Read a great story about Kirkwood Florist -

 http://www.kirkwooddesperes.com/development/getting-to-know-you/527-getting-to-know-you-july.html

Valentines Day.....again

All of the ladies have known for quite some time what the guys are just starting to slowly figure out, Valentines Day is just a few days away. We know the perfect gift for that special girl or guy in your life, flowers of course. So now that we have the gifts taken care of, we'd like to share a little info about the holiday that, hopefully, you didn't know. We may sneak in a few gift ideas on the way....

Every Valentines Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived,
receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.

220,000 is the average number of wedding proposals on Valentines Day each year.

15 Percent of US women send themselves flowers on Valentines Day.

Over $1 billion worth of chocolate is purchased for Valentine's Day in the US.

Richard Cadbury produced the first box of chocolates for Valentine's Day in the late 1800s.

More than 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentines Day.

73 percent of people who buy flowers for Valentines Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.

Based on retail statistics, about 3 percent of pet owners will give Valentines Day gifts to their pets.

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

 Most likely you either love the season or find it incredibly stressful. Either way, there are some facts you may not know about -

• Christmas became a national holiday in America on June, 26, 1870
• An average household in America will mail 28 Christmas cards each year and see 28 eight cards return in their place
• The twelve days of Christmas are the days between Christmas Day and Epiphany [6th of January] and represent the length of time it took for the wise men from the East to visit the manger of Jesus after his birth

• During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the USA
• English Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas between 1647 and 1660 because he believed such celebrations were immoral for the holiest day of the year
• In 2004, the German post office gave away 20 million scented stickers free to make Christmas cards smell like a fir Christmas tree, cinnamon, gingerbread, or a honey-wax candle

• The Christmas tree displayed in Trafalgar square in London is an annual gift to the UK from Norway since 1947. The Norwegian spruce given is a token of appreciation of British friendship during World War II from the Norwegian people
• The twelve days of Christmas are the days between Christmas Day and Epiphany [6th of January] and represent the length of time it took for the wise men from the East to visit the manger of Jesus after his birth
• The first Christmas greeting by SMS was a simple 'Merry Christmas'

No matter your traditions or beliefs,we wish you and your family the safest and happiest of holidays.

Giving Thanks

We all know that Thanksgiving is always the last Thursday in November, but there are all sorts of other fun facts that don't always get talked about.

•  The Pilgrims ate items like lobster, hickory nuts, cabbage, goat cheese and squash at the first Thanksgiving.
• A writer named Sarah Josepha Hale is responsible for Thanksgiving's national holiday status. She asked President Abraham Lincoln to declare it an American holiday in October 1863.
• Nearly 90 percent of Americans eat turkey every Thanksgiving.
  

• Turkeys can't see well at night, and if they're raised commercially, they can't fly.
• Most Thanksgiving turkeys weigh about 15 pounds. They're usually 70 percent-to-30 percent white meat-dark meat.

                         

• The oldest Thanksgiving day parade was organized by Gimbels department story in 1920. The Macy's parade didn't start until four years later.
• The Wednesday before Thanksgiving has the most liquor sales of the whole year.

Don't Forget Dad

There are over 70 million Men in the United States that someone calls Dad. The 3rd Sunday of every June is celebrated as Fathers Day. In 1972 President Nixon signed a law stating it. So while Mothers Day gets most of the attention, deservedly so, we can't forget about our Dad's.

Father's Day is 4th largest card sending occasion with 87 million cards given every year. Over half of them are given to Fathers, while 15% are given to husbands. The majority of them are humorous in nature. 

Traditional gifts for Dad include neckties, shirts, golf clubs, fishing rods or any item from one of the many hardware stores in the US. It's probably safe to assume that the majority of meals eaten on Fathers Day, are Bar B Que.

Though it may be surprising some Dads receive flowers on Fathers Day.

Roses are the official flowers of Fathers Day.

There is an older tradition where a red rose is worn on your lapel if your 

Father is living and a white rose is worn if your Father is deceased.

Something for Mom

Mothers Day is a day for all. People always ask what the busiest holiday for flowers are, I always say that it is Mothers Day. Did you know some fun facts about Mothers Day...

In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared Mothers Day a National Holiday..

There are 50 Countries around the world that celebrate Mothers Day...

There are close to 4 Million Woman who give birth every year between the ages of 15 and 50...

India celebrates Mothers for 10 days in October...

The US State that has the most children per Mother is ..... Utah..

The amount of money spent in dollars on...

Cards - 671 Million

Flowers - 1.9 Billion

Gifts - 126 Million

The most expensive flower in the world is the Shenzen Nongke Orchid...

Top O' The Morning

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17th, because that it is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that St. Patrick died on March 17th in the year 461 A.D. In addition, March 17th is a worldwide celebration of Irish history and culture.

A few fun facts about St. Patrick's Day.

We should really be wearing blue - Saint Patrick himself would have to deal with pinching on his feast day. His color was “Saint Patrick’s blue,” a light shade. The color green only became associated with the big day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.

It's a big deal in Ireland - As you might expect, Saint Patrick’s Day is a huge deal in his old stomping grounds. It’s a national holiday in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.

New Yorkers take it seriously too - New York City’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is one of the world’s largest parades. Since 1762, 250,000 marchers have traipsed up Fifth Avenue on foot – the parade still doesn’t allow floats, cars, or other modern trappings.

It used to be a dry holiday - For most of the 20th century, Saint Patrick’s Day was considered a strictly religious holiday in Ireland, which meant that the nation’s pubs were closed for business on March 17. (The one exception went to beer vendors at the big national dog show, which was always held on Saint Patrick’s Day.) In 1970, the day was converted to a national holiday, and the stout resumed flowing.

There is a reason for the Shamrock's - How did the shamrock become associated with Saint Patrick? According to Irish legend, the saint used the three-leafed plant as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland.

Other facts -

The world has quite a bar tab - All of the Saint Patrick’s Day revelry around the globe is great news for brewers. A 2012 estimate pegged the total amount spent on beer for Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations at $245 million. And that’s before tips to pubs’ bartenders.

The Leprechauns earned their Gold -  Another little-known fact from Irish lore: Leprechauns earned that gold they’re guarding. According to legend, leprechauns spend their days making and mending shoes. It’s hard work, so you can’t blame them for being territorial about their pots of gold.

Their are no female Leprechauns - Don’t be fooled by any holiday decorations showing lady leprechauns. In traditional Irish folk tales, there are no female leprechauns, only nattily attired little  

guys.

The Lingo and it's meaning - You can’t attend a Saint Patrick’s Day event without hearing a cry of “Erin go Bragh.” What’s the phrase mean? It’s a corruption of the Irish Éirinn go Brách, which means roughly “Ireland Forever.”

Remember that flowers always enhance any celebration. Visit our website for St. Patrick's Day ideas.

www.kirkwoodflorist.com

Erin Go Bragh