September 10, 2010 at 10:18 pm | edit

I like you on Facebook ( Dana Victoria Klippert)
I really like the FDT Brilliant Meadow Basket (C17-4145)  I really like it for a birthday!

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Thanks everyone for participating in our contest! Our October contest will come out by Wednesday this week.

The florist to credit is Graham and Lane (based in Edmonton) and here are some pictures from the wedding. Aren’t they gorgeous?!

16th Annual FTD® Good Neighbour Day®
Wednesday, September 1, 2010

FTD is celebrating its 16th annual FTD Good Neighbor Day event on September 1, 2010. This year is extra-special as FTD is  also celebrating it’s 100th Anniversary of FTD this year. FTD Good Neighbor Day was started in 1994 by FTD Member Brook Jacobs, owner of Greenbrook Flowers in Jackson, MS.

The concept of the holiday is simple: florists like Shalimar Flower Shop, give away a bouquet of flowers to people in their community encouraging each recipient to keep one for them and hand the others away to make new friends and share kindness to strangers.

Want to participate in Good Neighbour Day? All you have to do is bring a non-perishable food item to assist the Knights Table with their work with those less fortunate in Brampton to  Shalimar Flower Shop, located at 227 Queen Street East. In return you’ll get some free flowers to enjoy and share with your Neighbours! For more details, give Ila a call at 905-454-4202.

Free flowers available while supplies last.

Click to view slideshow.
I’m a bit late on this contest as my daughter who helps me with this blog was out traveling for a bit. However, she’s back and we have a great contest for you.

One of the things my customers often ask me is provide a gift that is great for anyone. As some times they have someone who is picky about colours and types of flowers. Or sometimes they ask me for something that will last longer than the typical week or two. In these cases, I suggest a gift of planter basket is perfect!

This type of gift makes the perfect gift for a home or at the workplace. In the case of a planter basket, people always love adding some life to their office or home. And in the case of a gift basket – who can say no to some yummy food!

Details for this contest:

THE GIVEAWAY

One extremely lucky reader is going to win a Planter or Gift basket!!! $50 in value!

TO ENTER

To be entered to win;

• You must ‘like’ our facebook page or subscribe to our blog
• Please visit www.shalimardesigns.com to select your favourite gift of planter basket. Let me know in a comment, which one (state the name and product code) and what occasion you would like it for (i.e. Anniversary, Birthday, etc.).
• Selected Basket  must be $50 or less.
• Contest is open to Canadian & US residents, +19. Contest closes Sept 30th, 2010.
• Can enter on a daily basis but you must pick a different basket each time.

EXTRA ENTRIES

* Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
* Follow @shalimarflowers on twitter and ReTweet this giveaway

(can be retweeted daily – leave me the links} RT @shalimarflowers WIN gift of planter basket! Value $50 http://wp.me/pSJjS-2R)

Our special, very thoughtful winner is, Colleen Cole, for the below entry. Colleen wins a cute, 6 piece wine set!

I would love to give the The FTD® Share My World™ Bouquet C4-4032 CA 45.99 to my SIL on August 8th. That is the day her daughter will be born at William Osler in Brampton.

This little girl has been a long time coming. Her older sister is 8 years old, and her parents have been longing for a sibling for years. Finally, next month, she will arrive.

Angela’s favourite colour is pink, and she loves roses, so I picked out this bouquet especially for her.
Thanks for offering this contest!

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Thanks to everyone for participating in our contest! Details of our August contest are coming out soon! We were a bit busy with a number of wedding overs the past month, so we apologies for the delay!

As well – of course – I wanted to show that we reviewed everyone’s entries (some had multiple entries per post :S) and from the randomizer we got #7, which was Catherine in our tally.

Thanks again!

If you are wondering – why only 160 entries? Well there were a number of entries that didn’t follow the rules listed onthe contest and/or where more so comments about the prize vs. being an entry. After I took out all those entries, I was left with 160 entries. I then put this into the ‘True Random Number Generator’ found at www.random.org to get the number 22, which is Heather.

I apologize for not providing more real time feedback to those who were not entering properly and if you have any questions about the contest, please feel free to email me at shalimarflower [at] hotmail [dot] com

Thanks again to everyone for participating and for all the great comments about the prize! If you are interesting in purchasing this vase, we have it on sale to all our blog readers for $35! Click here to buy this product. Or to see our other products we offer at Shalimar Flower Shop, visit our website at www.shalimardesigns.com

I think what makes sense for future contests, if you can please enter each entry on a separate comment that would be SUPER helpful

This month, I’m happy to announce our give away is for a fresh flower arrangement (valued $50). The best part – you get to pick it

I think this is a great idea as, I LOVE  fresh flowers. The colours. The smells. The beauty. Everything about flowers make me smile and I’m lucky enough to work with them every day! For most people though, we forget how special flowers are and the feeling they can evoke. From celebrating an anniversary or a birthday, to showing a friend you’re there for them, to honouring a loved one – flowers are a thoughtful gift for any occasion. But where is the thought you ask? I mean you’re JUST getting flowers!

Well, in my opinion the ‘thought’ is when you pick flowers for someone with care and with them truly in mind. I’ll give you an example. I recently had a customer giving flowers as a gift for mother’s day. Instead of assuming what type of flowers to give, I asked the customer questions such as, what’s your mother’s favourite… flower? …colour? or is she more classic or a colourful type? etc. By asking these questions, I was then able to put together the perfect arrangement for the customer and his mother LOVED the flowers. Although the customer didn’t know what to get, by sharing with me some information about his mom, I was able to help him show how thoughtful he was.

For this contest, to win I would like to see YOUR thoughtfulness!

THE GIVEAWAY

One extremely lucky reader is going to win a beautiful fresh flower arrangement!!! $50 in value!

TO ENTER

To be entered to win;

• You must ‘like’ our facebook page
• Please visit www.shalimardesigns.com to select your favourite fresh flower arrangement. Let me know in a comment, which one (state the name and product code) and what occasion you would like it for (i.e. Anniversary, Birthday, etc.).
• Selected Flower Arrangement must be $50 or less.
• Contest is open to Canadian residents, +19. Contest closes August 12th, 2010.
• Can enter on a daily basis but you must pick a different flower arrangement each time.

EXTRA ENTRIES

* Subscribe via email
* Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
* Follow @shalimarflowers on twitter and ReTweet this giveaway

(can be retweeted daily – leave me the links} RT @shalimarflowers WIN a beautiful, fresh flowers! Value $50 http://wp.me/pSJjS-2m)

BONUS PRIZE

In the spirit of my post, I want to reward my most  ‘thoughtful’ reader with a BONUS, cute 6 piece glassware set with tray ($15). To win this prize, further to your entry, let me know why getting this arrangement would mean something to you or to someone you would give it to.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Let’s start with wine. Everyone likes wine right? Well, not really. On top of that, depending on what is being cooked, you need to make sure that wine is a good compliment. Now say that it’s a white wine, say a Chardonnay – now which type should you get? If you don’t know too much about wine, this could be a disaster.

Well how about a dessert? This could work too, but then you have to consider if there are other guests and if they have any major allergies. A gift may also be nice, but picking one out may be a bit cumbersome.

That brings me back to flowers – which I believe is an easy and quick way to show your appreciation to the host/hostess. I know whenever I’ve brought flowers, I’ve always been rewarded with a big smile. Some of my favourite arrangements are displayed here.Click to view slideshow.

But you say, it’s no so easy, what do I pick? Well here are some tips on making it easy.

1. Depending on the time of year or occasion, pick a theme that will match. If you provide some background it makes it easy as the florist to designs flowers that will best meet your needs.

2. Try to find out the host’s favourite colours/flowers and/or style. Since flowers last 2-3 weeks, you want to make sure the host feels the flowers fit into their home and to their preferences.

3. Consider whether the host will have a vase or not. If the host as a number of flowers, it may be nice to get a bigger bouquet and skip on the vase (with the money saved on the vase, I give a bigger bouquet). However, if it’s a large party or you know the host may be a bit busy with preparation, it may be just easier to give an vase arrangement that is ready to go.

4.  Consider where you want to put the flower arrangement. If you think the dinner table is a good spot, then a lower arrangement is better so the guests can still see each other. Likewise, if it’s for main hall or on the kitchen table, a nice, taller arrangement in a statement vase could make sense.

Other things you could consider giving:

• Plant dish garden: The great thing about this, is a plant will last a long time (if the host cares for it) and you can get a mix of green and flowering plants.

• Gift basket full of goodies: Gift baskets are always fun as they’re wrapped up and ready to give.

• Artificial Flowers or Plants: For those hosts you know won’t take care of the flowers or plants – get them a fake one! Now a days, artificial flowers and plants look and feel so real that’s worth the look. In my store, I have a large selection to chose from.

For more selection and ideas, please visit our store website at www.shalimardesigns.com or give me a call at 905-454-4202 and I can help you pick out the perfect flowers.