in need of a smile.

It’s your choice in life to do good things for others. Good deeds are a elusive trait not particularly evident to everyone, yet we are reminded on occasions that the world is full of kind hearted souls of compassion, who strive to genuinely do  good. 

You dont’ have to sit back and waite for opportunity to do good. Often it only takes a small gesture to change someone’s outlook on life when they might feel down. It’s the little things that can make a difference, such as volunteering at a food-bank, donating to your favorite cause or sending someone a bouquet of flowers.

For more information on Teleflora’s Make Someone Smile® Week visit http://www.teleflora.com/make-someone-smile-week-flowers.asp or how you can get involved, call 310.966.8328.

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Flowers have always been a great way to celebrate special occasions. But maybe it’s time to think differently and not wait for a special occasion to send someone flowers.

This summer, as we delight in spending more time outdoors with family and friends, enjoying our summer vacations and the warm weather how about the idea of sending someone flowers as a goodwill gesture as continuation of a joyful summer. This idea is the basis for the 1-800-Flowers.com campaign ‘Summer of Smiles‘.

As the world’s leading floral & gift shop, 1-800-Flowers.com is once again launching its ‘Summer of Smiles‘ campaign, encouraging its customers across the nation to send someone they know a bright bouquet of summers flowers and gifts that will leave a smile on their face – no special occasion required.

The ‘Summer of Smiles’ campaign will have 1-800-Flowers.com team up with various celebrities and renowned personalities throughout the summer to surprise fans and deliver smiles to unsuspecting customers. 

To encourage as many people as possible to participate, 1-800-Flowers.com is hosting a ‘Summer of Smiles’ sweepstakes to reward those who know how to make someone smile. Starting July 1, 2010, customers can submit who they would like to send a smile and why and be entered for the chance to win the Happy Day Bouquet™.  No purchase necessary to enter or win.

For more information on the ‘Summer of Smiles’ sweepstakes visit www.1800flowers.com/smile.

Here a just a few of floral arrangements designed to celebrate the summer holidays:

Summer Rose Mix Bouquet– Bright orange, yellow and green colors radiate from this 18-stem bouquet that is bound to bring some extra sunshine to someone in your life

Berry Beautiful™ – A vibrant combination of carnations, roses, and daisy poms arranged in a hand-designed berry bowl is a reminder of summer fruits and the sweetness of the season

To view the full summer flower collection visit www.1800flowers.com.

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What wedding flowers will cost you for the average wedding?

The good news is that flowers are not a huge cost for the average wedding.

In a research report but together by Krystal Wynn in bridepop.com, she breaks down the True Ccost of an Average Wedding.

The report indicates how much on average is spent on everthing from the wedding flowers, photographer, dresses for brides maids, favors, etc.,  - simply the entie wedding. See chart below courtesy of bridepop.com:

The Cost of Wedding Flowers

When it comes to wedding flowers, they only make up about 5% of the total wedding on average, which is just under $1,970. This includes bridemaid bouquets, corsages, bridal bouquets, flower girl flowers and decorative pieces.

The largest amount of spent on the average wedding is on the Reception, which will account for nearly 40% of the total cost.

The wedding budget is always an important deal when it comes to planning a wedding. Couples are usually careful not to spend to much on the essentials to make the day perfect. So now you can use this report as a template to go but if you’ve ever wanted to know what costs what for the average wedding. 

The bride and her bridemaids will certainly take plenty of photos and having the right bridal boquet averaging around $169 and bridesmaid bouquets at $274 gives brides to be an idea of what expense to expect.

Most of your wedding guest will spend most the wedding day celebrating with the bride and groom at the reception, having decorative centerpieces with flowers are key to a well planed and decorated reception.

Check your wedding expenses again against this chart if your budget is around $40,000. Be carefull not to get over charged on your wedding flowers.

Did you spend to much on your wedding flowers? Does this sound about right to you?

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The Thanksgiving holdiay is just around the corner. With Teleflora you can add a touch of elegance to your dinner table with a world famous Lenox bone china accented with 24k gold, along with Lenox flatware and crystal stemware by entering in the Teleflora’s Gather Round the Table Sweepstakes.

There will be 10 grand-prize winners that will be chosen to receive Lenox Fruitiffero China including a 4-piece place setting for twelve, Stemware for twelve and Flatware for twelve. Each grand prize is worth a whopping $3,000.  

In addition, 100 first-prize winners will receive a Thanksgiving Platter worth $200. The best part is that there is no purchase necessary to enter the contest.

If your Thanksgiving diner table  in the past has been a little less than extraordinary give your self a chance to dine in style. If the turkey diner doen’t leave the best impression at least the china set will.

Teleflora also has a Thanksgiving centerpiece to boot that comes with a ceramic sauce boat keepsake, that is a sculpted leaf design, FDA-approved for food.

To enter the Gather Round the Table Sweepstakes you need to be a resident of the US and Canada aged 18 and above. Enter the sweepstakes once before December 11, 2009.

American author, poet, playwright L.Frank Baum started the Oz book series in 1900 with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It quickly became one of the most popular books ever out of the series. After MGM bought the rights to make The Wizard of Oz in 1937, the movie was an instant success after its release in 1939.

The Wizard of Oz  remains a classic film that has thrived for several decades. It’s a timeless theatrical performace that has entertained the young and old a like.

In conjunction with a September 29 release of The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary 2-Disc Special Edition) Teleflora, a  leading flower wire service, has created an empressive keepsake gift, The Wizard of Oz Bouquet. The new Teleflora arrangement celebrates the release of the 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition of the film.

There remians a large fan base of Oz enthusiast with hundreds of personal web sites dedicated to everthing Oz. Warner Bros. Entertainment has for the past year been celebrating the 70th anniversary The Wizard of Oz, with a number of spectacular events around the world.

Teleflora’s The Wizard of Oz Bouquet is a hand-painted sculpture of the  characters, the Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Dorothy and little Toto, skipping down the yellow brick road.  

The floral arrangement features the sweet smells of button-spray chrysanthemums, roses and alstroemeria, all in a yellow shade to highlight the bright future ahead. The bouquet is now only available for pre-order only until September 21st, 2009 at Teleflora.

If you love the timeless story of The Wizard of Oz you might like this  collectible.

Teleflora is one of the leading floral services and products company in the world with a network of florist in the thousands. They have taken this network and spearheded a campaign to bring smiles to the thousands of people young and old who need it the most.

The cause which has been around since 2003 and dubbed the Make Someone Smile(R) Week is the floral industry’s leading benevolent project.

Sponsored by Teleflora thousands of Teleflora member florists and community volunteers will help to deliver bouquets in the company’s keepsake Be Happy(R) Mugs to those most in need of a smile – such as hospital patients, senior citizens living in nursing homes and assisted living homes and recipients of Meals-on-Wheels programs. The program will run from Sunday, July 19 through Saturday, July 25.

The program has had measurable success over the last couple of years. The first year, over 8,000 arrangements were delivered throughout North America. The number rose to 17,000 arrangements in the next year.

They couldn’t accomplish this however without there national network of florist who work with wholesalers and growers to secure flower donations while Teleflora donates all of the keepsake Be Happy® mugs.

For more information on Teleflora’s Make Someone Smile(R) Week, and how you can get involved, please visit http://www.teleflora.com/makesomeonesmile or call 310.966.8328.

As a side note this isn’t the only cause Teleflora supports. They have also partnered with the Breast Canser Research Center to offer a Charity Bouquets doanting 15% of the cost of the bouquet to research and also the Stand Up to Cancer foundation donating 20% when you order the Stand up to Cancer bouquet.

No florist is perfect and often consumers get ticked off when they order flowers and don’t get the flowers when they expected. We expect the florist to correct the problem and even offer a little concession, which is usually in order. Teleflora may even be guilty of this at times yet they are willing to lend there brand name and reputation to social causes for the common good.

Maybe not all florist are purely there just to process your order. What do you think?

As a kid I always appreciated balloons no matter what color, shape, or size. Besides feverishly swatting them in the air as most kids generally do – providing hours of endless fun, or making water ballons there wasn’t much to do with them after that. You had to be careful not to play to rough or POW! bye-bye ballon.

But balloons like other toys have evolved and can now be mutated into different shapes and caricatures. I just love those creative balloon twisters you run into sometimes at the carnival or restaurant. I’m always amazed at how easy they are able to twist a balloon into a dog or a butterfly. I ran across this balloon twister demonstrating how to make a flower. Maybe you can try it!
 

Did anyone notice that December 12 was National Poinsettia Day? The day was declared in honor of the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett on December 12, 1851 by an Act of Congress.  How can we overlook the man who introduced us to what is now the most popular flower during Christmas.

Joel Roberts Poinsett was born on March 2nd, 1779 in Charleston, South Carolina. As a young person he was well educated, fluent in many languages (French, Spanish, Italian, and German) and studied medicine, law, and military science. Poinsett also traveled extensively to Europe and Asia as a young man.

Poinsett served the U.S. in numerous capacities from diplomat to being a member of U.S. House of Representatives.  He was appointed as the first United States Ambassador to Mexico from 1825 – 1829 by President Madison. It was during this time that he visited the area of southern Mexico called Taxco del Alarcon and discovered what was later to become known as the poinsettia. (The Aztecs referred to the winter-blooming plant as cuetlaxochitl; its Latin name is Euphorbia pulcherrima or “the most beautiful Euphorbia.”)

Poinsett, also an avid amateur botanist, sent samples of the plant home to the States and by 1836 the plant was most widely known as the “poinsettia.”

Today poinsettias represent over 85 percent of the potted plant sales during the holiday season. While California is the top poinsettia producing state, poinsettias are commercially grown in all 50 states. If you can’t find a real poinsettia plant there are many retail outlets that sale faux poinsettias.

Joel has introduced us to more than just a colorful plant, but a traditional holiday decorative symbol. And over the holidays the floral industry generates over $220 million dollars during the holiday season.

I’m not sure what else can be done on National Poinsettia Day other than buy poinsettias. Is anyone even paying attention?

Of course there is an NCCA Bowl game in San Diego named the Poinsettia Bowl. But shouldn’t they at least play that on Dec 12?