CHARLESTON, SC — When Manny and Clara Gonzales, owners of Tiger Lily Florist here, thought about celebrating its 20th anniversary on Jan. 8, “the operative words were cheap, easy and fun,” said Manny Gonzales in an interview a month later. “Instead of a lavish party full of jaded event professionals who have seen, drank and ate it all, we wanted to go with an old-school, neighborhood ‘birthday party’ vibe.

“We gave away two five-stem tulip bouquets — one to keep and one to give away — to each of the first 100 guests to come through our doors,” Gonzales said. “We chose tulips because in early January they were a nice sign of spring.”

Studies show that people love to receive flowers, but love to give flowers even more. The Society of American Florists had a successful program, called PetalItForward in November 2015, and Gonzales is one of three florists on the 10-member board. Tiger Lily put a PetalItForward card in each bouquet it gave out, with tips on how to tweet and use Instagram and Facebook to get the message out about Tiger Lily’s 20th birthday party.     

“It cost us $1,200 for the 200 tulip bouquets we gave away, for the champagne, cake and cotton candy, and for the snacks, lottery tickets [‘You may win $1.5 million,’ the sign noted] and other door prizes.”

Tiger Lily, today the state’s largest florist, painted its shop windows with cake, champagne bottles and flowers, sent out email blasts and used social media to publicize the event.

“Say what you want about social media,” Gonzales observed, “people really responded to the painted windows. Folks walking by stopped in their tracks to read our windows. People driving by rubbernecked it past our shop. We also had banners and posters.”

There were no RSVPs for the event, and the Gonzales couple didn’t know how many people would come by. When the first car pulled in an hour ahead of time to wait for the party to start, the hosts’ fears about attendance were quelled. Manny went out and invited the carload in to begin the celebration. The party turned out to be just what Manny and Clara Gonzales wanted — a neighborhood birthday party.

“We had street folks come in for the free champagne,” Manny Gonzales related. “We had some Charleston elite walk more than 10 blocks to attend. Three wedding photographers I never met before stayed three hours. Brides from more than 10 years ago came and told us how beautiful their flowers were at their wedding. Hungry medical students made a dinner out of the cake, champagne and cotton candy. We ran out of bouquets in 40 minutes, but we had door prizes so no one went away empty-handed,” he recounted.

Tiger Lily had a rocky first couple of years in operation, until the Gonzales owners drew on their business background in special events catering and switched to a high-end operation. “We run it like a business,” Manny Gonzales said. Tiger Lily has gone from $150,000 a year in 1996 to a $1.7 million a year for the last few years. The average retail florist nationwide gets $63 per order, Tiger Lily, $98. Tiger Lily has been named “Best Florist in Charleston” in a poll of readers of a local newspaper every year since 2000 and won the Small Business Award in 2004 from the Charleston Chamber of Commerce.

How would this idea work for a supermarket floral department? Gonzales observed that supermarkets have the advantage of good foot traffic, making it easy to reach out to the neighborhood, but with a scale that makes it costly to promote free flowers. “Maybe have a wheel you spin to win a free bouquet, and lots of other prizes,” he added. “Make it cheap, fun and easy. After 20 years, I’m still amazed at the effect flowers have on folks. People were literally slack-jawed when we gave them flowers for free.

“Maybe our 20th anniversary reminded people that with all the modern ‘noise’ that’s out there, a traditional florist that’s embracing 20 years in a beautiful city like Charleston by giving away flowers really is something to celebrate,” Gonzales concluded.

John S. Niblock is the retired Carolinas editor and former floral editor of The Produce News. He can be contacted at [email protected].