Valentine’s Day Inspiration

By Nita Robertson, AIFD, CFD

For the upcoming Valentine’s Day, which, in 2024, will be on a Wednesday, we want to help inspire you to develop artistic unique designs that appeal to your customer base while giving that wow factor. For Florists’ Reviews 2023 Valentine’s Day Contest floral designers from around the globe submitted Valentine’s Day designs to help inspire is for the upcoming holiday of love.

The winning designers have their work featured in our December issue, and the overall winner will receive a Florist Spotlight feature in an upcoming issue of Florists’ Review.

“Valentine’s Day holds a special place in my heart as it was my first introduction to the craziness that florists experience at certain times of the year. Organization is key, as is time management and I feel like I finally have a grasp on how to run during these exceptional moments.” shared Annie.

Honorable Mentions

“I have grown into a “floral translator” on behalf of my clients. I love using flowers to create non-verbal expressions of emotions!” explained Ursula.

“I am a creative with over 40 years of experience in floral art. I am passionate about flowers, foliages and unique designs. I’m always looking at new ways to use the unusual.” expressed Brenda.

Debra is a Floral Designer and Floristry Educator based in Tropical North Qld, Australia. She has a passion for wild and romantic blooms and loves experimenting with different products that she finds on her property.

“I’m a farm-based studio florist in south coast British Columbia, Canada. I grow and forage most to all of the flowers that I work with. I love the challenge of creating within the bounds of seasonal limitations, and I enjoy finding and working with natural foraged materials from my farm and surrounding areas.” shared Marie.

Marketing Tips for Valentine’s Day

Social Media: Prepare your content, and have it scheduled and ready to go before you get too busy.

Early Ordering/Early Delivery: Encourage your regular customers to order early! Maybe offer free delivery or a free add-on as an incentive for orders placed for delivery on or before the 12th, for example.

Email Marketing: Email your customers to present your Valentine’s Day offerings and to remind them to order early. Get them to think about your shop before they start searching for other gift ideas online.

Google Ads: Boost your budget for February to increase exposure for your shop in internet search results (ads.google.com).

Multicolored Roses: Red roses are a Valentine’s Day staple because they symbolize romance and love, but promote other colors of roses—perhaps as one of your shop’s holiday specials—which are often cheaper than red, leaving you a bigger profit margin.

“Designer’s Choice”: Create and promote “Designer’s Choice” arrangements that feature beautiful but nontraditional Valentine’s Day flowers and color combinations, to help you navigate your fresh floral supply and avoid substitutions.

Fun Facts

• Long before it become a commercial celebration of romance and love, Valentine’s Day, also called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, was as a religious celebration—a Christian feast day established by the Catholic Church to honor one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine. One of the martyrdom stories is an account of the imprisonment of a Roman priest named Valentinus, known today as St. Valentine, for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century.

• February 14 was officially recognized as a secular holiday, Saint Valentine’s Day, by England’s love-struck King Henry VIII in 1537, and the composing and sending of rhyming love letters and amorous verses on that date became customary as a result.

• The tradition of giving flowers on Valentine’s Day dates back to the 17th century, when Sweden’s King Charles XI introduced the “Persian language of flowers” tradition to Europe by sending the first Valentine’s Day bouquet, with each flower conveying a specific meaning.

• The first heart-shaped box of chocolates was introduced in 1861 by English chocolatier Richard Cadbury.

• Nearly 6 million couples worldwide get engaged on Valentine’s Day.

• Americans send 145 million Valentine’s Day cards each year.

• Furry friends need love, too! In fact, around 27.6 million American households purchased Valentine’s Day gifts for their pet dogs in 2020, and more than 17.1 million picked up gifts for their pet cats.