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Love's Traditions Come At A Cost

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Love’s Traditions

Come At A Cost

By Nancy K. Crevier

If you want to say “I love you” in Newtown on Valentine’s Day, chances are you are going to take the traditional route, according to local florists and the town chocolatier. That means red roses and a heart-shaped box of fine chocolates.

“Valentine’s Day is a ‘men’s’ holiday, meaning that men do the buying and women do the receiving,” said Judy Grabarz, owner of Newtown Florist at 22 Church Hill Road. “In this area, it is traditionally a dozen long-stem red roses. Newtown is more conventional than other places in the country.”

Stacy Smith, floral manager, and Susan Stringer, floral designer, for Lexington Gardens agree. “Mostly men buy flowers for Valentine’s Day, and men think ‘cut flowers,’ or ‘roses’ when they are buying,” said Ms Stringer. The next most popular selection for Valentine’s Day after roses for Lexington Gardens shoppers is a bouquet of cut spring flowers, said Ms Smith. “We might be asked to do something different, like tulips or iris, but I would say our customers stay pretty traditional from year to year.”

Due to increasing costs passed on to florists by growers and shippers, and the steep increase in gasoline prices, saying “I love you” with roses is going to cost a pretty penny this year, said all of the florists. A dozen long-stem red roses will cost between $60 and $100, delivered, this year. Because of the high cost, Ms Grabarz said that she expects to do more mixed bouquets and arrangements this year than in the past. “We might need to get a little more creative to meet everyone’s budget needs,” said Ms Grabarz.

Despite a wide array of brightly colored tropical flowers and orchids available to customers, said Ms Grabarz, Valentine’s Day selections that are not roses tend to be only a mix of red, white, and pink flowers. “It really is a red and pink holiday,” she has noticed.

At both Lexington Gardens and Newtown Florist, additions to the holiday bouquet are available. Stuffed animals, decorative mugs, candy, and balloons are common supplements to an order, they said. At Newtown Florist, Ms Grabarz features chocolate bars from Newtown Chocolatier when jazzing up a floral arrangement for Valentine’s Day.

Unlike other holidays where the delivery date can be stretched out a bit, though, florists are generally tied to doing all of the deliveries on February 14, and that means a very long day for those who package floral valentines. The day of the week on which Valentine’s Day falls also dictates how busy a floral shop will be.

“If Valentine’s Day falls during the week, we will sell more flowers,” said Ms Smith. “On the weekends, we are competing with dinner out, so we expect to sell fewer flowers if Valentine’s Day is a Saturday or Sunday,” she said. With February 14 falling on a Thursday this year, it is a little harder to predict what will happen. It is close enough to the weekend that dinner out instead of an armful of roses might be the option sweethearts go for. At any rate, say the florists, they will have plenty of flowers on hand for everyone.

 Any prep work, such as filling water tubes for roses and making bows is done ahead, but the flowers themselves need to arranged and packaged the day of delivery. “Nobody wants to get their Valentine’s Day bouquet delivered on February 12th or 13th,” said Ms Grabarz. And most people request a before noon delivery on February 14.

The other twist in the February holiday that makes life complicated for florists is that orders tend to be placed at the last minute. “Two days before, one day before, and especially the day of are not at all unexpected,” said Ms Grabarz. But it makes no matter. It is all part of the job, and Valentine’s Day is just one of the holidays when they can be a part of making someone’s day special, said the florists.

“We get a beautiful spectrum of ages and people this time of year,” said Ms Grabarz, “from shy, little boys buying one rose, on up. I love it.”

Jack Elias, owner of Newtown Chocolatier at 71 South Main Street (Ricky’s Shopping Plaza), learned his lesson last February 14, his first Valentine’s Day as a chocolate store owner. In the days immediately prior to and especially the day of Valentine’s Day, his store was inundated with last minute valentine shoppers. “I had lines snaking all around inside the shop and I actually ran out of chocolates at one point, had to close, restock, and reopen,” said Mr Elias. So this year, he is ready for the onslaught.

Where in a normal week of chocolate making he will go through about 100 pounds of chocolate, he expects the week of February 11 to turn more than 500 pounds of his own blend of French, Belgian, German, and American chocolate into a variety of cast chocolates, truffles, and other delectables to fill the fancy ribbon-wrapped boxes that customers will want to win the hearts of their sweeties.

The popular chocolate last year was the passion fruit chocolate, said Mr Elias, “probably because of the name,” as well as the caramel-filled chocolate hearts. Newtown Chocolatier also features a handmade chocolate box dusted with edible gold and filled with mixed chocolates for Valentine’s Day, he said, as well as giant chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Heart-shaped Linzer torte cookies and heart-shaped shortbreads are among the assorted tea cookies available for $12 a pound, and make the ideal valentine for cookie lovers. Another valentine special this year will be Chocolate Mousse Cake for Two. A thick layer of mousse made from Belgian chocolate tops a chocolate Genoese cake and is wrapped in a hard dark chocolate coating. Fat ribbons of chocolate decorate the top.

As with flowers, though, love does not come cheap at the chocolate shop. A one-pound box of assorted premium handmade chocolates in a ribbon-wrapped box will set lovers back $34 this year.

But as Mr Elias motto says, “There is nothing better than a good friend — except a good friend with chocolate.”

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