Connectivity Archives

Ideas for safe Holiday celebrations

Christmas is just days away, and we hope you’re making lists for your celebration and checking them twice. Though pandemic restrictions have thrown many plans into disarray, there’s still time to consider alternatives for your regular holiday traditions.

One approach is to build on your Thanksgiving successes. Jim’s idea for backyard Papa’s Turkey Tacos proved to be a big hit. Because a large, indoor family meal together wasn’t possible, he and his wife set up an outdoor taco stand for his children and grandchildren, who embraced the opportunity to visit safely. His 5-year-old granddaughter told him it was the best Thanksgiving ever, so this might become a new tradition that will outlast the pandemic!

Now, Jim’s taking it up a notch for his physically distanced family Christmas gathering. He’s planning a Santa’s S’mores-A-Thon around his backyard firepit and adding a make-your-own hot chocolate stand for his guests to enjoy.

This is just one idea you can try if you want to see friends and family safely. But, please, check first to see if you need a permit and if conditions are safe for an open flame. You can also consider other innovations since we’re expanding the definition of tradition this year.

There’s still time to consider alternatives for your regular holiday traditions.

Your ideas for safe celebrations

We’ve enjoyed reading your stories about how you’re adapting your traditions to celebrate the holidays this year.

One community member, Daphne, told us that she and her husband have volunteered at a local food bank for the last three years. Although it will be tough this year, they hope to keep the tradition alive and offer whatever support they can. Daphne, what a wonderful way to give back during the holiday season!

Sarah wrote to us about how her Hanukkah traditions were a little different this year. Sarah typically gets together with her grandmother and loves her grandmother’s latkes. This year, since they cannot be together, her grandmother taught Sarah over Zoom how to make them herself. We hope they tasted just as good as you remembered, Sarah! Continuing with the theme of Zoom latke classes, our 1-800-FLOWERS.com team member Steve Roberts’ mother has long held her latke recipe a secret, but that meant that the family would miss her special dish this year since they couldn’t see her in person. Steve hosted a Zoom latke recipe reveal party for his mother to teach other family members how to make them. Instead of sitting at a matriarch’s elbow to learn how to make family dishes, this year has also shown us that you can hand down recipes and traditions generation to generation virtually in a pinch.

Another community member, Tom, said he’ll miss gathering with all his aunts, uncles, and cousins around the piano to sing holiday songs. Maybe he could take a page from the latke classes and try virtual caroling this year.

Exchanging treats with neighbors

You can connect virtually like Sarah and Steve, or you might have family and friends over for a safe, physically distanced outdoor gathering. You also can turn your celebration into a block party! Have neighbors set up tables at the end of their driveways with prepackaged treats to share and visit each table to collect holiday inspired goodies. Everyone will end up with a variety of delicious sweets and a connection with people you may not have been able to see for a while.

If you can bake and ship quickly enough, you may still have time to exchange sweets with friends and relatives who do not live in your area. You could have a Zoom Bake-A-Thon with friends and loved ones, then package and ship the cookies. This Washington Post article caught our eye with its tips and hints for recipes and shipping so the recipients don’t end up with a box of crumbs (which, just saying, they could sprinkle over ice cream or eggnog in the worst case).

Reading and snacking on gifts

One friend’s family has adopted the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð (pronounced yo-la-bok-a-flot), or Yule Book Flood. The custom of giving books and chocolates on Christmas Eve and then spending the evening enjoying both has been a holiday ritual dating back to World War II. If you must be physically distanced during the holidays, a good read and chocolates aren’t the worst ways to pass the time!

The Holidays and beyond

We also hope that as the holidays wrap up that you’ll start looking ahead to the new few months and make plans for getting through them. We will face more challenges, but we also will have a choice — and opportunity — to make the best of them. Maybe you want to start cooking or baking, learn a new language, or improve your personal relationships.

We would encourage you to start thinking about what you want to learn or accomplish in the new year. In the meantime, wishing you a safe and happy holiday season.
All the best,

Jim and Chris

Written by our Founder and CEO, our Celebrations Pulse Sunday Letters aim to engage with our community. From sharing stories to welcoming your ideas, we want to help you to express, connect, and celebrate the important people in your life.

Goodbye 2020: Starting 2021 on a Positive Note

The Hanukkah candles have all burned, the Christmas presents have been unwrapped, and we’re all still feeling a bit stuffed with treats. Despite the unusual times, we hope you’ve made some fond memories and found new ways to celebrate the holidays together, even if from a distance.

With New Year’s coming up this week, many of us are reflecting on 2020 while looking ahead to 2021. One of this year’s popular Christmas tree ornaments was a trash dumpster with “2020” emblazoned on the front. It summed up the year for a lot of folks. It’s been a challenge for virtually everyone — a time of loss, sorrow, anxiety, separation, loneliness, disaster, divisiveness, uncertainty, and distance. Lots of distance.

The silver lining of 2020

But 2020 hasn’t been a total loss. We’ve had some treasured moments, including the quality time we’ve spent with the people in our bubbles. Maybe we also picked up some new hobbies or returned to ones long laid aside. Think of all the gardens sown, bread baked, musical instruments played, and toasts made during virtual happy hours.

There’s no doubt the next few months will be difficult before vaccines turn the tide of the pandemic. How do you plan to spend a winter during which we’ll be stuck indoors and still physically distanced? This upcoming summer, when you think back to the dark winter months, what do you want to remember? What new activity do you want to say you started at that time? What will you be proud of?

Let’s implement Project Making (Covid) Lemonade

Let’s make a plan for this period. We can even give it a name — how about Project Making (Covid) Lemonade ? When we get to the other side, we hope to see rejuvenated and richer relationships with the people in our lives.

Jim writes a column in Worth, a financial, wealth management and lifestyle magazine and media company which addresses the idea of worth beyond wealth, called “Lemonade” that highlights businesses that have pivoted successfully in response to COVID. These companies have turned challenges into growth opportunities. As individuals, we also get to decide how we spend the next few months. Think of Project Making (Covid) Lemonade as a chance to turn our personal lemons into lemonade.

When we get to the other side, we hope to see rejuvenated and richer relationships with the people in our lives.

What have you always wanted to do that you never had time for? Some people may decide to learn a new language. Others may take up knitting or adopt a puppy. We can see pandemic lockdowns as a depressing continuance of restrictions — or we can see them as a unique opportunity to do things we’ve always wanted to do but for which we didn’t have the time. We would love to hear what you would like to accomplish. SHARE YOUR PLAN

Beyond New Year’s resolutions

This project is our version of making New Year’s resolutions. Often with resolutions, we’re left feeling bad about ourselves by mid-January because we have fallen off the wagon.

Pivot from resolutions to visualizing your desired future self. For example, write a press release for next New Year’s that details your accomplishments in 2021. Write out where you’d like to be and think through concrete actions to help you achieve those goals. When you reflect on 2021, what does success look like to you? How can you get there?

Our friend, Dr. Chloe Carmichael, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, shared with us a tip for how to stick to new goals:

“Consider telling five people in your life about your goal. This can help to increase your sense of accountability while simultaneously increasing your social support around the goal. Some may fear that telling people will translate to overwhelming pressure or fears of failure. While it’s okay to keep your goals private if that’s truly best for you, I would encourage you to consider if this might be an important opportunity for vulnerability with people who might love to see you open up. You can take the pressure down by sharing in a lighthearted way like smiling and saying, ‘Now, don’t hold me to this– but I think in 2021 I’m going to try and (learn to salsa/paint/etc.)!’”

We can choose to see the first of 2021 as a glass half empty or a glass half full. Project Making (Covid) Lemonade can help us recognize that we have the power to refill the glass.

Wishing you a Happy New Year,

Chris and Jim

New Start, New Relationships, New Perspective

We’ve officially made it to 2021 – certainly no small feat. After a year of challenges, many of us are looking to this year as a fresh start.

We believe that the new year is a great time to take stock of our relationships as Auld Lang Syne reminds us to remember our long-time friends. The importance of maintaining meaningful relationships is clearer than ever right now. Keeping friends and loved ones close was an essential component of maintaining a sense of normalcy in 2020. We recently chatted with our friend Dr. George Everly, a psychologist who serves on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He reminded us that the single greatest predictor of resilience is connection to others.

As a company, relationships matter to us. In fact, our entire purpose is to help you connect to the important people in your lives. We are also focused on building our relationships with you, our community, vendors and team members.

Making CeCe’s Dreams Come True

Recently, we’ve embarked on a new relationship with a wonderful woman named CeCe Olisa. Juliet Scott-Croxford, CEO of Worth Media, introduced Jim to CeCe and said we must get to know one another. CeCe is a model and entrepreneur. She also has been taking floral-arranging classes and is a floral enthusiast.

CeCe moved to New York City to pursue a career on Broadway and started a blog as a hobby in 2008. Her community bloomed, and she has cultivated a following of passionate and insightful women who follow her blog on fashion, fitness and dating and living in NYC.

CeCe had a vision for a floral tree for Christmas. Chris’ son, Christopher, and our team jumped on the opportunity to try to make CeCe’s dreams come true. Due to COVID, CeCe was not able to be with her family this holiday season but still wanted to make special memories. Christopher and team were our elves, and they formed a wonderful relationship and together they assembled CeCe’s dream tree.

For CeCe, it was more than the tree, the tree was a symbol of the celebration of her life and what is to come. And we hope great things continue to develop for her.

We had such a blast working with CeCe, so we continue to brainstorm and dream with CeCe about other ways we can work together. Our friend Debra Morris, founder of Eventsful has done wonderful flower walls for us at events. We were brainstorming with CeCe and Debra what we could do with floral installations in spaces left empty because of COVID. More to come on what the teams will come up with, but we do know that when you associate with warm, wonderful people and engage their communities, only good things will come of it.

We know our relationship with CeCe will continue to flourish, which brings us back to other wise words from George Everly, with whom we also developed a new relationship in 2020:

Nurture the relationships you have, rekindle the relationship you’ve lost, create the relationships you wish you had.

Dr. George Everly

We will focus on these words as we embark on 2021 and look forward to seeing how our relationships with our community, partners, and vendors develop and grow. Due to great technology, we have yet to meet Dr. Everly or CeCe in person yet, but we’re grateful we’ve been able to get to know both of them. We’ll start the new year treasuring our old friends and also our new ones.

What are your plans and dreams for 2021? What relationships do you want to invest in? Our community member Deb shared, “goodbye negativity, be grateful to happiness” and Michelle is going to volunteer to help those with emotional challenges navigate the healthcare system to get proper treatment in addition to pursuing additional degrees in the nursing field. We admire the commitment you have shared to positivity and developing relationships to help others. We would love to hear what you would like to accomplish. SHARE YOUR PLAN

Wishing everyone a healthy New Year,

Chris and Jim

Finding New Ways to Celebrate the Holidays While We’re Physically Apart

The holiday season is indeed upon us. We’re now three days into Hanukkah, and Christmas is only 12 days away. As we adjust our holiday routines because of the pandemic, we’ve already begun to see new trends take hold. Black Friday shopping was expanded to essentially all of November.

Fearing shipping delays, many online shoppers have pushed up their gifting schedules. Us included. With all the positive feedback, it might just be something we do every year. Most years, gifts we send get lost in the holiday gift shuffle. Sending gifts early allows our gifts to stand out a bit. We have been enjoying hearing from our friends and coworkers about how they are putting their gifts to use. We have sent many Revolution Cooking Smart Toasters and we love hearing about how toast has never been the same since using the toaster!

We also understand that with traditional gatherings off the table for many families, they’re looking for new ways to celebrate together while physically apart.

Distance doesn’t mean we must celebrate alone.

Ideas for celebrating at a distance

We love hearing from you about how you’ll be making the most of the holidays, whether through long-held traditions or new ones you’re adopting. Some families tell us they’re hanging photos of missed loved ones as Christmas tree ornaments. Others are sharing Hanukkah meals over Zoom. Grandparents are using the same technology to read bedtime stories.

Some families are even using the money from canceled trips to make charitable contributions in honor of loved ones. People are also mailing cookies and candy or buying a book and chocolates for each family member as a setup for a cozy Christmas Eve.

Jim and his family are pivoting their typical plans to develop Santa’s Smores-A-Thon, inviting his family for physically distanced smores-making around a fire pit. This was an idea from our friend, Debra Morris at Eventsful. More to come on how these plans develop.)

All these ideas prove that distance doesn’t mean we have to celebrate alone. We hope others will share their ideas as well through this link.

Planning ahead for holiday communications

Since the hustle and bustle of merrymaking is diminished from previous years, making time for reflection and appreciation of the people in your life is very important. Nurturing relationships will help lift your spirits and may be invaluable to those who’ll spend the holiday more isolated than they have in the past.

We’ve begun our own process of reaching out to friends and family. We call it our holiday communications plan. Instead of dropping by a friend’s home or meeting at a coffee shop or in an office hallway, we’ve started intentionally reaching out to schedule virtual get-togethers with friends and loved ones as a way to mimic those much-missed interactions.

Making this list is a different approach to the holidays, but it may stick with us as a new tradition. It’s very comforting and rewarding to list everyone who matters to you and then come up with ways to express how grateful you are that they’re in your life. Try it for yourself and let us know the creative ways you come up with to connect with those special people.

Expressing affection and gratitude

Our holiday sales reports show that many of you are already sending holiday gifts. We’re humbled by the thoughtfulness of our community and that you’re seeking our help to express and connect to the important people in your life.

We’re seeing a significant increase in the number of gifts purchased now compared to this time last year, including by many first-time gift buyers. Sending a present, picking up the phone, or sharing a text or holiday card will let someone know you are thinking about them — and make their holiday merry and brighter, as well as yours.
Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season,

Jim and Chris

Tips to Help Children Cope During a Physically Distant Holiday Season

Few demographics are truly coping well with the pandemic, physical distancing, and virtual lives. But young people — isolated from extended family, friends, classmates, extracurricular activities, and holiday traditions — are among those most affected. Although people of all ages face mental health and wellness challenges, kids are one of the most vulnerable communities during the time of COVID because of the long-term sociological and psychological challenges they face.

Missing the hugs

As parents and grandparents, we must try to be resilient for our children and families. We are especially mindful of this around the holidays. For Thanksgiving this year, Chris’s daughter, Jenna Messer, compiled clips of our gratitude statements to share in one video. We loved watching this video on Thanksgiving and appreciated the participation of the family and everyone’s ability to pivot to continue traditions as best we could.

Speaking of pivots, Jim’s sit-down Thanksgiving dinner pivoted to become “Papa’s Turkey Tacos” outdoor event. Jim knew this was a success when his 6-year-old granddaughter said she thought this was “the best Thanksgiving ever.” Looking around on that rainy-turned-beautiful day — with family physically distanced, but still together — it was hard to disagree.

However, we understand that, despite efforts to create new traditions, our children inevitably will be affected.

Jim and his wife went to a physically distanced, outdoor family celebration for another granddaughter’s 12th birthday. He wasn’t able to hug his grandkids because of the threat of exposure on both sides. Of course, they were sad that they weren’t allowed to get close enough for hugs, but it also got us thinking about the long-term implications of COVID restrictions for kids in virtually every facet of their lives.

An accidental event

We read an impactful article in The Washington Post in which Dr. Daniel Willingham, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, discussed the importance of parents helping to shape their children’s memories of the pandemic experience. A memory researcher, Dr. Willingham is trying to help his three teenagers minimize bitterness about the disruptions and changes in their lives, as well as maximizing gratitude for his family’s health and well-being.

After reading the article several times, and sharing it with many folks, Jim wrote a fan note to Dr. Willingham. Jim and Dan then exchanged emails and have gotten to know one another. Many folks in the office said they could relate to the challenges of being a parent during these unprecedented times, and the discussions continued throughout the company. We wanted to talk with Dr. Willingham and other experts, and invite members of our 1-800-Flowers.com community — parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and godparents — who have children in their lives. We are bringing together mental health and wellness experts to focus on this topic in a special virtual event hosted by Worth on December 10.

Dr. Willingham will share ideas for parents to help ensure that — despite the huge variety of challenges — their children have positive memories of a time of family togetherness. Dr. Chloe Carmichael will focus on anxiety, relationships, and how she views the impact of COVID on kids from a clinical point of view in addition to the impact on her as a parent. We also have the pleasure of having Caryl Stern join the conversation from a different point of view as the former President and CEO of UNICEF, which advocates for children’s rights. Caryl has dedicated her career to helping others through education, compassion, advocacy and rolling up her sleeves.

Registration is free

The online event is free to registrants, and panelists will take questions from participants. We hope that parents, grandparents, and others will join this important discussion.

All the best,

Jim and Chris

The Holidays are Coming Early This Year

This Thanksgiving season, we invite you to join o ur virtual roundtable to discuss the importance of connection and what gratitude means this year. There is a lot to share and we couldn’t think of a better person to invite than you.

This year has presented many unique challenges and navigating the upcoming holiday season is sure to be no exception. In normal times, 10 days before Thanksgiving, many of us would be finalizing our guest lists and menus. We would be thinking about dinner settings and who would win the upcoming football games. For many, Thanksgiving is the unofficial start to the holiday season.

A holiday season unlike any other starts soon

However, as we all are painfully aware, this year is not the same. While our holiday gatherings are on our minds, we are still grappling with the uncertainty around how to handle them because of COVID-19. We ask ourselves many questions: should I still host my annual Thanksgiving potluck? Will it be safe for Grandpa and Grandma to come to dinner? Every family must weigh its risk tolerance. As a result, many Americans may be staying home for the holidays.

An unusual holiday season will upend travel and spending patterns across the country. In a typical year, about 50 million Americans travel at least 50 miles from home for Thanksgiving. This season, the number of flyers during Thanksgiving and Christmas is expected to decrease by 50%.

Black Friday and the holiday shopping season will also be impacted. Many large retailers, such as Walmart and Target, already announced plans to not open on Thanksgiving and Black Friday to avoid large crowds. Retailers are instead offering digital sales that begin earlier. This will be a crucial period for many businesses as the holiday shopping season can account for up to 40% of annual sales (CNBC).

You’re invited. The more the merrier. Let’s connect and celebrate virtually.

Aside from the macro issues at play, we are focused on how Thanksgiving may affect communities on a personal level. For those who feel a sense of loneliness, holidays are an additional source of stress and create an emotional burden. We also realize that holidays always provide us with something positive to look forward to, especially as we roll into a new year that will be welcomed more than ever before. And for those with less to look forward to –wanting to develop some tools for managing — we want to provide some perspective, insights, and hope.

We hope you will join us on Wednesday, November 25th at 2pm EST.

Our live event, streaming on Facebook, will bring together the voices of industry experts from Alice Lewis, founder of Alice’s Table, and fashion designer, Jason Wu to Liz Della Croce from The Lemon Bowl to share new recipes, décor ideas and other usable tips as you prepare to kick off your own celebrations. Co-hosted by Juliet Scott-Croxford, CEO of Worth, and Diana Heather, founder of two start-ups, this event will also lean into the emotional side of the holidays by sharing the impact of community building to foster meaningful relationships with Director of Communities at Wisdo, AnnMarie Giannino. It will also feature a mindfulness segment with Chopra Chief Impact Officer and Certified Chopra Educator, Devi Brown.

This is a new idea for us and we are happy to share it with you. We hope you will join us. And remember, the good news about virtual gatherings is that the more the merrier! Feel free to share.

We hope to see you there. Don’t forget to RSVP today.

Chris & Jim

How to show your appreciation on Veterans Day

Top of mind for everyone this week has been the presidential election. Regardless of who you supported and whether you think the best candidate will be sworn in come January, remember that we have far more in common than we differ on — and will come together for the good of our country.

Many people sacrificed for our country and our way of life — but few more than our service members. We look to Veterans Day as a holiday set aside to honor and appreciate our 17.4 million U.S. soldiers, sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and airmen veterans.

How to honor your community’s veterans

In the 1-800-Flowers community, several of our employees have their own ways of marking the holiday. Don La France, Vice President of Enterprise Logistics and U.S. Air Force Veteran, prefers a more private occasion, reflecting on the people that really made a sacrifice.

“If I can, I go to a historical cemetery and walk around,” he said. For him, it’s way to honor and think about the veterans laid to rest there. “There has been a great shift in the public’s attitude towards veterans. There was not a lot of positive thoughts around veterans, especially right after Vietnam. The positive change in attitude toward servicemen over the past three decades has been a terrific way to be honored.” Don served in the U.S. Air Force from 1977 to 1991.

Unfortunately, Veterans Day parades will be less common this year, but events are still happening. Vetfriends is a handy resource to find out what’s going on near you, including events such as virtual marathons and military reunions.

Additionally, you might consider speaking with a veteran or volunteering at, or contributing to, an organization that serves veterans, such as: The Purple Heart Foundation, The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Team Rubicon

All these organizations serve veterans and are great candidates for your consideration. You can also express your appreciation by posting on your Facebook page and including a picture of you with the Veteran in your life, sending a text or sharing a picture of your family with a departed family member who was a vet.

Show how much you appreciate our veterans

You can also drop off small care packages at a local Veterans Administration hospital or treat a retired service member to a meal gift card (and join them if you’re able to safely do so). To easily make a veteran’s day, send one of our Veterans Day ecards, available here.

Take the time to make a small gesture to show how much you appreciate everything they have done for us. Some suggestions that could make a veteran’s day include:

· “You’re my hero.”

· “Thinking of you today.”

· “Your service has helped make our country strong.”

· “Thank you for your service.”

Have a great week and stay safe,

Jim and Chris

The Value of Friendship

Staying Connected Now Is More Important Than Ever

Whether times are good, bad, or anywhere in between, a true friend always makes experiences better. But, these days, to create and nurture a friendship can be challenging with less opportunities for physical contact.

We spoke recently with Dr. George Everly, a psychologist who serves on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. We are such fans of Dr. Everly and the important work he is doing. He shared a profound insight: We all talk about social distancing, but we should be talking about physical distancing instead. Dr. Everly conveyed that although we want to avoid close contact with others from a physical distance perspective, this does not mean shrinking our social networks and sacrificing social interactions — especially those of us who may already be lonely.

In a recent Psychology Today article, Dr. Everly recommends to find a “COVID buddy,” a friend, neighbor, family member, or co-worker that we trust, share experiences, and convey our feelings. Dr. Everly points to research that shows that the support of others is the most significant factor to ensure an individual’s personal resilience and success.

If you want to be an effective COVID buddy yourself, consider developing your psychological first aid skills. Dr. Everly co-authored The Johns Hopkins Guide to Psychological First Aid, which teaches both everyday people and medical professionals how to mitigate the effects of acute stress and trauma and help those in crisis better cope with adversity — something of value to all of us.

Prioritizing our children’s development

It’s also critical for young people to maintain relationships with their friends. Dr. Daniel Willingham Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, shared his thoughts in a recent Washington Post article on the importance of helping kids navigate the challenges of COVID by helping shape their experiences and memories.

For his three teenagers, he writes, he wants to “minimize bitterness about the restrictions on our lives and maximize gratitude for our health and well-being.”

In speaking with Dr. Willingham, he noted that he and his family take stock each day of what they’re grateful for and try to focus on new family traditions, instead of focusing only on the traditions that are ‘on pause.’

We were discussing our conversations with Dr. Everly and Dr. Willingham with Robert Tas, our Chief Growth Officer, who was thinking about his own child’s growth and development during these challenging times. Robert shared that the other morning he woke up at 5AM to exercise and was surprised to see his son up that early. His son said he was up early to connect with his friends via a video chat. Robert’s son is on video calls all day for school and doesn’t have enough time to socialize. Robert was torn- – he doesn’t want his son on a computer 15 hrs a day but he also wants his child to be able to socialize and connect with his friends.

We’ve been hearing about others experiencing similar challenges and questions about their children. Based on your feedback, we are thinking about hosting an upcoming event to discuss COVID’s impact on children. Let us know if this would be of interest to you: EMAIL US

Many people of all ages are feeling alone these days. The mental and physical health of our community is, and will remain a priority, demonstrated in part by our Connection Communities, which we developed in partnership with the peer-to-peer support app, Wisdo. In fact, in October we saw the Loneliness Community’s page views increase almost 120% as compared to in September.

We hope these ideas and advice may provide inspiration and directions for you. We’re grateful for our relationship with you.

Have a great week and stay safe,

Jim and Chris

P.S. In an #Aftershock column published in @Worth Media last week, Jim explores the emotional toll of COVID and how we can focus on our collective mental health this holiday season.

P.P.S. We encouraged you to remember and support your employers on Boss’s Day earlier this month, and you were paying attention! Boss’s Day orders for delivery to a business address were down from last year, as expected, but orders for delivery to a residence were up 350%, with an increase overall from last year. We bet you made someone’s day with your thoughtfulness, and we’re happy we could be a part of that.

Creating Connections and Making Necessary Changes

Our Sunday letters are direct from our Chairman and CEO and aim to provide a message of hope and inspiration. We share the best stories that show how others aim to express, connect and celebrate the people most important to them during these trying times.

We wanted to share some important things we are working on, to solve real-life problems that impact all of us. It’s been on our minds recently as we get closer to the holidays, and as this challenging year comes to an end.

Creating real human connections

Each October, we celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month, recognizing the many accomplishments of people with disabilities who are in our nation’s workforce. In the past, we talked about Smile Farms, a non-profit we founded to create meaningful work opportunities in agricultural settings for individuals who are differently abled. We are so proud of the work Smile Farms does to create these jobs and for the positive impact it has on our community, team members and our families.

It’s been such an important area for us to make a meaningful impact and provide pathways. While our company is about expressions and sharing of celebrations, maybe the most important thing we can do is to positively impact the world around us. The real beneficiary of an organization like this is the people who support it, as they are helping a worthy and important cause.

And now more than ever, the pandemic we’ve all experienced has both created and magnified many challenges in today’s world. But together, we can impact necessary change.

Growing up hungry is a reality for many

As we head into the holiday season, we’ve launched a very special philanthropic effort with No Kid Hungry to help ensure children have access to the food they need. Because of the pandemic, one in four children could face hunger this year, according to No Kid Hungry. That is unacceptable and it is incumbent upon all of us to do something about this.

No Kid Hungry is working hard to make sure children are fed during this health crisis and beyond. You can help. When you shop our Season of Sharing holiday gift collection now through December 24, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. will donate 20% of the net proceeds* from each gift purchased to No Kid Hungry. For every dollar No Kid Hungry receives, it can provide up to 10 meals to children in need.**

There are so many challenges we face as a society. We are committed to helping alleviate hunger in this country, amplifying this issue and being part of the solution. Look for more information and content on this important cause, coming soon.

Prioritizing the mental health of our communities

Another challenge on our mind is mental health. As you know, the loneliness epidemic and the collective mental health consequences of the coronavirus pandemic are on our minds. While we’ve recently launched our Connection Communities, we are looking to do more, to help more, where possible.

Finally, a few weeks ago we talked about our concerns about the overall climate in which we are living and the psychological challenges we as a society face given the pandemic and its aftershocks.

Many of the activities we have come to expect during Fall are on hold, and as the days get shorter, and the temperatures fall, we are concerned about the mental health of our communities. We fleshed this out further in Worth, if you have an interest in learning more.

Jim and Chris

*The company will donate 20% of the net proceeds from each gift purchased from the collection to No Kid Hungry, with a minimum commitment of $50,000. “Net Proceeds” shall be defined as the gross sales price of the product less any and all taxes, service charges, shipping and handling charges, discounts, gift certificates, promotional gift certificates, promotional offers (e.g. airline miles, points, e-money, etc.) credits, rebates, chargebacks, refunds, credit card processing fees and gift certificate cancellations. Products in the “Season of Sharing” collection benefitting No Kid Hungry are not eligible for discounts or combinable with offers. Void where prohibited.

**$1 can provide up to 10 meals. Meal equivalency varies during COVID-19 relief. Learn more at NoKidHungry.org/OneDollar.

Celebrations community trends

P.S. Part 2 of Jim’s conversation with #Jolty, a new podcast from friends Faith Popcorn, Adam Hanft and @Maggy Wilkinson is now live. In this episode, titled the “Connection Crisis,” we talked about the epidemic of loneliness created by the pandemic, and why it’s important for companies and brands to pay attention to this problem. Listen here.

P.P.S. We were lucky enough to share the virtual stage at Techonomy’s The Health + Wealth of America on Thursday. We discussed leading through challenging times and all the difficulty, as well as opportunity for growth, that it affords.

Your ideas for safe celebrations

Exchanging treats with neighbors

Reading and snacking on gifts

The Holidays and beyond

The silver lining of 2020

Let’s implement Project Making (Covid) Lemonade

Beyond New Year’s resolutions

Making CeCe’s Dreams Come True

Ideas for celebrating at a distance

Planning ahead for holiday communications

Expressing affection and gratitude

Missing the hugs

An accidental event

Registration is free

A holiday season unlike any other starts soon

You’re invited. The more the merrier. Let’s connect and celebrate virtually.

Staying Connected Now Is More Important Than Ever

Find a COVID buddy to share your experiences

Prioritizing our children’s development

Creating real human connections

Growing up hungry is a reality for many

Prioritizing the mental health of our communities

Celebrations community trends