Light the candles. Royer’s annual birthday card design contest is back.
Children ages 5 to 12 may enter the contest at any time through June 30.
The winning design will adorn the Royer’s Kids Club birthday card, which will be emailed to all kids club members on their special days.
The winning artist will receive free flowers on his or her birthday.
Entry forms are available at all Royer’s stores or downloaded at royers.com/kidsclub. To be eligible, entries must be dropped off at a Royer’s store by June 30.
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Making of Mother’s Day: Charmed Cube arrangement
It’s Mother’s Day, but many days go into making it a truly special occasion.
Our central design department in Lebanon is handcrafting thousands of arrangements across eight days in order to help meet the needs of our stores.
Below are photos of one team making our Charmed Cube arrangement. It comprises a four-inch raspberry-colored cube; hot pink carnations; pink mini-carnations; lavender daisy pompons; lavender button pompons; and babies breath.
Think Mom would like it? You can click here to send her one.
We’ll make your wedding day: flowers customized to your vision and budget
The HGTV series “Property Brothers” always starts with a couple oohing and ahhing over a gorgeous home that, ultimately, they can’t afford.
Never fear, the twin-brother hosts help the couple find a fixer-upper that affordably mimics their dream home.
That dynamic is not unlike what we encounter with some prospective brides who come to us with photos of gorgeous photos they’ve found online, such as on Pinterest. Sometimes the flowers in those photos are more expensive than a wedding budget will allow.
Erica Bixby, store manager for us in Hershey, cited the example of a bride who fancies peonies.
“Well, they’re available in the spring, but in the winter you’re going to pay five times the amount for them,” Erica explained. “But there are flowers that we could get in that could create that look.”
Peonies in the winter might run $25 per stem. As an alternative, she suggested polo roses, which open like peonies.
“It’s very pretty, and it’s more affordable,” she said.
‘CREATING THAT VISION’
Erica and the rest of Royer’s wedding designers can customize a wedding plan that captures the bride’s vision but also falls within her budget.
“You can have centerpieces and bouquets and boutonnieres and everything you need, but sometimes your vision might be $20,000,” Erica said. “Well, I can create that vision for you for less.”
Royer’s has more than 30 designers and store managers trained in weddings, many of them with 25 or more years of experience. In a single year, we’ll serve more than 500 brides, big wedding (photos above and video below) or small, start to finish.
We offer wedding packages, but we also do lots of custom work. For instance, Beth Ruf, wedding designer at our Lancaster North store, helped bride-to-be Valerie Beyer with her “Alice in Wonderland” theme.
FREE CONSULTATION
Royer’s wedding consultations are free.
Erica said most wedding work begins with a phone call. She will ask the bride-to-be a series of questions: name, wedding date, venue, vision. If the future bride has pictures that capture her vision, she can email them to Erica ahead of their consultation or bring them to the appointment.
Erica also keeps her own book of ideas. She sets aside an hour for each consultation and recommends three months for planning purposes; flowers are ordered one month prior to wedding day.
“Everything should be finalized a month before your wedding,” she said, “but three months gives us enough time if you want anything out of the ordinary.”
Whether it’s Erica and Stephanie Allen in Hershey, Beth Ruf at Lancaster North, or a wedding consultant at any of our other stores, you can find contact information for them here.
Our wedding consultants are always happy to answer any questions that brides may have.
Magnetic ceramic pot + hardy plant = minimal care
Talk about having magnetic personality.
LiveTrends Design Group has come out with what the Florida-based company calls “magnetic living art,” pairing non-scratching magnetic ceramic pots with hardy plants that require minimal care.
“Water once a month and display anywhere,” according to LiveTrends.
How about sticking one on your refrigerator at home or on a filing cabinet at work?
A pot would make a great Administrative Professionals Day gift or end-of-school year present for a teacher or bus driver. Plenty of customers are buying pots for themselves, which is OK, too.
The pots (each one fits in your hand) come in multiple colors with one of two plant families: succulents or bromiliads. They retail for $8.99 each and are available in all of our stores.
LiveTrends has only been around for a few years. Bisser Georgiev started the company after 20 years with Hermann Engelmann Greenhouses, a leader in the indoor houseplant industry.
Of his new venture, Georgiev said: “I want to see it as a playground more than just a company.”
Who wouldn’t want to play with one of these fun magnetic pots?
Making of a Mixed Spring Garden arrangement
With spring and Easter fast upon us, our central design department is hopping to it.
This team was hand-crafting our Mixed Spring Garden, which includes a three-bloom hyacinth, mum, tulip, birch branch and silk forsythia bush.
Football just had its biggest day, now it’s our turn
Valentine’s Day is to the floral industry what the Super Bowl is to professional football.
But it’s not a perfect analogy because everyone wins when it comes to beautiful flowers, whether you’re on the giving or receiving team.
Our pre-game festivities are in full bloom, as evidenced by these photos from our Lebanon distribution center and central design department.
Saluting two customers: one’s service, the other’s kind gesture
Kate Carver is assistant manager of our Harrisburg East store, but on this January Sunday she was filling in at Royer’s sister store, Stephenson’s Flowers & Gifts on Jonestown Road near Harrisburg.
As sometimes happens on Sundays, the store was quiet for a spell until two customers came in, one after the other.
The man, in his 30s, told Kate of his impending military deployment. That night, there was to be a going-away party in his honor. He wanted flowers for the family he would be leaving behind: his wife, 5-year-old daughter, and 2-year-old son.
He was emotional, Kate said. He wasn’t crying, but he was nervous and there was a catch in his voice. He had been overseas before but not since his children had been born.
“He said, ‘It’s definitely feeling different,’ ” Kate said. He said he could not say where he was headed this time.
Meanwhile, the other customer, a woman, browsed while Kate and the man talked. Kate said she would be with the woman shortly, but the woman betrayed no impatience.
The man settled on a mixed bouquet for his wife, a rose with filler and a bow for his daughter, and a Gerbera daisy for his son. He added smiling stick-in balloons for each of the children.
The woman had overheard the conversation. As Kate began to ring up the man’s order, the woman rushed over to the counter.
“I’d like to take care of that,” the woman said.
No, no, no, the man said. That isn’t necessary.
Please, it’s the least I can do for your service, the woman insisted.
The man, the woman, and Kate teared up. The man and the woman hugged.
The man gathered up his flowers and headed out. Kate sensed that he was on the verge of breaking down with emotion.
The next day, Kate sent the woman a bouquet of tulips.
“It was one of those moments that I wanted to thank her for creating that moment,” Kate said.
With snow coming, Saturday’s kids club event moved to Jan. 30
Into each life, some rain – and snow – must fall.
And with plenty of snow in the forecast for this weekend, we’re playing it safe and moving our Royer’s Kids Club event to Jan. 30.
If you already had reserved a spot at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m., your registration automatically will move to Jan. 30. Only if you can’t join us on the new date do we ask you to call your local store to cancel your registration.
Otherwise, we look forward to kicking off the 2016 kids club schedule and making Valentine’s Day arrangements with you on Jan. 30.
Kids club’s 2016 schedule begins Jan. 23 with free Valentine’s Day event
We’re asking participants to put their hearts into our free Royer’s Kids Club event on Jan. 23.
Children ages 5 to 12 will have an opportunity to create a Valentine’s Day arrangement. Participants also will receive a free balloon.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Registration is required by calling your nearest Royer’s store.
This is the first of five kids clubs events planned in 2016.
Royer’s saluting military veterans with free red, white and blue bouquets on Nov. 11
Royer’s will salute military veterans with free red, white and blue bouquets on Nov. 11.
Any veteran who stops by one of our 16 area stores on Veterans Day will receive a bouquet.
“The men and women who have served in our military protected our freedoms every day, often in far-off places and always at great personal sacrifice,” said Greg Royer, president and CEO of the family-owned florist.
“This is our small way of recognizing and honoring their selfless service to our country.”
Click here for store locations and hours.