It’s that rare time of year when we have a few minutes to catch our breaths after blazing through another amazing wedding season and barrelling into corporate events season with a smattering of holiday madness. We get to take stock of an amazing 2016 and look towards the future.

We’re coming up on the anniversary of our favourite addition to the Fab family of products: the Bloom Box. In the past year, we’ve seen it grow from a new and exciting concept for Alberta to a fan favourite for every occasion — it turns out you can box up any event or occasion and wrap it up nicely with a bow. We’ve even caught the attention of Rogers Place and now our fabulous FaBLOOMosity Bloom Boxes are in the hands of some of our favourite celebrities.

The next big event for us is the busiest day of the year for your friendly neighbourhood floral atelier — Floral Black Friday, if you will — a.k.a Valentine’s Day. The farms and growers go into overdrive, the delivery trucks put on some serious mileage, and our hands turn into permanently crumpled claws. But we love it, we swear. It’s always nice to see the store’s workspace and bar crowded with full buckets of beautiful blooms that we get to turn into perfect custom designs for you or your lover (or your lovers — 2017, am I right?). Swipe right on us, and we'll do anything you want. Anything.

So here’s your survival guide to help you navigate the exciting and sometimes-hectic holiday of love.

1. Be prepared for price changes. This is the part we hate the most. Flower prices sky rocket from the farms and wholesalers, so we all have to adjust accordingly because we are only mere mortals at the mercy of the free market. But you can’t really put a price on making your loved ones happy, right?

2. If you’re stuck on what to get your lover, don’t panic. We get hundreds of orders from people who are just as clueless when it comes to pleasing a lover with floral artistry. It’s okay. That’s what we’re here for. Give us an idea of their favourite colours or even just tell us a little bit about them and we can put together something that suits their personality (or personalities *wink*).

3. If you want to get your special someone something that lasts as long as your love for each other, consider getting them an infant or a student loan debt because flowers can’t last forever, baby. That being said, we have magical ways of keeping flowers alive longer than you’d thought possible. In cases like these, we’d definitely recommend one of our bloom boxes over a traditional arrangement or cut bouquet because with the stems cut as short as they are in a bloom box, the flowers don’t need to work as hard to stay hydrated. With proper care and watering, your bloom box can definitely outlast any floral arrangement you’ve ever had.

4. For those of you who want to stick to the traditional route because a box is scary, we've got some beautiful roses on the way, and we're not exaggerating when we say they're 6 feet long. Yes, sometimes size matters, okay?

5. If you've got a lover who's extra — and let's face it, we all know someone who does — don't be afraid to pair up your order with some of our add-ons: Jacek chocolates, Modern Gravity floats, or fancy Justine Ma cards that tell them you "love the shit out of them".

6. Finally: Pre-order. Pre-order. Pre-order. As we’ve said before, V-Day is the busiest day of the year; so the sooner we get your order, the better equipped and stocked we can be. So if you’ve got a specific flower in mind, some extra notice would be heaps of help for us to make sure we can get a hold of it — and if that’s impossible because of the season or something, it’ll give us ample time to find a suitable replacement for you.

And that’s all there is to know really. Keep your eyes and ears open for updates and new products we have rolling out in 2017 (like maybe a brand new line of decked out, restyled bloom boxes around Mother’s Day possibly *nudge nudge*). We’re super excited about this upcoming year, and we can’t wait to share it with all of you Fab Fanatics!

XOXO,

Team Fab