February 10, 2014 at 1:59 p.m.
Local businesses prepare for Valentine's Day
Local businesses prepare for Valentine's Day
By Kayla Thomason-
Fun Factory Sweet Shoppe has been making chocolates and goodies almost nonstop in preparation for Valentine's Day.
Their biggest seller is chocolate-covered strawberries, but other homemade chocolates are very popular too.
Fun Factory Sweet Shoppe chocolates are homemade, packaged and wrapped in store. They sell heart-shaped boxs that contain turtles, meltaways, caramels and other popular treats.
Fun Factory's big purple gorilla for Gorilla Grams is back this year to deliver sweets and songs.
"People can purchase him to send him to school, to someone's work, wherever they like and we bring chocolates and we play music and he dances, and delivers balloons, just to make it as fun and embarrassing, per se, as possible," said Brandi Gray, manager of Fun Factory Sweet Shoppe.
Valentine's Day is a very busy day for Forth Floral and Trig's Floral as well.
"We try as best we can to get people to order early and then to take delivery early so that way she'll have it all day on the 14th because she's going to get it the afternoon of the 13th already and then she knows you were thinking ahead and not just calling the florist at the last minute," said Ruth Hempel, owner of Forth Floral.
Trig's Floral prepares for the day with hundreds of flowers and fillers coming in the week leading up to Valentine's Day. They trim, water and arrange the flowers into gorgeous bouquets.
But that's the finished product. It generally takes a few days to rehydrate and tend to the flowers and staff have other tasks to attend to as well such as boxing up the assorted truffles and blowing up balloons.
"We have a lot of things premade ready for [the customers] just to pick up that day," said Mary Ewan, manager of Trig's Floral.
Flower shops say roses are still the number one flower given to a loved one on Valentine's Day.
There are also some arrangements that aren't as traditional but allow for more variety and color, which seem to be popular in light of the neverending winter.
Trig's has a wildflower arrangement with a single rose in a red mason jar to brighten the table, if someone wants a more spring feel. Forth Floral has a spring mix and a tulip arrangement.
What all the florists recommend is to order flowers early to ensure that one is already set aside.
"People want their valentine delivered on Valentine's Day," Ewan said. "And if it can be delivered to the office or to the workplace that's what makes the biggest wow," added Ann Cline, the floral designer at Trig's.
Some good tips to keep flowers alive longer is to keep the water and vase clean. If you purchase flowers from Forth Floral, add the flower food packet that comes with them, and never put the arrangement next to a heat source. Hempel also recommends keeping the flowers in a cool room at night.
"I read a statistic somewhere that like 80 percent of women can remember the last time they got flowers because it just stays with them," Hempel said.
In the midst of a cold and dreary winter "having something alive and colorful and fragrant in your house is huge," added Hempel.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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