Mother’s day can be tricky.  Sometimes it’s not so easy to choose what to send… Mother’s day flowers are a traditional gift.  But what type of flowers?   What style of arrangement?  Does she want a flower basket?  Or a traditional bouquet?  Lilies or roses?  And what colour?  Argh!

Don’t worry.

This year you can win the perfect prize.  A prize which blows the others out of the water (we think).  You can win flowers. Each month.  Every month.  For a whole year.

That’s right.  This Mother’s Day, up for grabs is this wonderful prize worth £370.  With the first bunch of flowers and vase sent on Mother’s Day itself (it’s on Sunday 3rd April) and a bunch of flowers worth £30, each month, for 12 months.  Needless to say, she will be delighted!

For your chance to win it could not be simpler:

1. Follow @ArenaFlowers on Twitter

2. Retweet

RT @ArenaFlowers RT & Follow for a chance to #win £370 of flowers this Mother’s Day http://bit.ly/uryd Our flowers: http://bit.ly/lovemum ❀

You can copy and paste the text as a tweet or click here and it will tweet it for you:

3. We will pick a random follower who has retweeted our competition on Thursday 31st of March at midday.

What are you waiting for? Go tweet!

(If you want want to have a look at the Terms and Conditions for the competition you can find them here).

Please have a peek at our Mother’s Day flowers and remember that we will be delivering on Sunday 3rd April.  If you would like to send a hint to your family and loved ones take a look at our Mother’s Day wishes page.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Brenda was our very deserving Arena Flowers Mum of the Year.  Brenda was nominated by her daughter Lisa and received her bouquet as a surprise on Mother’s Day.  Lisa wanted to thank Brenda for all her support and high spirits during a difficult time for the whole family.

Lisa sent in this picture of Brenda enjoying her flowers and wine.

Thanks for nominating her, Lisa. We are glad she enjoyed her flowers!

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

**UPDATE: We are pleased to announce that Brenda is the winner of the Arena Flowers Mum of the Year competition**

Thank you for all the entries and for all who voted.

Happy Mother’s Day.

We have had many wonderful entries for the 2010 Arena Flowers Mum of the Year competition.  We’d like to thank everyone who nominated their Mum or Mums they know – there were some very inspiring stories.  Mother’s Day is a lovely time of the year and it’s wonderful to celebrate Mums and guardians everywhere.

We have narrowed down the nominations to 15 finalists (no easy task considering the fantastic entries):

Adele
Adele has been nominated by Jane, who wants to thank Adele for being a source of strength through trying times, and for treating Jane and her partner so well.

Ann

Brenda

Christine

Jane

Margaret

Margaret M

Marion

Rachel

Sara

Sarah

Sue

Susan

Sylvie

Tina

If you didn’t manage to nominate your mum but still want to send her some flowers, please see our Mother’s Day flowers range.

(P.S. People are reporting difficulties voting from Safari for Mac browsers – if this applies to you,  I’m afraid you’ll have to use a different browser to place your vote.)

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Do you know a mum who would love to receive a free luxury Arena hand-tied bouquet plus a selection box of scrummy luxury handmade chocolate, all worth £100?

We’re searching the length and breadth of Great Britain to find Arena Mum of the Year 2010.

Nominate your mum (or someone else’s!) by simply submitting a (nice!) picture and supporting statement in the form below and you could make a mum’s day this Mothering Sunday with our gorgeous Mother’s Day flowers! But hurry: nominations end mid-day Monday 8th March! Public voting begins soon after with the winner announced Friday 12th March.

Having problems with this form? Email your nominations to customer@arenaflowers.com
See our full range of Mother’s Day Flowers & Gifts.

1. This competition is open to all nationals (over the age of 16), however delivery restricted to the UK, Belgium, France, Germany and Holland only.
2. Period of promotion: Nominations must be entered between Tuesday 2 March 2010 and Monday 8th 2010 12:00:00, inclusive, UK time.  Arena Online Ltd reserves the right to revise this date and extend the period.  Voting closes on Friday 12 March 2010 17:00:00.  The winner will be announced on Friday 12 March 2010.
3. The winner will be awarded a £100 to spend on ArenaFlowers.com.  The prize can be redeemed across the flower and chocolate range, in one order only and can only be for UK delivery.
4. The lucky nominees will have the pictures submitted used and published on this site for purposes related to the competition, so please be happy with this before entering the competition.
5. If you have any questions or queries relating to this promotion, please contact our team via customer@arenaflowers.com.
6. If we believe anyone is abusing the promotion or seeking to defraud Arena Online Ltd we reserve the right, at our absolute discretion, to rescind this or any other offer without notice. We believe in fairness.
7. The competition is as stated and there will be no alternative offer or cash substitute.
8. By entering the competition, customers will be deemed to be bound by and have accepted these terms and conditions. Entrants must read and accept the website terms and conditions and privacy statement to be eligible.
9. English law applies and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any proceedings in connection with this competition.
10. Arena Flowers reserves the right to vary these terms and conditions in the event of circumstances arising beyond its reasonable control.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

We’ve been a little quiet on the blog front this past few weeks – call it a little blog break while we recovered from the excitement of serving sumptuous fresh flowers to the nation’s romantics on Valentine’s Day, then just a few weeks later, creating the perfect Mother’s Day bouquet arrangements for mums, grandmas and godmothers across the UK.

But it doesn’t stop there, it is actually only Great Britain, Ireland and Nigeria that celebrate Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday of lent and, in fact, most of our international cousins consider May to be the month of Mothering Sundays with the most popular date falling on the second Sunday of May.

It is generally believed that Mother’s Day is celebrated internationally around the world on a variety of days through the year because the event has a number of different origins. For instance, in Iran the day originally commemorated the birthday of Fatima, Muhammad’s daughter. In Canada, Mother’s Day was introduced in the mid-19th century as a call to unite women against war.

With our burgeoning portfolio of European ventures in the guise of Arena Bloemen (Netherlands), Arena Blumen (Germany), and Arena Bloemen Belgium, as well as our international flower delivery service, our development team now consider Arena mums all year round, not just for Mother’s Day.

To help them, and you, here’s a comprehensive list of the countries we serve, and their respective Mother’s Days for the next twelve months…

May 3rd: Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain.

May 8th: South Korea (Parents’ Day)

May 10th: USA, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, India, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Leichtenstein, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Switzerland, Trinidad, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.

May 15th: Paraguay.

May 26th: Poland (“Dzień Matki”).

May 27th: Bolivia.

May 30th: Nicaragua.

May 31st: Dominican Republic, France, Mauritius, Morocco, Sweden, Tunisia.

June 14th: Luxembourg.

June 28th: Kenya.

August 12th: Thailand.

August 15th: Antwerp Province (Belgium), Costa Rica.

October 12th: Malawi.

October 14th: Belarus.

October 18th: Argentina.

December 8th: Panama.

December 22nd: Indonesia.

Between 30th January – 1st March: Israel.

February 2nd: Greece.

February 14th: Norway.

March 8th: Armenia. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine.

March 14th: UK, Ireland.

March 21st: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

March 25th: Slovenia.

April 7th: Armenia.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to know more about Mother’s Day, check out Will’s rather excellent blog post on the moon’s influence on when we celebrate Mother’s Day in the UK.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

We love our customers – we really do – and absolutely nothing gives us more pleasure than to make someone’s day by delivering our flowers. But sometimes customers can make life very interesting for us here at Flowers HQ, and they sometimes think we have almost magical powers of divination!

Here, in a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek way, are some of our favourite customer interactions over the last two years…

To speed up your order, always have your recipient’s full address to hand:

♥ Arena CS: “I’m afraid the order to Mrs X will be delayed, as you indicated that the delivery address, in Columbia, South America, is within Greater London, UK.”

♥ Customer: “I don’t have the full address of where he lives, can I send you an aerial image of the house, taken from space?”

♥ Customer: “I know he lives in Bromley but I’m not too sure where; your driver can ask a local shopkeeper, he’s very popular in the area.”

International enquiries are sometimes a challenge:

♥ Customer: “I’m trying to find out the price of the flowers, but I can’t see it. They all have a funny looking L by the side of them.”
Arena CS: “That is a pound sign, madam.”

♥ Arena CS: “And what is the delivery instruction, madam?”
Belgian Customer: “No!!!!!!!!!!”

When it comes to the goodies to send, we can be quite flexible with the delivery of our service, one of our favourite orders has included:

24 pink lilies
24 balloons
Prestat Banoffee truffles
Bailey’s Irish cream
A Mohican chicken
Plus a request from the sender that Arena’s driver sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the lucky recipient on delivering the flowers!
Pure genius.

Although we’ll cross hot coals to get your order delivered within the time frame published, sometimes – especially on our ‘Mega Days’ – you can’t always expect the moon on a stick:

♥ Customer for Valentine’s Day: “My girlfriend is going to be in lectures from 11am-12pm. Can your driver deliver them at 11.59 and give them to her in her class?”
Arena CS: “On the busiest day of the year!! I’m afraid not, sir!”

When our beautiful fresh flowers are delivered to the safety of the recipient, the fun doesn’t always end there…

♥ Customer: “I have received no message card with my order”.
Arena CS: “I’m so sorry about that, there should be a card in with the flowers.”
Customer: “No. All there is is an orange card with your logo on it.”
Arena CS: “If you open it, you’ll find that the card message is inside the card…”

♥ Alarmed Elderly Lady: “I’ve received a large box with a clear lid, sent by a florist. I didn’t order anything! Can I ask what’s inside the box, my dear?”
Arena CS: “They are flowers, madam.”
Elderly lady: “Really? What a lovely surprise!”

And it’s a hard life being a Customer Service Team professional – what with all the amorous advances, Vanessa spills the beans:

I received a call from a customer who wished to send flowers to a girl he had just met in a restaurant. Whilst he was giving me the address and message, which stated how much he wanted to get to know her, he was flirting shamelessly with me. At the end of the phone call, he said that he enjoyed speaking to me so much that he was going to send me some flowers too. I thought nothing of it as I’ve heard this before and it had never happened. But lo and behold, a couple hours later, a bewildered looking lady walked in carrying some pink roses and asked for me. I was so happy having received some flowers that I didn’t initially care that they were delivered by another company (Interflora no less).

He called the next day to ask if I liked them and why hadn’t I called to arrange ‘something’. I answered, that I liked them very much but could not be possibly entertain the idea ‘getting to know him’ whilst he was sending other women flowers. He then said that if it didn’t work out with her he’d give me a call. So I’ll just be waiting by the phone then shall I..?!

Similarly, a customer called up wishing to have an arrangement of flowers made up in the shape of boat and then said that he found talking to Josephine such a pleasure that he proposed! (Prank call??…We think so!)

For more on our adventures at Flowers HQ, check out the following blog posts: The Mother of All Orders, Everlasting Orchids, and Our Lips Are Sealed.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Quick intro from Will: We often get asked “So why is Arena Flowers so much better than John Lewis, Marks & Spencers or Interflora then? After all, you only sell a set of standard bouquets, just like them.”  Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Unlike the bigger players, we do numerous bespoke and tailored designs every week; it’s just that there has been nowhere for us to show them off on our website. Until now.  Recently Stan has made it her mission to correct this misconception and has been very busy building our new bespoke flowers gallery to showcase the full breadth and depth of our florists’ brilliance.  Enough from me (I’ll write a post about the other reasons Arena’s better for customers than Interflora another time!). Over to Stan and the joys of bespoke flowers!

Whether it is a birthday celebration, wedding to be planned or Christmas party to organise, you want it to be perfect, with perfect beautiful flowers to match. Perfection comes from the heart, a passion for getting things right and just how you want it to be. No compromise.

Our flower arrangements are far from set in stone, and we know that one size (or colour or flower stem!) doesn’t always fit all. We’ve been fulfilling the individual wishes (and whims) of our varied customers since the inception of Arena Flowers back in July 2006, and this has included the sourcing of unusual and exotic flowers, flowers out of season and flowers in massive numbers, with arrangements designed in all colours and all sizes.

‘Bespoke’ is not just a description of what we can do for customers and their flowers. It also describes how we approach our service, by treating each customer as an individual. From the moment we receive a bespoke enquiry, our team takes the time to listen and understand your unique requirements and take great care and attention to detail, to interpret your dream into reality.

There is no greater satisfaction for our exceptional team of award-winning florists than in the challenge of creating a flower arrangement just for you – to your specifications.

So Why Choose a Bespoke Flower Arrangement?

Bespoke Wedding Flowers
• Your dream wedding bouquet unique to you: No other bride anywhere will have the same flower arrangement as you!
• A choice of embellishments – intricate beadings, grass looping and leaf embroidery to add extra originality
Visit our Wedding Flowers section for inspiration >>

Bespoke Bouquets
• Congratulating a special occasion? Say it with flowers with specific meanings and symbolism.
• Whether it’s a specific number of flowers or a combination of colours, it’s your choice!
Visit our Bespoke Bouquets page for inspiration >>

Bespoke Floral Displays
• Looking for that extra special centrepiece for an event or venue? Amaze your guests with a fragrant work of art – designed by you or our florists.
• Have fun with a variety of floor standing, table top or pedestal arrangements, created for specific decorative functions.
Visit our Bespoke Floral Displays page for inspiration >>

Bespoke Table Arrangements
• Where there’s good food there should be great flowers! Complete your dining tableware with a contemporary table arrangement.
• A versatile range of vases and containers to suit your business or home decor.
Visit our Table Arrangements page for inspiration >>

Bespoke Corporate Flowers
• Match your branding with coloured coordinated flowers, arranged to suit your company’s style.
• For work or pleasure, Arena Flowers offers a personal professional service for professional people.
Visit our Bespoke Corporate Flowers page for inspiration >>

Bespoke Funeral Arrangements
• Specify floral tributes that have significant meanings and evoke emotion unique to the sender’s sentiments.
• Our customer care team who will guide you through the process of ordering your funeral flowers with respect and integrity to your wishes.
Visit our Funeral Arrangements page for inspiration >>

If you have a bespoke enquiry, please do not hesitate to contact our friendly and helpful customer service team with your requirements. Email customer@arenaflowers.com or call us free on 0800 0350 581 (+44 20 8993 5400 for international customers).

Similar posts: If you enjoyed this post, you may find this one about the supermarkets pumping out uninspiring flowers and arrangements interesting.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

The last 12 months have been pretty, erm, interesting for young businesses such as our own (although not as bad as the ancient Chinese curse might suggest). We now get asked almost daily “how are sales holding up?”, “are you doing better because you’re online (or worse?)?”, “are visitors converting to customers?” and so on.  The answers are quite varied and, in most areas, everything has held up well and we even had record sales last week (thanks to all our customers!).  Having said that, the period hasn’t been without its bumps in the road and its interesting challenges.  So for those who are interested in how stormy winds in the global economy might feed through to a UK business or for those who are wondering why lots of local florists have increased prices and reduced the number of stems in bouquets (although Arena Flowers hasn’t), it all starts with this graph:

Roll Up! Roll Up! All Aboard The Euro – Sterling RollerCoaster!

The graph above shows the Euro : Pound Sterling exchange rate over the last twelve months.  You can see that in the second half of 2007 the rate was comfortably above €1.40 : £1.00 (it had been even higher for much of the early part of 2007) and that, from the end of 2007, the rate began to drop consistently until it stabilised at about €1.25 : £1.00 recently.  What are the implications of this drop?  For businesses which import products from the Euro zone this is a challenge, as a product bought directly in Euros (eg a flower bought from a Dutch flower grower) or indirectly (eg a Dutch flower bought through a UK flowers cash and carry) suddenly costs 12% more for exactly the same product.  At Arena Flowers, we cut out all the middle men through buying direct off the Dutch auctions and from growers, so unlike a local florist, we are less at the mercy of unscrupulous middle men whacking up prices disproportionately.  Because we run a lean machine and keep our costs at a minimum, we have been able to resist pushing up prices and we haven’t removed any stems from our arrangements.  However, we have heard lots of anecdotal stories on the Flowers HQ grapevine of florists that haven’t raised prices or removed stems, struggling with increased flower costs.

Has The Euro Been Taking Steroids?

Part 1. Boom! 2-0 Euro Zone vs UK

An exchange rate between two currencies is, in the broadest sense, a reflection of the perceived value of one economy relative to the perceived value of another. No one British needs me to remind them of the knock that the UK economy took with the Northern Rock crisis; a British Government spending billions to bail out a bank is spending that won’t benefit the broader economy but which will increase government borrowing, both of which reduce the economy’s competitiveness; Europe has had need of no such bailout.  The subprime issues and their impact on financial institutions in America have also disproportionately affected the UK economy when compared with the Eurozone’s, because of London’s status as a the leading financial centre in the world and its dependence on finance.  So the Euro zone has become stronger relative to the UK and the Euro has appreciated.

Part 2. Interest Rates – Boring But Important

The main levers administrators have to encourage an economy that’s struggling are slashing interest rates or issuing a “fiscal stimulus” (translation: giving taxpayers a massive handout in the hope that they’ll spend the economy back into health).  Both of these tactics have been used enthusiastically by the powers that be in the US, with some success; a kind of “throw money at the problem” solution.  The only issue with interest rates being lowered is that it then becomes less attractive to hold a currency compared with other currencies that haven’t lowered their interest rates.  So, when the UK’s Bank of England cut interest rates to try and stimulate growth in the UK economy whilst the European Central Bank kept its rates steady (as Europe was less affected by the crises and was not in need of life support), Sterling became even less attractive because of the lower interest rate returns available when compared with the Euro. So the luckless British pound dropped further.

Part 3. Inflation Rides To The Rescue. Sort of

Bizarrely, more recently the emergence of high inflation and the Bank’s of England’s primary remit of controlling inflation, has meant that the Bank has resisted temptations to cut interest rates further (as cutting interest rates further might fuel inflation).  This is one of the factors that has resulted in the Euro : Sterling rate stabilising.  But as everyone knows, inflation itself is no white knight, though you won’t hear too many UK businesses that import from the Euro zone complaining that interest rates are staying put (or going up) for now.

What To Do? What To Do?

The most obvious impact of recent financial turbulence on businesses like ours is on our European purchasing power.  For florists, an obvious solution is to begin sourcing flowers from within the UK so the bill is in sterling and there is no exchange rate risk.  This is something that we’re looking at (for a variety of reasons, which also includes the reduced carbon footprint).  Another way businesses can get round exchange rate risk is for them to start making sales in the same currency in which they purchase (similar to a natural hedge).  This is part of the rationale behind our Dutch language site (www.ArenaBloemen.nl) and our German language site (www.ArenaBlumen.de); we are now accepting Euros from European customers – Euros which can be used to pay our flower bills with no exchange rate risk.  There are other tactics open to businesses, such as buying currency in bulk and using financial instruments to hedge currency risk, but I’m no bank manager so I’ll leave it at that.

Practically, we haven’t really seen a huge dent in any aspect of our business, aside from our flower purchasing costs, and we have had some great weeks recently.  The big exception has been when there has been a veritable torrent of bad news, all in a very short space of time.  The two examples: firstly the period after the run on the Northern Rock bank, when our conversion rate dipped by 17% for several days and then magically recovered to previous levels; secondly, there were five days of unrelentingly miserable economic news two weeks ago and our conversion rate dropped by about 20% for 4 days and then recovered overnight, as if nothing had happened.  Our theory is that when there’s such a battering of bad news, people do, briefly, pull in their horns, get depressed and think they should eat beans on toast or possibly hide in the cellar.  A few days later, when they realise the sky hasn’t fallen in and they notice that the world is still turning, they revert back to their previous behaviour, or nearly so.

The first time it happened, we were fairly bemused, but the second time round we knew what was happening and were fairly relaxed (and just bought less flowers that week).  It’s funny the way people work and how up and down people can get.  Fortunately, from what we can see, the sky is still up there, the sun is shining and a Brit has made it to the Quarter Finals of Wimbledon, so it’s not all bad!  In fact, bar the odd challenge to keep us all on our toes, it’s all good at Flowers HQ.  We hope it is with you too.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Answer? It was taken at 0410 in Harwich ferry port, on the East coast of the UK when Ronald and myself should have been sound asleep in our beds in Noordwijkerhout, NL and London, UK respectively.

Why? A consignment of box lids that was due to come over during Mother’s Day week didn’t materialise and we were going to run out. Given half our orders go out in boxes, to run out of lids during a peak period like Mother’s Day would have been nothing short of a disaster. So Ronald picked up a consignment, jumped in his van and hot footed it to The Hook of Holland, making it just in time to catch the last ferry.

Hooray! I was the lucky one that got the task of driving the 90 miles to the coast to meet him. So, having gone to bed at 11pm I was then back up again at 0215 (with the aid of no less than 6 alarms to wake me!), in the slightly surreal position of driving through late night London revellers, rubbing sleep from my eyes. I made it to Harwich at 0400 to find a virtually deserted port.

Trouble at the border: As I waited for Ronald, I was informed that, even though the port was nearly empty, my van would be destroyed if I didn’t park it in the car park. Rather than pay £2.50 to park for five minutes, I just drove round and round the roundabout instead. This seemed to infuriate the security guard for some reason – perhaps he has shares in the car park company. I decided it wouldn’t be wise to wave at him each time I went round the roundabout. Ronald was with me five minutes later, customs and excise having taken a keen interest in the contents of his van and carried out a thorough search – flowers aren’t the only plants that the Dutch have a reputation for cultivating so I guess the search was no surprise.

Success! With a clean bill of health for Ronald and with my van having survived the officious security guard’s attentions, we loaded up the box lids and headed our separate ways – Ronald back onto the ferry, me in the fast lane to Flowers HQ. I got to our offices at 0555 and 5 minutes later a truck, which had left our warehouse in Holland with a four hour head start on Ronald, pulled in, laden with a bumper load of Mother’s Day flowers. I was very relieved!

Note to self: make sure we have box lids organised well in advance in future!

PS we’re very proud of our boxes…they’re double laminated so they’re super strong – so much so that, as you can see, a grown man (Joseph in this case) can stand on them (so can I and I weigh 85kg).

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

It’s this Sunday! If you’ve forgotten, best dash off to our Mother’s Day flowers category and buy your beloved Mother some flowers and gifts while you still have time. We promise this post will still be here when you get back and you can then discover at your leisure the arcane way in which the UK chooses to decide the date of Mother’s Day every year.

Mother’s Day means that we’re all working very hard at Flowers HQ right now. Lots of people are concentrating very hard to ensure things go seamlessly, triple and quadruple checking distribution and purchasing plans. This year, we decided not to restrict our Mother’s Day range. Traditionally, all you can buy at Mother’s Day is pink flowers and, a quick look at our competitors shows that, elsewhere, that’s not changed at all this year. However, we figured our customers can decide for themselves what colour their mother likes and and we left our full range available for purchase. Interestingly, pink flowers are not the top sellers (though they are doing well). Our top seller this Mother’s Day is perennial Arena favourite, the bright and cheery bouquet, a very colourful bouquet featuring an explosion of colours, in the form of gerberas, roses, lilies and nutans. The only problem with having the whole range available is that it makes our operations and floristry super complicated this year, hence Steve’s brain having to be packed in ice to make sure it doesn’t overheat. But we think it’s worth the effort for the increased range. Thanks, Steve!

With UK Mother’s Day coming only two weeks after Valentine’s Day this year, most florists are going to have had the most stressful February in living memory. Why is that different from any other year, I hear you ask? Because of the arcane way in which the date of Mother’s Day in the UK is determined. It’s all about the moon – of course.

Here’s why:

1. In the UK, Mother’s Day is the fourth Sunday in Lent.
2. Lent is forty days (not including Sundays) before Easter.
3. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21
4. So once you’ve consulted your moon chart, grappled with your calendar, shaken it all up and juiced it, you come out with UK’s Mother’s Day as the 2nd March this year. That’s this Sunday, folks.

Now don’t get me started on international Mother’s Day. Oh go on then – it’s the second Sunday in May each year, so most of the rest of the world will be celebrating Mother’s Day on the 11th May this year. Much simpler, but not nearly as cool as consulting a moon chart I reckon.

Next week – the Gregorian calendar. Is it all it’s cracked up to be and who’s this guy Gregor?!

PS This time of year, whilst focused on mothers, is also family oriented. If you’re interested in novel ways of keeping in touch with your mother or other family members, we recommend you have a look at Kindo, a very cool website for building your family tree and sharing images and other media. Enjoy.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post: