Travel Experiences At Home: Floral Arranging With Alice’s Table And 1-800-Flowers.com – Forbes

You’re probably wishing you could get on a plane right now and head somewhere warm, where flowers are blooming and their intoxicating scent is a vacation in itself. Between the weather and the pandemic, though, it’s unlikely that’s actually going to happen.

Instead, consider bringing the flowers to you via one of Alice’s Table popular virtual floral arranging classes in partnership with 1-800-Flowers.com. Studies show that flowers are good for your mental health and are immediate mood boosters that have surprisingly long-lasting positive effects. Just think of how relaxed you feel when you visit a botanical garden or get a whiff of the local flora when you’re traveling.

So, while a good part of the United States was stuck at home during yesterday’s blizzard, my husband and I – who both have black thumbs – were arranging roses and mums on Zoom with people all around the country. Here’s the cheery arrangement we created, which makes me happy every time I see it sitting on our kitchen counter.

Alice’s Table – which you might remember from Shark Tank, where founder Alice Lewis landed a deal with Mark Cuban and Sara Blakely – offers live streaming experiences that give participants an opportunity to create something and to have fun doing it. My husband and I took a class to learn how to make a charcuterie board with Alice’s Table in partnership with Harry & David at the beginning of the pandemic and were hooked.

The workshop we took yesterday was called Powder Perfect and it will be offered again on February 4. I highly recommend it, and we learned so much about flowers and how to display and care for them.

A couple of days before the class, we received a box of beautiful, farm fresh flowers straight from South America, where they were grown. They came with a small glass vase – one that I would never have considered for so many flowers and that was much more interesting than anything I would have chosen myself — and easy-to-follow instructions explaining how to feed, trim and store the flowers until class.

Our instructor, Cristina Hoff, was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, sharing dozens of tips including the fact that it really does start with the vase. This was something I needed to hear because I am one of the people who make what she pointed out as the biggest mistake in flower arranging: just sticking a bouquet in a vase with no structure or support and ending up with a case of the flops. We also learned how to “green the base,” to remove the guard petals from roses and to make sure there are no leaves under the water line.

It was eye-opening and will actually make my experiences richer next time I visit someplace like the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens in Las Vegas.

For Valentine’s Day, Alice’s Table and 1-800-Flowers.com are offering a special, limited-time Red Velvet Floral Arranging Experience that is perfect for couples, for friends, for yourself.

“This bouquet is all about having fun and celebrating love, whatever that looks like for you,” says Lewis. “If you’re celebrating Galentine’s Day with a group, getting a special delivery from the love in your life, or giving yourself a little self-care treat, this experience is fun and lighthearted with a little bit of flower power thrown in. The event combines traditional Valentine’s Day flowers (hello, roses!) with some unexpected elements, such as gerbera daisies (one of my favorites!). By mixing and matching florals of different textures, guests come away with a completely new spin on traditional arrangements.”

The Red Velvet class will be offered four times: on February 10, 11, 17 and 26. Sign up now because these classes sell out quickly.

Once you see how easy and fun it is to make your own arrangements, you’ll want to keep fresh flowers in your home all the time. You can find an extensive collection for Valentine’s Day, for Galentine’s Day and for every day at 1-800-Flowers.com.