News
Valentine’s Day 2025: Prep Tips & Trends
December 12, 2024
This article on Valentine’s Day 2025 comes from guest writer Gina Tarquinio, a floral designer based in the Philadelphia Suburbs and a member of our Young Professionals Council.
This piece contains photos of some of Gina’s designs—you can see more here!
Each year, Florists begin preparing earlier for the biggest day of the floral year: Valentine’s Day. This holiday is widely known for celebrating love and romance, with the most popular gifts to give being greeting cards, candy, and flowers. Flowers are our focus, which means finding ways to add other top sellers to the sale is a win-win situation for you and your customer. Your average order value will increase, and the customer can get all of their Valentine’s Day must-haves in one place!
Consumers will continue to prioritize spending on their significant others, partners, and loved ones in 2025. According to the National Retail Federation’s data from 2024, shoppers plan to spend approximately $185.81 per person, which is about $8.00 more than the last five years.
Set Up for Success: Best Prep Tips
Look Back
Review numbers from 2024 and years prior. This is crucial! These numbers help tell a story of how the holiday went that year. After a holiday, a post-holiday review is helpful to look back at. These reviews could include sales numbers, traffic patterns, orders (online, phone, and walk-in), deliveries and pick-ups, popular items/best sellers, add-ons, and any notes that might be helpful when planning for the next year.
Staffing
Be fully staffed! All staff should know the ‘bigger picture’ plan, i.e., Item Menu, Price Points, Hours, and Workflow. Train new staff and make sure your seasoned employees receive any needed refreshers. As with all teams, clear communication and delegation of responsibilities are of the utmost importance. To order your FREE care and handling poster to help your staff prepare, click here! If you need to hire for the holidays, check out AFE’s Career Center for recruitment resources, a resume pool, and more!
Repeat Customers
Reach out to your return customers ahead of time. This will help you get ahead of orders and make your return customers recognize that you took time to remember them and value their time and business. It also offers a reminder to them that the holiday is approaching, and even if they are not ready to order at that time, your outreach will have you at the forefront of their memory when they are ready to place their order.
Prep Items
Do a brief inventory of hard goods. Make sure that you are stocked on popular containers and supplies. As orders come in, try to have a team member pull containers, fill them with water, and dose them with flower food. Pre-green when possible. This is a huge time saver!
Trends to Expect in 2025
Valentine’s Day is a time to WOW a recipient more than any other!
Bold and unique continue to stay relevant when gifting flowers. Combining these two qualities with personalization, such as a meaningful/favorite flower, finishing touches like embellishments, or incorporating favorite candies into the presentation of an arrangement or bouquet, will make the gift even more memorable.
Expect metallics, pearl & ombre. These will add pizazz, bringing a fun/playful feel to your designs.
Anticipate more add-ons! Make sure to offer an array of add-on options or upgrades to your menu items. I anticipate certain styles will be popular overall, such as a moody color palette of black, deep red, deep purple, and lavender with gold accents, and romantic touches.
