online gift shopping/flowers. need ideas and recommendations

[cicero]

My sisters are hitting a milestone birthday and i thought of surprising them with flowers. yikes! it's more money than i had planned to spend, and I have to send two gifts at once.

SO ---
*do you have any experience (good/bad) with any of the online flower sites?
*Is is better/cheaper to order from a local florist (e.g., just google "florists near 'sister's address'" ), or from one of the 'bigger' companies?
*if not flowers, do you have expericne with a chocolate's website(e.g., godiva, etc)
*Is it possible/better to just buy two gifts from a site like amazon.com or similar and have them ship it to two different addresses?

anything else I'm not thinking of?

[daisy1679]

I would highly recommend contacting a local florist directly if you go the flowers route. I have used a couple of the online flower sites and not had any problems, but you will pay more through them (they add on a percentage for themselves).

I've never done the chocolate thing, but you'd probably get more ordering through Amazon than anywhere else. you can often find things on discount, plus you get free shipping on orders of $25 (although I don't know if that applies to two different addresses)

[artk2002]

Online florists, including 1-800-flowers and FTD show up on The Consumerist frequently. This is not a good thing. Find a local florist.

[Amara]

I agree, go with local florists. See's and Godiva offer very good delivery but I've only sent See's in the warmer months and they require that you pay for special packaging. The cost adds up to a surprising degree but it does result in a good delivery.

Are there any special local food vendors you can order from that will deliver or hold for pick-up? Here, we have a fabulous pie company, meat farmers, etc., who offer their products and will work with gift purchases.

[siamesecat2965]

i second, third and fourth the local florist. I did that with my mom when she moved, and I've never had any issues. If you don't know anyone in the area, look at online reviews, etc. that's how I found the one I use. I'm very leery of the big online ones, having read and heard so many bad stories. and just in case you were considering it, I've known several people who have sent the fruit arrangements, and were not particularly thrilled with the quality of the gift.

Lindt also will deliver chocolate; I've ordered from them several times and have not been disappointed.

[Deetee]

I have used proflowers three times and it has always worked for me. Be sure to search for a discount code. You should get about eight bucks off. They will do chocolates and flowers together but I have only sent flowers.

[Jones]

When my sister had surprise gall-bladder surgery I googled a local florist in her area. They took the information on her favorite colors and flowers, and the dollar amount I wanted to spend. She ended up with a very nice bouquet and I didn't spend as much as it looked like I would when I did a search onProflowers. Plus she got the bouquet same-day, without my having to pay a rush fee of any sort. I have another flower shop that I call for work-related flowers in my own hometown, they do the same thing, so I really like dealing directly with locally owned flowershops.

[cicero]

OK so I'll either go local or godiva/lindt.Thanks everyone for the tips- I never knew that the big florists were so problematic.

[Luci45]

Online florists, including 1-800-flowers and FTD show up on The Consumerist frequently. This is not a good thing. Find a local florist.

I've received 2 bad orders from online (one a broken pot and frozen bulbs, one just yucky flowers), and have never had a bad result from going to my local florist and having them go through FTD on their own. A tad bit more expensive, but worth it.

[Slartibartfast]

The big, heavily-advertised national florists end up going through local florists anyway to make the arrangements    In order for the national companies to have a set catalog of arrangements available at all their partner florists, though, the florists have to keep certain flowers/combinations on hand even when those flowers aren't the cheapest or prettiest or freshest.  If you order lilies you'll get lilies - but if you call the florist directly and say "I want something in orange and pink for around $50" you'll get more bang for your buck because the florist will have more leeway.  If they happen to have a handful of orange lilies left over from something else, you may get the lilies extra-cheap so they don't get wasted - or if they only have overpriced lilies at the moment, you'll get something else.

Not to say that all florists are shining pillars of professionalism, of course  but you can usually get a pretty good idea of what your money would buy you when you talk to someone on the phone.

[zyrs]

I'm another that recommends the local florist.  My mother remarried and moved to a warmer climate.  I found a really great florist that is only a few blocks away and could not be happier with the service.

Both times I've tried the big internet ones I've been disappointed.

[siamesecat2965]

The big, heavily-advertised national florists end up going through local florists anyway to make the arrangements    In order for the national companies to have a set catalog of arrangements available at all their partner florists, though, the florists have to keep certain flowers/combinations on hand even when those flowers aren't the cheapest or prettiest or freshest.  If you order lilies you'll get lilies - but if you call the florist directly and say "I want something in orange and pink for around $50" you'll get more bang for your buck because the florist will have more leeway.  If they happen to have a handful of orange lilies left over from something else, you may get the lilies extra-cheap so they don't get wasted - or if they only have overpriced lilies at the moment, you'll get something else.

Not to say that all florists are shining pillars of professionalism, of course  but you can usually get a pretty good idea of what your money would buy you when you talk to someone on the phone.

Speaking of more bang for your buck, my parents used to use a local florist, who did lovely arrangements, but was a bit pricy. SO you'd get something very unique, but maybe not as large as arrangements from other florists. But their work was lovely. You could call them and simply say I'd like a nice spring/fall arrangement for x dollars, using x colors. and it was always nice. you never quite knew what you;'d get, but that was half the fun.

When they moved from NJ to VA, I sent them flowers to celebrate the closing on the new house. I found a local florist, called, and asked for the same thing, x dollars, and so on. But because it was a different florist, the arrangement was MUCH larger than she was used to, and she actually scolded me for spending so much on flowers! until I told her that I hadn't spent any more than I did with old florist, you just got more 

[proudmama]

I used one of those big florists to send flowers to my grandmother in Poland.  The arrangement she got looked nothing like what I picked, but was absolutely gorgeous.  The local florist did not have the flowers that were pictured online, but he went above and beyond.  My grandmother enjoyed the arrangement at home then donated it to her church because she wanted to share it with everyone.  she sent me a picture and it really was much more beautiful than what I ordered.

[siamesecat2965]

I used one of those big florists to send flowers to my grandmother in Poland.  The arrangement she got looked nothing like what I picked, but was absolutely gorgeous.  The local florist did not have the flowers that were pictured online, but he went above and beyond.  My grandmother enjoyed the arrangement at home then donated it to her church because she wanted to share it with everyone.  she sent me a picture and it really was much more beautiful than what I ordered.

From what I've heard, this is more the exception than the rule. Sounds like the florist did a nice job, and I'm glad your grandmother got lovely flowers! 

[*new*mommyagain36]

I have used 1-800Flowers before but then I discovered that the flowers were coming from our local florist and they were always GORGEOUS.  So, now I look at the 1-800 website, print out what I like and go directly to the local florist.  They have yet to disappoint!