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It’s Bow Time!

The Christmas holidays are quickly approaching and in our shop that means that it’s BOW TIME! Everyone needs bows for something…their Christmas tree, wreaths on their doors, special presents, and many other things. Each year we tie countless bolts of ribbon into beautiful holiday bows and as the Yule time nears, we want to give you a few pointers in regards to ribbon selection and ordering bows.

We carry a high quality outdoor red velvet ribbon in two widths. If you need bows for outdoor use, we strongly suggest our red velvet. It’s extremely durable and weather repellent and will last multiple seasons if you pack them correctly for storage when the season is over. We’ve had some customers use the same bows outside their home for a good 8-10 years! Good for them…bad for us!

As for other holiday prints, we have very little in stock…most of our ribbons are selected to compliment a potted plant or poinsettia or to snuggle down inside a fresh Christmas centerpiece. We’ve found that other stores in the area (Hobby Lobby) carry a rather impressive and diverse selection of ribbon varieties, and we simply can’t compete. It is our experience over the last 4 decades that we could invest literally thousands of dollars in ribbon, but we still would not have the particular style, color, or print that you were looking for…so we got out of the ribbon game (other than the red velvet, of course).

If you find ribbon that you would like tied for a tree topper, bring it to us! We’ll gladly use our skills to tie one up for you. If time allows, I’ll tie it while you wait…but be prepared, I can’t always make that promise. You may find that leaving it and picking up later will be best for all.

When you search for a ribbon, please keep a few things in mind. First…most people do not believe how much ribbon it takes to tie a bow. A standard size mailbox bow, for example, can take up to 8-10 yards of ribbon. Most of the ribbon that you can buy at WalMart or Hobby Lobby has less than that on the bolt, so please…make sure to get enough to cover the job. If you want a tree topper with 4 streamers that reach the bottom of the tree, assuming you have an average 7 foot tall tree, that’s 28 feet, or over 9 yards of ribbon just in the streamers, so you might assume that it would take a good 15 or more yards to tie a nice full treetop bow.

Also check the quality of the ribbon before you purchase. Many of the cheaper ribbons from the large stores are not wired and not starched and thus have little stiffness to them. It’s nearly impossible to tie a nice bow out of some ribbon that has no body to it…so stay away from the cheapest ribbon…you DO get what you pay for!

Lastly, if you do call us to tie some beautiful red velvet bows, please plan ahead. Many people call each season wanting to replace all of the bows that they use outside their home. One order can be over 20 bows and that takes some time! Give us a few days for your large orders and we’ll have them ready for you soon. If you only need 3 or 4, we do still ask that you call ahead so we can have them ready for you within a couple of hours. And when you call, we will need to know the size of the bows that you desire. Please refrain from using relative terms like “Large” or “Medium”…what is large to you might be something to fit a 24” wreath, while “large” to me is the size we would tie for the top of a car! We need actual dimensions…either the width of the bow you would like or the diameter of the wreaths you need them for, if that applies.

So…get out those holiday wreaths. Get your decorations ready. Then call us when you need us and we’ll tie some bows just for you!  As usual…there’s no charge for tying a bow with your ribbon…just remember us when you need flowers!