Surprise Bouquets
Andrew’s Garden in Downtown Naperville leaves surprise bouquets for people to find around town.
“It started in part because several years ago we started participating in the International Lonely Bouquet Day, which is one day a year in June,” said owner of Andrew’s Garden, Tonya Parravano. “The entire concept was to use flowers that may be left over from various things or just to get flowers out into the community. We were doing that on one day a year and then at one point we were like, ‘well why can’t we do this just whenever we feel like it?’
She and her husband Andrew have traveled to multiple European countries and have been inspired by their shops.
“Our store itself is modeled after a European flower shop model. One thing you’ll see in flower shops in Paris and London, they don’t send everything out in vases,” said Tonaya. “But we loved the bags that they created for them. They’re a very square bag and they have long handles. So the bouquet itself is in water in the bag. So you can take it home, it’s all arranged. And you take it home and you put it in your own vase.
“That’s where part of our inspiration for dropping them around in various places [came from]. We really wanted this to be very random and very unexpected.”
Brightening People’s Days
“Just a little something to brighten people’s day,” said Andrew. “Instead of putting out a Facebook post it’s kind of nice for people to get something tangible. Flowers just brighten up people’s day. They walk in the store and they get a smile on their face and they relax. So walking through the park or walking down the street and finding a bouquet and reading that, ‘hey take me home and enjoy me, people are like, ‘I love it.’ It’s just something to make people happy.”
“And we’ve had great feedback from it sometimes too,” said Tonaya. “Because we’ll get a message on our social media or email – ‘you have no idea how bad of a day I was having and I turned the corner and here was this bouquet and it just made my day.’ It just makes us feel good.”
Naperville News 17’s Aysha Ashley Househ reports.
